Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from Retail Contrarian, the blog of the Dynamic Experiences Group.
We all need time away from work to clear our minds, recharge our batteries and dedicate precious time to our families and friends. That’s easier said than done for many owners, managers, and executives.
When I started managing my first store at The Sharper Image I was always stopping by or checking in with the team on my days off. It didn’t bother me at all to give up a few minutes of my free time, but I eventually discovered that it bothered the team. They interpreted my actions as a lack of trust in their ability to run the store without me, which of course was far from the truth. But their perception was their reality.
Whether it’s just a day or two or a weeklong vacation, there are certain actions you can take (or not take!) to make your days off a better experience for your staff.
1. Don’t "check-in." If the staff needs you, they’ll find you.
2. Use your time away as a growth and learning opportunity for your assistant. Your absence is a wonderful opportunity for your assistant to practice and develop his/her leadership skills. Just make sure that the two of you identify those behaviors and actions before you leave, not after you return.
3. Establish decision-making parameters. It’s great practice for an assistant manager to step up and run the store while an owner or manager is on vacation, but he can’t do that if he doesn’t know what he can and cannot do. Make it easy by defining what decisions he does or does not need to contact you about.
4. Don’t second-guess those decisions. Sometimes the assistant, or someone else on the team, will make a decision you don’t agree with. That’s part of empowering people. If you start second-guessing those decisions you disempower your team and they won’t be able to make decisions in your absence. What you can do is to learn why the person made the decision he/she did, and discuss how a different decision might be made the next time.
5. Set clear expectations before you leave. Be clear about what you’re looking for. Set your team up for success, not failure.
BrainTrust
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions: How should store managers and business owners plan for days off? What would you add to the suggestions in the article?
Poll
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What we used to do 40 years ago when I was working for an independent was to get a local school teacher who was off for the summer to come in and manage the store while we took off. It worked great. Someone who is educated and used to being over a lot of people. He caught on quick and it worked out great.
Clear, succinct and effective advice. We’d all be much better off if we followed it.
Make your absence fun. Have a staff send off that makes fun of your obsessive need to have your hands in everything. Some managers create all kinds of angst, barely stopping short of threatening the remaining staff leaving them wishing you’d be shipwrecked on a distant shore.
Also — be careful about the “decision-making parameters” point. It sounds totally reasonable I know. But why don’t we teach our people how to ‘think’ rather than follow tightly structured rules? You can’t cover all possibilities with policies. One way to at least begin the ‘learn-to-think’ process is to set up mini-BraintTrusts. If a situation exceeds the assistant manager’s $500 limit, a BT of three staffers make the decision. If it exceeds $2,000 a BT of four think it through. That creates strong team work, develops the strengths and insights of your people, and makes their work more meaningful.
If you try this, let me know if it works! 🙂
This is timely for me! I am about to go on a 2 week vacation and I will have no access to voice mail and really minimal access to email. I’ve got as much done as I can before I leave, and I have to trust that my partners will take care of the rest while I’m gone.
For what it’s worth, I think the notion that we should not “check in” is just wrong. It doesn’t have to be a formal thing. Just a “hey…is there something that you need me to respond to?” note or call is adequate, but there is nothing to be gained from letting people flounder.
And with that, I’ll see you guys in 2 weeks! 🙂
Also, when taking time off or traveling on vacation, take a look at what other retailers are doing. Trust that your business is being run by your team, clear your mind, and walk some stores and take a look at what others are doing. But since you’re on vacation, try to look at things through the lens of the customer. You may come up with some great ideas to take back with you.
Excellent piece, and excellent comments. Learning to delegate is wonderful for all concerned. Now that I’m starting to feel stronger after a battle with cancer, I can tell you that your need to delegate can come suddenly and take you by surprise. It felt weird and uncomfortable passing over control on many of my usual decisions and work tasks over the past several months, but I learned a great deal. A few things I learned:
“My way” that I love so much, and someone else’s way, well, both are fine and neither one or the other makes much difference in the long run.
People who work for you relish the chance to step up and help and take some control themselves. In my case, they were invariably fantastic!
Delegate more and more. Someday you will need to be replaced, whether it is for retirement, sale of your company or some unforeseen circumstance. With strong people who have learned to fill your shoes, retirement will be easier and your company won’t be just “you” but a whole team that is worth more money to a buyer.
The points made are clear and on target. Adding more is not the point. Following what is laid out will make you a better manager because your staff has performed well enough to spotlight you and your store.
Your batteries do not recharge when you go to the store, or business if online. You hired a team for a reason. Get away and prove you made the right choice.
This added note is from a pot to its kettle colleagues.
