How to drive a high-performance culture in retail
As a retail operations manager, you know the importance of building a high-performance culture but the difficulty lies in driving a consistently high-performing team throughout the year. In this article, we’ll share some quick tips which you can quickly put into action to drive a high-performance culture in your retail business.
What do we mean when we say high-performance culture?
Let’s be honest, the phrase ‘high-performance culture’ sounds a little ‘buzzwordy’. So what do we mean when we say it? We mean having a team of engaged retail employees who work to the best of their ability every single day. They achieve the goals that are given to them and they are constantly growing to become the best version of themselves. They do this because they love their job, they know their value and they genuinely care about the success of your business.
When many people first think about a high-performance culture they think about what work the employees need to do to change and improve but the hard work starts with you. Your job as the retail operations manager is to show your staff how much they truly mean to the business. It’s your responsibility to pour positive energy and enthusiasm into your people so they can share that same energy with your customers. If they feel empty, their motivation for the job will be non-existent.
What are the benefits of a high-performance culture in retail?
Before we tell you how to drive a high-performance culture, it’s important for you to fully understand the benefits one can bring to your business. This is because when you really understand the ‘why’ behind a strategy or plan it motivates you to keep going until you achieve the desired results.
1. They’re more profitable
This one is pretty obvious, when you’ve got a team of retail employees who genuinely care about the success of your business and work hard to achieve the goals you set for them, then obviously, you’re going to make more profit.
The beauty of a high-performance culture is that EVERYONE is performing at a high standard, not just a select handful of people. This means that not only are you going to make more profit but you’re going to see results a lot faster.
2. Less staff turnover
Did you know a huge 62% of people leave their job because of a toxic company culture?
When you choose to drive a high-performance culture you choose to value and respect your employees which makes their time at work much more enjoyable. You’ll cultivate a culture of trust and support and your retail company will become a much more desirable place to work.
3. You’ll create a team of leaders not followers
As a retail operations manager, you’ll probably have noticed that the top performers in your team are those who share similar traits to managers in the business. They use their own initiative, they work hard when no one's watching and they take full accountability for their performance and behaviour. A high-performer acts in this way because they know what needs to get done and they don’t need to wait to be told.
When you have a high-performance culture it means that everyone is clear on their goals and how they can achieve them. They don’t need to follow a manager or wait for answers, they know what they need to do and they’re confident in their own abilities.
4. You can take a step back and get on with your own responsibilities
One of the best things about a high-performance culture is that you create a team of strong, independent leaders. Because they feel so valued, trusted and respected it means they get on with their work to the best of their ability even when no one else is around. This is great for you because it means you haven’t got to be on-site 24/7 to watch what your staff are doing. You can get on with your own tasks whilst having peace of mind that your employees are working hard to achieve the goals that you’ve set for them.
So now you know the incredible benefits of having a high-performance culture in retail, let’s get clear on how you can achieve one for yourself.
How to drive a high-performance culture in retail - 5 easy steps
#1 Make your business goals clear and market them internally
Your retail business goals should encompass what you want to achieve in a set period of time. They reflect the larger purpose of your retail business and demonstrate to employees the ‘why’ behind their work. This motivates them towards an end goal which drives better performance.
The ‘why’ is so important because it gives your people a reason and purpose which is what naturally drives subconscious behaviour. Think of it like this, if you told yourself to get up out of bed at 6 am just because you want to, you’re probably not going to do it because you have no reason to get up. But if you tell yourself to get up at 6 am because you want to exercise and write down your goals for the day, then naturally, you’re going to have more motivation to get up.
It’s exactly the same for your business, if you tell your employees to do something just because you feel like it, there’s no driving force to motivate them to do so. However, if you tell them to do something because it contributes to an overarching business goal they’ll see how their work makes a difference and they’ll be more likely to follow your requests.
This is why step one is all about defining your business goals and then marketing them throughout your business so everyone is aware of them. Your business goals could look something like this:
Increase customer footfall by 20% over the next year.
Increase upsells by 10% over the next two years.
Decrease customer wait times by 30% by the end of 2022.
Now you’ve defined what you want to achieve, it’s time to let everyone know. You can do this in a few different ways.
Get your team leaders to mention the goal at the beginning of everyone’s shifts.
Print your goal out and stick it in places where staff will frequently visit e.g. staff rooms, stockrooms, back offices etc.
Include your goal in all performance review meetings and ensure everything ties back to it.
Hold weekly catch-ups where you chat about positive performance and how it has moved the business closer to achieving its goal.
Make sure all managers are on board with the goal and set them mini objectives related to the goal.
#2 Identify the soft skills that make a difference in performance
Now that you’re clear on your overarching business goal, it’s time to identify the soft skills which will help you get there. Soft skills are crucial to focus on because they form the foundation for your success. You may have an employee who’s highly skilled in a specific area which is great, but if they can’t demonstrate the core characteristics of a top-performing employee, then you’re going to struggle to cultivate a high-performing culture.
Let’s say, for example, your business goal is to increase sales by 10% over the next two years. For employees to be able to upsell they need to be confident and knowledgeable. So as a basic starting point, all of your employees are going to need to be self-assured. You’ll need to work out how you can bolster their self-esteem and include this in their goal-setting meetings.
Let’s take a look at an example
You may notice that the more people your employee chats with throughout the day, the more their confidence builds. So you can use this information to form their objective, this could be “Start a conversation with five people who enter the store and find out what they are doing for the rest of the day.”
Repeat this process
When you’ve identified one soft skill, repeat the process until you’ve highlighted all the soft skills needed to achieve your overarching business goal.
