There have been so many changes in my professional life lately. For the first time in three years I have a new district manager/new boss. Our entire Retail Channel in Florida has been restructured, and now all eyes are on us to see how it works out. For the last three years of my management career our districts have been set by regions. The district I was in included 18 stores and SWAS (store within a store...aka Verizon in a mall kiosk, a BJ's Wholesale, or Circuit City) locations all from the Sarasota area down to Naples.
My boss was one of the coolest, most competent managers I've ever had the pleasure to work for. First, she looks like a Barbie doll (so I SHOULD hate her...LOL). She's 6 ft tall flat footed and confident enough to still walk around in 3" heels! She's got long golden blond hair...naturally, and big blue eyes. Like I said. Barbie doll. But she's also very smart, very articulate, and a no-nonsense person! She's funny, she can sing, she knows how to lighten a mood, she's conscientious about her business, and she's supportive. She believes in her people. She knows every one of her employees by name...even the line levels. I respect her immensely.
At the beginning of every new year, she does performance appraisals. The scores are leading, performing, developing, or new. The first two years she scored me as developing. And then she gave me real advice that I could use...not pencil pushing BS that makes you wonder where you go from here and if your boss truly has a grasp for the business. She told me the first year that I needed to work on accountability. Not so much my own...it was my team. So that year, I worked on holding my team accountable...to adhering to policies, to passing mystery shops, to deadlines, to time and attendance. And I had a better year the next year...not to mention I got better about writing people up. I'd set boundaries for my team. They knew that if I told them something needed to be done and it wasn't...there would be consequences.
The next year she told me that I had definitely improved in the accountability aspect, but my numbers were still all over the place. Sometimes they were great, other times they were not so great. So she told me to work on consistency. And I did. I already set the expectation with accountability, so I worked on getting the right staff members in the right locations, coaching my supervisors, building a unified team, making sure everyone knew what our goals as a group was. That year we were the #1 location for measurables for 11 of 12 months. In my mind, I'd built consistency...so I couldn't wait till my next appraisal to see what she would give me to work on.
Well, in January, at the summit, I found out that beginning February she would no longer be my boss. They'd restructured. Stores were going to be in separate districts from the SWAS groups. A guy I'd never met and never heard of was going to be my new boss. I had no idea what that would mean for me or my career.
Before February started, my boss called me and said she wanted to set a time to do my appraisal with me. It was more important than ever to me to hear what she had to say! I was hoping that all my hard work had paid off and that I'd be leaving her with a Performing rating. When I sat down with her and she went over last year's results she told me how proud of me she was, and that she would miss me. She had almost been chosen to be the DM for our SWAS group, but because she was also opening 4 new stores in the next year, they'd decided to keep her where she was. She also told me that I'd shown so much growth, and built a team with not just a goal, but an identity. She expects great things from me and my people. And then she let me know that she'd ranked me as Leading. I was blown away. I knew it wasn't false praise. She doesn't believe in that. But she said that when she'd looked back on this last year she found herself shaking her head and wondering when my team had turned into the "go to" team for our district. That statement humbled me and blew me away! I almost cried. All that hard work built up into this amazing moment. I had skipped Performing and went straight to Leading! She also told me that she'd still be around if ever I needed her, but that she'd heard good things about my new boss. She'd never entrust us into the hands of someone she thought would be unworthy. And she didn't disappoint. She gave me something to work on for this year. Churn reduction.
My new boss comes from a management spot within the company where his entire staff was under one roof, mostly in one place. His new staff runs all the way from Panama City down to Naples. And he is responsible for 32 locations. He stepped into a whole new universe. He's used to micromanaging to the enth degree...which worked in Telesales. It doesn't work so well when everyone is spread out. This year is going to be a learning/growth process for all of us. I know I need to keep doing what I'm doing and keep my eye on the prize. I'll continue to work on my newest goal while maintaining everything I've already built. He's already let me know that he respects and recognizes what I bring to the table. He asked me to talk on Wednesday's conference call about some of the best practices I've got that helped build my team and the sense of unification and cohesiveness that happens within my group. He has set out a lot of ground rules for a lot of the district. He also told me he knows that my team has a mission and is already performing at levels that the rest of the district is still trying to get...so if something is already working for us, don't change our system. He's giving me lattitude to do what I need to do to maintain my team. And I appreciate the faith he's showing in me. I also know he probably wouldn't have the same amount of faith if my former DM hadn't spoken so highly of me and my team...or our floating manager hadn't told him that we've got a formula that already works.
Yup. This year has been full of change already! I can't wait to look back next year this time and see how far we've come!