The Retail Coach

Coaching within the Retail Sector.

Employment in the retail sector is estimated at 15% of the global population!

The sector is a highly Results and Goal driven environment and yet early estimates from research that I have carried out indicate that only 2% - 4% of Retail employees in Ireland have been to or are working with a coach. Employment in the Retail sector in Ireland is approx. 14%.  (more detailed research pending, not published at time of writing article)

There are of course larger retail multiples that have introduced coaching and mentoring to employees, but with the vast majority of the retail sector being made up of independents this is not reflective of what is happening in the sector as a whole.

I setup The OnLegs Agency to address the void that I see within the Retail Sector to offer support and guidance to an industry that is now facing a challenging Journey as a result of the impending Brexit changes, the migration to online sales ad of course the current pandemic.

Having worked within the Retail Sector for the last 20+ years at a senior level and being an advocate for Coaching and Mentoring, I believe the next stage in the Development of the Retail Model is to introduce and embed Coaching and Mentoring within the industry.

I see an industry that needs to empower their workforce from their HQ to sales floors, I see an industry that needs to look at Goals that will help deliver the weekly targets and KPIs as opposed to having the weekly sales target as the Goal, it’s all about perspective and Retail is at a stage in its evolution where looking at various perspectives is vitally important to its progression. I believe Coaching and Mentoring have a huge part to play in ensuring the future growth of the industry and the retention of talented people within it.

When I ask Retailers if they Coach their teams the answer is usually a hesitant yes? when we look at what they mean by coaching we understand the hesitation. In almost all cases training is taking place and being labelled as Coaching. As a result, many are not seeing the true benefits and increased performance that a coaching culture and coaching program can deliver.

The retail Industry is very adept in working with Goals and Objectives, they are used to working SMART so introducing Coaching to the sector seems like a Perfect Partner to me.

Introducing Coaching to Retail Clients

I have been introducing Coaching to clients I work with as part of my consultancy work over the past year.  It became clear to me that there are areas that Consulting and Mentoring simply don’t reach. I am confident that coaching delivers results and I am now looking at how a Retail coaching program with a blend of individual and group coaching can see performance improvements in areas such as Customer Experience, KPI improvements and general efficiencies within the sector.

In building a framework to coach within the retail sector it is important to be clear on the objectives with the client, it is necessary to set out KPIs to bench mark the effectiveness of the coaching taking place. Prior to taking on a new coaching client we do a combined analysis and Chemistry session to determine where the business is currently and decide on agreed upon KPIs that we aim to reach as a result of the introduction of coaching to the business.

The retail sector is hugely KPI driven and the introduction of anything new such as coaching must provide an ROI, that makes for an interesting journey and challenge in relation to Coaching within this industry.

The Retail Coaching Model

In the initial consultation with a business we discuss at length the differences between Consulting, Coaching and Mentoring, I find this helps manage expectations and deliverables from the outset.  Once we are clear on the objectives it is usually easy to decide what areas or people within the business would benefit from Coaching and or Consulting and Mentoring.

Coaching in the retail sector is without doubt a very focused model, the clients are usually clear on what they would like to achieve on a business level, what goals they want to work towards, timelines etc. and have the analytics to measure effectiveness.

In order to measure effectiveness, we look at areas such as behaviours in relation to confidence, conflict management etc. of individuals and the team depending on the client, we aim to show a correlation between these behavior changes and the sales figures, so we decide on 2 KPIs to concentrate on and measure them throughout the process.

One of the main areas we work on is introducing a coaching Culture, this is an area I feel the retail sector is struggling with, in my experience the current culture focuses on past mistakes and still views performance management as a means to fix a problem once it has already surfaced. A lot of my focus is looking at empowering the work force, shining a light on what is working and how this can be multiplied and taken into other areas of the business. “When people feel Empowered they can do great things”, one of the main objectives is to show this in action and this can be done through the effective use of some of the key Coaching tools.

 I have been testing various tools in Retail Coaching, below are the 3 that are seeing the best outcomes so far. I am also working on a few new tools specific to the sector so watch this space.

1.     Appreciative Enquiry is nearly always present; this may be because it’s one of my most favored tools? it may also be because the industry in which I am coaching has a culture of looking to the past for mistakes, a culture of training to fix problems as opposed to develop, a lot of the vocabulary is quite negative and focuses on what went wrong as opposed to what worked.  I have found introducing AI within coaching sessions is a wonderful way to showcase strength and build confidence, it’s a new way of speaking and I have found that it is very well received.  The by-product of AI within the coaching sessions is the positive ripple effect after the session with other members of the team and customers.

 2.     We have introduced The GROWTH Model as an alternative to Annual Reviews to certain clients. The usual review format within retail is based on questions about the individual’s performance answered by the superior and the subordinate and scored as poor, fair, good, V good etc. This type of review format is led by the superior and usually focuses on why the score is poor as opposed to ways to improve. 

I work with companies to open communication lines with staff and to introduce the GROWTH model as a means to having more regular conversations with a clear focus that will in turn see the staff member talk more, encourage managers to listen and result in Goals being achieved and a motivated culture.

To date this has been one of the biggest successes in coaching within the sector, I have clients who have now abolished their regular review format in favor of the GROWTH Model and are seeing much better results.

 3.     Whilst working with business owners and managers one of the recurring themes that come up is that they believe they need to do everything themselves and have difficulty delegating. I find that using the Coaching Wheel as an Enabling wheel in this situation can be very effective as it enables the client to identify people that can help and also helps build an action plan on the resources that are available to them and how best to utilize them.  I have found this particular version of the wheel to be very powerful, I was introduced to it by a wonderful coach whom I have done sessions with and as a client I also found it very productive so it is great to be able to share it with others.

 Coaching within the Retail sector has certainly thrown up challenges in regards to having the added dynamic of KPIs and ROI to work with, but the reward far out ways any challenges there may be. I am excited about coaching in an industry that employs 15% of the population, the opportunity to introduce coaching to the Retail sector has the potential to positively affect many people both directly and indirectly and that excites me greatly.

Who knows this may be the start of a new Coaching Model and perhaps the introduction of a Module on Retail Coaching in the future.

Always Dream BIG…

About the Author

Kate is the Founder of “The OnLegs Agency” a Panel of Coaches, Consultants and Mentors working with SMEs across Ireland and the UK. Kates Coaching and Retail experience give her a unique set of skills Coaching and Consulting within the Retail sector.

Kate is passionate about delivering Coaching to the retail sector to help improve individual and business performance and believes that Coaching is part of the future progression of the industry.

Kate is an accredited Coach and an advocate for regulation within the Coaching profession.

www.theonlegsagency.co.uk