Here's how you can motivate and engage your retail team members.

Regular coffee chats on a monthly basis are an excellent way for team to not only spend much needed time with their manager for the serious 1-2-1 conversations but the perfect opportunity to offer two way feedback and set reasonable goals regularly in which your team members have the opportunity to achieve a state called flow. As noted in Daniel Pink’s book “Drive” the team member has the opportunity to see their improvement on a regular basis not just once or twice a year in the average companies appraisal policy, but receive regular feedback with the opportunity to change and tweak their goals as they review them each month, maybe lengthening the time scale, adding more challenges or identifying new opportunities to achieve their goals.

Motivate and engage retail team: 1. Recognize achievements publicly. 2. Provide opportunities for growth and advancement. 3. Foster a positive work environment through open communication. 4. Offer incentives like bonuses or rewards for exceptional performance. 5. Encourage teamwork and collaboration. 6. Provide ongoing training and development. 7. Solicit feedback and involve team in decision-making. Empowered and appreciated team members are more motivated and engaged in achieving retail goals.

In my experience I have found that team work better through regular and in the moment recognition rather than after the fact rewards. Drive your team culture by identifying which metrics of your culture you want to improve and using it as a way to identify when you should reward them, is it when they step outside of their comfort zones to improve a culture of personal development? Or a culture of team work where you openly and in the moment recognise team for covering shifts or supporting other aspects of the business? Or increase a culture of guest experience by sharing positive customer/guest comments and reviews about named individuals in the team? Always remember to criticise in private and reward in public!

A great leader also has a high level of humility. They don’t take theirselves seriously and are able to laugh at themselves, they show vulnerability and lead a culture of trust. Leaders are able to confidently say “I don’t know the answer to that” comfortably but will also find the answers. In my experience to communicate openly, say what you mean and mean what you say! Have those regular coffee chats, development plans, make communication two way and ask for feedback from not just your leaders and peers but make it 360 and get your teams opinions. Involve them in the process when you’re planning projects and learn to listen with empathy so that your team feel heard.

A great book to read on empowering your teams is “turn the ship around” by L. David Marquet who identifies a number of techniques you can use to empower your teams. From creating a leader - leader structure within your team rather than a leader - follower structure to create a thinking and proactive team, to identifying your companies operational procedures where policy isn’t specified to a certain title and broad enough to push the authority down to where the information is in the team. To empower your team, give them both clarity and technical competence (adequate training) so that you can then give them control.

Some people may disagree with this, but there's nothing wrong with being a little more personal with your team. What I'm saying is: Don't be afraid to join a conversation about a TV show or a hobby or something of that nature. It can be truly a bonding experience with your team when you have common interests. Sometimes for the team member knowing that their leader shares a common interest that they do, can change their perception of you, and as such, may improve communication because they have an Icebreaker to open dialogue with you.