#3 Now it’s time to identify the hard skills which make a difference to your goal
You’ve identified all the soft skills which will help your employees improve performance and now it's time to think about the hard skills. Using the upselling example we spoke about earlier, let's say your employees are now confident but they lack the selling strategies to persuade your customers to buy. It’s time to coach them about the tried and tested selling techniques needed to upsell efficiently and effectively.
Set them as learning tasks in their goal-setting meetings and ensure you implement a task-oriented goal to demonstrate their newly acquired knowledge. E.g. Upsell to one customer this week using the ‘bundled service’ technique.
#4 Carry out regular goal-setting meetings
We’ve been talking about goal-setting meetings but what do we actually mean by this? Well, first let's be clear on what a goal-setting meeting is not.
It’s not a meeting where you tell your employee everything you expect from them and they sit quietly and listen.
It’s not a time to criticise your employees and make them feel rubbish.
It’s not a meeting to point out their faults.
It’s not a time to scaremonger them into achieving their goals.
Yes, a goal-setting meeting is for you to set goals for your employees but it should heavily focus on how you can support your employees and make them feel valued. It should be a time for them where they can share any concerns or desires they have and you can work out how to resolve them. They should leave the meeting feeling motivated, valued, respected and happy.
Here’s how your goal-setting meeting may be structured:
Ask your employee how they are, how their work is going and how they are feeling (this will make them feel valued and respected).
Ask your employee if they thought they achieved their last goal. It’s important to ask them before you tell them because it makes them become more mindful of their own behaviour.
Tell them what they have done really well in the past month (this will show them that you appreciate their work commitment and will motivate them to keep performing at a high standard). Ask if they agree.
Ask them what they don’t think they did very well. Now you can share your views on what you think they need more support with. Support is the primary word here, as I mentioned earlier you are not there to criticise, but to support and guide them.
Ask them to think of their own goals in relation to the weaker areas you have just spoken about. It’s important that they set their own goals because they’ll feel more attached to them and thus more likely to achieve them.
Thank them for their time, tell them to keep up the amazing work and say you can’t wait to see what they’ll have achieved by next time.
All of this positivity will fill your employee up with happiness making them feel engaged and driven to do better next time. Ideally, you should carry these meetings out at least once a month as this will help the goals stay fresh in your employee’s minds.
Why are goal-setting meetings so important?
Actually having a high-performance culture is very different from just thinking about one. Many people talk about having one but they don’t do the necessary actions that are needed to keep employees performing at a high standard. Goal-setting meetings are crucial because they keep employees on track and guide them on where they need to go to improve their performance.
Not having goal-setting meetings is like driving a car with no destination, you’re doing the action of driving but you don’t really know where you’re going or what the purpose of your journey is.
Not only this, but your meetings should work as a support blanket for your staff. A lot of the time people come to work with worries, stresses and frustrations, there’s never a place for them to offload and this builds resentment. If this resentment isn’t managed then eventually they leave. Your goal-setting meeting should be a safe place where your employees can share their thoughts with you and you can work as a team to make them feel supported.
#5 Incentivise your employees
Positive language and compliments can go a long way, but they can only go so far. To drive a consistently high-performance culture you need to incentivise your employees. Especially retail employees because average turnover rates are exceptionally high and the competition to retain talented staff members is stiff.
So how can you incentivise your retail employees?
Implement a rewards and recognition program
Go one step further than verbal recognition and implement a dedicated programme which works to make your employees feel valued. These programmes tie recognition into your daily routine and ensure that your staff continually feel noticed rather than it being a one-off occurrence.
You should make frequent recognition an easy task for everyone by deploying a rewards and recognition platform. These platforms make it quick and simple to show staff your appreciation and even colleagues can give out a virtual high-five which makes team members feel appreciated from every angle.
Double down on career development
In a survey by Pew Research, they found that 63% of people quit their job in 2021 because of low pay and no opportunities for advancement. With this in mind, it’s clear how much people value money and progression. You can give your employees all the compliments in the world but if their pay doesn't match their efforts then you’re going to struggle to maintain a high-performance culture.
One of the great things about retail is that your employee’s main job is to sell. This means that you can tie their monetary rewards directly to their performance. Every time they make a sale why not give them a small percentage of the profits. They will soon learn that their income relies on how hard they work which is a win-win situation for both of you.
Talk about career development in your goal-setting meetings and stress that the achievement of goals is closely linked to promotions and growth.
Offer them an extra day's holiday
Give them a goal to work towards by incentivising them with an extra day off. You could say if they achieve 90% of their goals in the month they can choose a day to have off the following month.
Use their name more often just like you do with your customers
Using someone’s name validates them, making them feel noticed and valued. Dr. Lindsay Henderson, PsyD, psychologist says "Because our names are such an indispensable part of our identity, we love it when people use them." That’s exactly why salespeople use this tactic with their customers and it’s why you should do it with your retail team too.
Using an employee's name shows them that you are paying attention to them and it creates stronger relationships. This is crucial when incentivising employees given that 39% of employees feel underappreciated at work.
So to summarise how you can drive a high-performance culture in retail, follow the steps below.
Identify your business’s goals.
Work out the soft and hard skills your employees need to reach those goals and drive high performance.
Use goal-setting meetings to keep your staff on track and make them feel valued and appreciated.
Use incentives to keep your employees performing at a high level.
If you’re serious about driving a high-performance culture take a look at our retail operations platform. It makes it simple and easy to support your frontline sales team, create a consistent customer journey and drive more sales. Virgin Media O2, Next and Victoria’s Secret are active users of the Ocasta Review and you can be too.
