Leading through coronavirus: the action retail bosses should take

The outbreak of coronavirus has created a wildly polarised retail sector. On one side, you have grocery retailers for which the big challenge is to recruit enough staff to meet surging demand, while on the other, retailers deemed ‘non-essential’ are grappling with mandated store closures and how to keep online operations open while addressing staff concerns about safety and managing their public image.

Both sets of circumstances are as challenging as they are unique for every employee, from the part-time shop floor workers right up to the executive team.

How can retail leaders rally their staff during these extraordinary times?

Don’t pretend to have all the answers

Strong leaders should show their human side to staff during times of crisis

Said Business School associate professor in retail marketing and deputy dean Jonathan Reynolds says retail chief executives should not pretend to have all the answers.

“Be transparent and honest about not having all the answers,” he says. “Reassure on the things that are certain and the measures you can take to help staff but be realistic that the uncertainty does exist and try not to sugar-coat or unnecessarily reassure.”

Reynolds urges retail leaders to send simple emails or videos that look like they were written or recorded by the CEO themselves. He says overly polished PR missives that chief executives send out in normal times could feel disingenuous and out of touch now.

Jim McNeish, head of knowledge at leadership consultancy Quaich, says people are “a meaning-making species” and therefore strive to make sense of life events and the world around us.

With the absence of all the usual indicators of business as usual – a busy high street on a Saturday afternoon; shoppers stocking up for garden parties as the weather warms up – a retail leader needs to build a new context for their employees. 

“As a leader, your job is to create context where you can for your employees and where you cannot let your values and the fact that this is a collective endeavour during which the business will come together lead the way,” he says.

As ever, actions can also speak louder than words. John Lewis Partnership’s new chair Dame Sharon White being spotted stacking the shelves at her local Waitrose in Holloway would have added real value to staff morale, says Reynolds.

A gesture like this cannot be performative though or it risks backfiring. White’s work on the Waitrose shop floor was only pointed out by a handful of shoppers on Twitter, rather than by any sort of PR push from the business itself.

Done in the right way, it can send a powerful message to staff that you, as a leader, stand in solidarity with your frontline workers and the work they are doing serving the public day-to-day.

Show ‘rational compassion’

In times of crisis, being able to demonstrate an understanding of your employees’ changed circumstances is very important.

Many businesses have put measures in place to support staff. John Lewis is establishing a fund to help employees facing additional costs such as childcare as a result of the pandemic, while Asda and Marks & Spencer have introduced increased bonus pay schemes for shopfloor staff working through coronavirus.

Career consultancy Birdsoup co-founder Jo Hind says while financial incentives are effective, they should be done in tandem with displays of genuine empathy by leadership to better motivate staff in extraordinary times.

“Demonstrating empathy is really important, and this is a really big test right now for organisations in terms of their tone. Employees and consumers will remember the organisations that have done well and the ones that haven’t,” she says.

“You need to keep your eye on the ball of larger global conditions and how it impacts your business, but in a right-minded way that doesn’t drag your whole soul in”

Jim McNeish, Quaich

“It’s about being authentic – if you are trying to show empathy and you don’t mean it or it’s ill-thought through, it will really show and do damage.”

Hind urges retail leaders to go out of their way to recognise the hard work and sacrifices of individual staff and recommends initiatives such as an internally nominated ‘champion of the week’, with rewards given that are personalised to an individual’s career goals or hobbies outside of work.

McNeish agrees that retail bosses should recognise the efforts being made by their employees but advises against becoming overly involved in each individual’s personal challenges.

He suggests leaders put measures in place that do the most for the majority of your staff in terms of support but form a distinction between those measures and the level of empathy reserved for you nearest and dearest, or risk burning out and being a less impactful leader for the wider business.

“I’d reserve empathy for the 12 to 16 people I am closest to in my life; for everyone else, it has to be the employment of rational compassion, focused on practical measures of what I as a leader can do for my employees,” he says.

