A large retailer in the UK needed management development for Cluster, Store and Assistant Managers, including day to day management and how to lead and inspire a team. They required support in the areas of delegation, conflict and performance management.
Practical workshops covered leadership styles, coaching and feedback, performance management, conflict handling and resource management. Case studies, role plays and scenarios were used to present the training in a way that enabled the managers to easily relate to the learning exercises and test out new ways of doing things.
The Company
The largest specialist bathroom retailer in the UK has around 130 stores, employs 450 managers and sales consultants. It aims to be the brand of choice by being recognised as a trusted advisor to its customers investing in a large purchase.
This organisation identified a need to carry out management development for each of its Store Management populations – Cluster (responsible for 2-3 stores), Store and Assistant Managers. It identified that a focus was required not only on the day to day management of a store but the ability to lead and inspire the team.
More specifically, they required support in the areas of delegation, conflict and performance management.
The Solution
We developed a series of two day practical workshops that covered:
- Identification of leadership style
- Effective use of coaching and feedback
- The Performance Management role
- Effective handling of conflict/potential conflict situations
- Effective resource management
All three levels of manager were trained on the above but in sessions tailored towards the needs of their role. For example, Showroom Managers’ development focused on the challenge of moving into line management for the first time. Greater emphasis was also placed on managing the team using training, coaching and feedback.
Cluster Managers attended a third day to explore motivating a remote team and how to support the development of their Showroom Managers.
To ensure the content was highly effective, we created a deck of unique case studies, role plays and scenarios based on real life issues specific to this organisations managers.
These powerful, relevant tools enabled managers to easily relate to the learning exercises and test out new ways of doing things.
In between the first and second workshops, managers were asked to implement actions from the course, e.g. complete a performance review, to be discussed and reviewed at the next workshop.
Each delegate received a training folder containing support notes, practical top tips and a ‘reflective’ journal.
The objective of the journal is to use the continuous professional development (CPD) principle and to reflect and learn from experiences.
Results
Feedback was very positive with delegates commenting that the content was well-structured, informative and inspirational. As a result of its success, the client asked Grass Roots to run the programme in another part of the business for its technical support team.
The training has now been incorporated into the induction programme for new Showroom Managers and we continue to work with this organisation to support the development of the managers within their stores.