Pretending to let go does not give us a holiday. And, no, we DON’T need to “just check in” to see if we’re needed. The truth is we actually hope we are. Most of us have an insatiable need to be needed. Unfortunately that is killing us and hindering the growth of others. And yes, there is value in letting people flounder and learn to work things out. After all that’s how most of us got to where we are.
And for goodness sakes don’t turn your holiday into a research project! The whole idea is to ‘stop’ and give yourself a break. Think about other things (like the person you’re with) and exercise other mental muscles, or even better, don’t exercise them at all!
This deep and thoughtful advice from someone who can’t remember a ‘holiday’ that wasn’t attached to a speaking engagement.
PS Have a great holiday Paula — we’ll cover for you!
We all pay a “vacation penalty” prior to and following any amount of time off. This can neutralize the psychic benefits of the holiday, if we don’t let it go.
Doug’s advice is quite sound. In amplification I can only suggest that when you leave, really leave. You owe it to self and associates to use time off to relax and re-charge and return better than ever.
One more essential piece of advice: Wear sunscreen.
When I owned and ran a small retail high-tech firm (40 people) vaca was a challenge. I was the core of the key business/deal decisions and our customers in the midst of installs wanted me on calls with the support team.
So, the vaca required prep — about 2 weeks before. People were put in charge of certain projects and areas and had goals to hit by the time I returned.
My assistant had a list of the customers that could call me directly and we reviewed why/when I should be called.
Off I went with the 4 kids and a finally happy wife. The vaca ran smooth with a few calls from customers. The planning paid off and the team gained some valuable experience and more self-confidence.
Did I call in? Sure, and focused on what we were doing on vaca and then asked “so how is it there?”
Ah, vacations … I need one!
The author and I disagree about many things in this article. Empowering a team to make decisions, and then communicating these through clear goals should be a standard part of any great manager’s perspective, even when they are not there. Great managers know that if this is done well, their team will want to share with them their successes, because they are proud of their empowerment and the job that they have done. It is not a reflection of managers who can’t let go, but more one of managers who may not have empowered their team enough, or communicated a model of management that depends on clearly communicated goals throughout the organization.
As a past supermarket store manager, I can remember in the 1980s getting a call from the store security alarm service on the one day we closed, Christmas Day, that the alarm was going off. It went off twice that day due to high winds, and I had to drive in to turn it off both times. So a store manager rarely gets to totally take time off. If the manager is lucky enough to have an assistant whom they trust, then some of the points in the article can be employed. Too often, that is not the case.
I would suggest that managers work on a daily basis to hand the “reigns” over to the assistant while they work together and coach them on how to better manage the store. Do this most every day. Ask them to handle customer issues, take the calls from the DM, etc. Hopefully they will take pride in this learning experience and you will be developing future managers.
At the ripe old age of 16, the owners of the independent supermarket I worked for began handing me the keys at 2:00 PM on different afternoons for the evening. Each time, early on, one of them would return at 10:00 PM closing time and walk the store with me. They would also teach and assist me in closing.
Over time, they left me and didn’t return to check. I learned by watching, listening, and being coached. I made good decisions for customers because they had taught me to do so. If I did make a decision that could have been better, they followed exactly the advice Doug gives. They suggested that I did well, but offered that I consider their suggestions for the next occurrence.
Their expectations were never ambiguous. They were clear. I had learned them through, as I mentioned, watching, listening, learning, and begin consistently coached/mentored.
I believe that all are good suggestions, as well as, many of the comments. I would add that they enjoyed their time off — thoroughly. In the same way, they encouraged me, through their example, to enjoy mine as well. That’s probably a lesson that I could have learned better.
What I gained and earned was trust. It came through the daily education provided that was repeated over and over. That is how trust was gained to ensure that they were comfortable leaving. It makes me recall the line from “Footloose,” “If we never trust, how does one become trustworthy?”
Today, what I see is very little of this type of leadership. What I see more of is a whole lot of self-importance. Face it, we just aren’t that important. If we’ve done are work as leaders, it should be absolutely great for both leadership and associates to enjoy time off. It is about teaching it.
The article offers good advice all around and I voted for the setting of clear expectations before one leaves. Seems to have been the top vote getter, so I am feeling more confident of what to do before leaving on my next vacation.
There is no question that, as an owner of a company, it is difficult to truly get away from the business. But, as the article mentions, it is critical for the owner as well as for the staff to have some time away from each other.
For staff success, it means that the owner must concentrate heavily on training prior to vacation, ensuring that the team understands their scope of responsibility and their level of empowerment. In general, empower more, rather than less — people always surprise you. Also, train them that if a decision is out of their scope and can be pushed off until the owner returns, it should be.
For the success of the owner, it means planning trips that deliberately take you out of touch, whether abroad, into nature with no cell phone coverage, or engaged in activities that do not permit excessive musing (e.g. skiing). Take your mind away from the business and you will find that you are more refreshed upon your return.