EFFECTIVE PEOPLE MANAGEMENT

Treating employees and customers on par is important for a successful retail organisation. Employees are our internal customers. A frustrated staff or a staff with low moral will leave customers frustrated. Hence the below points of staff management will add value to efficient customer service.

1. Hire
2. Induct and Educate
3. Observe and Discuss
4. Performance Evaluation
5. Promote

1. Hire

This is the primary and the most significant process in hunting professional talents who can deliver and take the organisation towards achieving its set goals. But getting the right talent for the right role is a complex task because all you have is only 2 Hours on the whole to shortlist an employee. Never hire a person just by looking at his resume and qualification, prioritise your interview questions on the below points :

Aptitude :
Test the interviewee on simple to complicated aptitude question to know when he/she stands with respect to reasoning and analysis skills

Attitude :
His willing to adopt different culture, willingness to do short term business travel, how he will treat his superiors, subordinates and his customers in particular

Communication :
Willingness to learn local languages, verbal and written communication skills

Ability to train people :
Must be willing to train people and should have trained his colleagues or subordinates in previous organisation if he had a chance

Expertise he has gained : 
A  few simple question to understand how anxious the person is towards learning new things and how much expertise he has gained from his past experience (Ask them to keep in brief)

His/her view on politics :
His point of view towards employee politics (see how straight forward, confused or diplomatic his response is, that's how political he will be)

Work culture he/she would prefer :
workaholic or slow worker or perfectionist or fast paced

Once you have scrutinised the above, then move on to his technical and operational knowledge in the respective field you are looking to deploy him/her in. A wise guy with a wrong attitude poses more danger to your organisation than a dumb employee who can be trained.


2. Induct and Educate

Induction process should be as detailed and simplified as possible, so that the new employee can understand and accept the new work environment he is getting into. Induction process should be well planned and did over a short period of time. The below points have to be covered in the induction process :
- Company History
- Company's accomplishment
- Organisation's Goals
- Vision and mission statement
- Work culture
- Organisation hierarchy structure and departments
- HR policy

Upon completion of the Induction process, classroom training sessions should be conducted on the respective Key Responsible Areas. Job description should be covered in depth to impart the role and importance of the employee. A simple test should be conducted at the end of the session to access the efficiency of the employee. The report card should be shared with the respective store manager where the employee is being deployed. This is assist the store manager to understand the strengths and weaknesses of his employees and to train them to convert their weaknesses into strengths

Induction and training is not the end of this process, regular training on various expertise and conduction educational programs will motivate your staffs and also improve their skill levels.
A detailed training on the new styles, products to be introduced for the season before the launch will build confidence in the staffs and also enhance their product knowledge.
Human Resource department should play a major part in this activity by encouraging staffs to do certifications and other skill improvement activities.
A few retailers have commenced Post Graduation Management programs for their staffs to take them to the next level in their career which will benefit both the employee and the employer. A very good example for this is Future Group, India.
Education should also be coupled with behavioural training programs to training staffs on behaviour and custom handling techniques.

2. Observe and Discuss

Store manager or the respective department manager should be well aware of their staffs' strengths and weaknesses. Also they should be aware how they are placed in the store among the other staffs, what regards the other staffs have for him. It can be effectively done with the help of "Johari's Window" technique.

The Johari window is a technique created in 1955 by two American psychologists, Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham,used to help people better understand their relationship with self and others. It is used primarily in self-help groups and corporate settings as a heuristics exercise.
When performing the exercise, subjects are given a list of 56 adjectives and pick five or six that they feel describe their own personality. Peers of the subject are then given the same list, and each pick five or six adjectives that describe the subject. These adjectives are then mapped onto a grid.
Charles Handy calls this concept the Johari House with four rooms.
Room 1 is the part of ourselves that we see and others see.
Room 2 is the aspects that others see but we are not aware of.
Room 3 is our private space, which we know but keep from others.
Room 4 is the most mysterious room in that the unconscious or subconscious part of us is seen by neither ourselves nor others. (CREDITS : Wikipedia)

Open/Arena: Attributes that are known and recognised by both the staff and his peers. As a Manager you need to talk about this to the employee and advice what you feel is good and what he can improve upon

Blind Spot: Attributes that are known and recognised by his peers and not known to the staff himself. As a mentor you need to discuss this with the staff and understand how far are they genuine. Staffs are prone to do gossips in a people oriented environment. So blind spots may not always be genuine ones.

Hidden/Façade: Attributes that are known only to the employee but not known to others. Though this attribute can disturb the employee, for example personal problems which can deteriorate the employee's performance should be addressed to if feasible. For example if an employee needs paternity leave for a longer period of time, then you can route it though the Human Resource Department and provide relief to the employee rather than forcing him to work under mental pressure. This will improve both the employee moral and his regards for the team and organisation.

Unknown:  Attributes that neither exists or not known to the employee and his peers. As a manager you could have noticed these attributes through your observation. You need to discuss these and it can help is improving the capabilities of the employee

4. Performance Evaluation :

Performance Evaluation is a more friendlier alias for Appraisal. Maximum efforts should be put in by managers to understand the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for every single employee reporting to him at the store. Appraisal or Performance evaluation should be done at least twice a year or half yearly, to check and review your employees' performance.
Performance evaluation should be done in three ways to get effective results as classified below :

1. Self-Evaluation : As an employee of the organisation, the staff should be given an opportunity to review his performance for the period of time. Give a set format with their KRA and rating scale. They will then have to rate themselves how they have excelled in each of their KRAs. He should also be given a column to mention his areas of improvement and what he expects from the organisation in the current appraisal cycle

2. Peers' Evaluation : Performance evaluation in a retail store should not just be a two way review just between an employee and his manager, it should be a three way review where is his colleague and managers of other departments should also be involved. They might play a very minimal role by just giving their review briefly about each employee but this will help you understand how the employee stands among his colleagues and also to understand his Blind Spots

3. Actual Evaluation/Appraisal Process : This is the most important and the final step and it does not begin after the above two process but well before them and it is a continuous process  and part of the manager's KRA. Keep a small track sheet or a log book for your department and list down your employee's names with their respective categories. Then keep dotting down their achievements, performance details, customer appreciations, etc. to be finally reviewed at the time of appraisal. With a detailed performance review already in a manager's hand, he will be able to compare his with others' reviews and come up a comprehensive and unbiased appraisal review

4. Promote :

This is one of the key motivating factors for every employee. Promotion should motivate an employee and appreciate him for his work. There should be an elevation is both his pay cheque and his position when the employee has hit the right chords with his KRA. The new position or promotion given should help the employee learn new expertise and diversify his skills, so that his learning is not halted. Whenever we promote a staff to higher responsibility it is advisable to change his store location post training to ensure he is comfortable to execute his new duties without any hassle which could be caused by his ex-colleagues. When a capable and efficient employee finds himself stagnant in the organisation, he will move out as the job market is always interested to absorb good talents.
Losing a well trained employee to a competitor will cost you both in business and in operations effectiveness because retail space in a people oriented business.
Below points are to be considered while promoting a staff :
- New position to be challenging and motivating the staff to improve his skill set
- Proper salary correction to be done considering the market standards
- Formal re-introduction to be given to store staffs on his new roles and responsibilities
- A short term review date to be set and communicated to the employee for reviewing his performance and difficulty he faces in his new role

           HIRE - TRAIN - CHECK - ADVICE - REVIEW - PROMOTE