“If you go empathising with everyone’s life at the moment you are going to get completely overwhelmed. You need to keep your eye on the ball of larger global conditions and how it impacts your business, but in a right-minded way that doesn’t drag your whole soul in.”

Offer support to furloughed employees

Many retailers are also facing the unique circumstances of having significant segments of their staff furloughed.

Reynolds says communicating with these colleagues is inherently more complex because one of the legal requirements of furlough is that colleagues are not included in company communications, either via their work emails or telephone numbers.

He suggests leaders offer employees the chance to opt into internal communications via their personal email to stay in touch with developments if they want to but stresses that any conversations or catch-ups must be strictly focused on personal wellbeing rather than professional updates.

“Any conversation with a furloughed worker needs to be focused on wellbeing and community and connecting them with the kinds of things that could boost their morale and help sustain them through this period,” he says.

Retailers could offer furloughed workers the chance to take part in learning and development opportunities, so they feel they are going to come back adding even more value to the business.

“If you can invest in offering opportunities for people who are furloughed to partake in learning and development it can have positive implications for self-esteem and morale,” he says.

Create a culture of trust in the new WFH-world

The nature of this pandemic has led to many businesses working from home en masse, which presents challenges for retail leaders.

As former Waitrose boss and employee engagement specialist Engaging Works managing director Mark Price points out: “In a time of crisis there is a tendency to have an overwhelming sense of responsibility and try to be across everything that is going on, which is much harder to do without the incidental points of contact that happen when you are all in head office and can walk behind someone two or three times a day and check how they’re getting on.”

However, Reynolds says the urge to constantly check in with those working at home, however well-intended, needs to be resisted.

“If you are a c-suite leader, your team do a lot of the day-to-day work under normal circumstances while your role is more focused on the future”

Mark Price, Engaging Works

“Ask for forgiveness and not permission needs to be your mantra as a leader in times like these – it is a practice in uber-delegation. In an organisation that has a culture of trust this is possible, which is why the good leaders and good cultures will win in these times,” he says.

Price concurs: “If you are a c-suite leader, your team do a lot of the day-to-day work under normal circumstances while your role is more focused on the future. In these circumstances, the temptation is understandably to ask for more information about day-to-day business decisions and grab hold of the reins more, but you need to think about what this is like for your people.

“They are working hard and you asking for more information or barking orders does little more than add pressure. You need to strike a balance where you are clearly the figurehead thinking about strategy and ensuring the business is on track but making sure your people feel they have autonomy and are trusted.”

Establish your communication lines

One of the most significant changes that coronavirus has triggered in our working lives is how we communicate. The nature of social distancing and widespread homeworking has made previously commonplace conversations that happen while making a cup of tea or walking to the lift a thing of the past.

School closures also mean a huge proportion of workers are juggling their 9-to-5 with home-schooling, which is changing the shape of the normal working day.

Retailers need to keep lines of communication open with colleagues during these times. 

Reynolds says retail leaders must establish “a drumbeat of communication”, whether that’s a weekly staff Q&A with function leaders or a daily video conference with the senior leadership team to establish priorities for the day ahead.

With a wealth of communication technology – from Zoom to WhatsApp – to choose from, leaders must be clear how they will contact staff.

Reynolds says the purpose of each communication channel should be determined, such as a WhatsApp group for essential communication between the executive team versus a daily video call with heads of business functions for company updates.

McNeish says business calls must also be kept brief and focused.

“People do not want to waste a lot of time online so make sure they know to prepare for Zoom of Google Hangout calls. Business-as-usual queries need to be separate from more general catch-ups about how people are coping at home, but both conversations need to be kept quite brief and focused.”

Price recommends establishing clear channels and schedules for daily communications and not wavering from them. “Your team should have a clear expectation of when they will hear from you and for what purpose, but thrice daily team conferences are only going to undermine people and make them feel they are not trusted,” he says.

Think about the future

A lot of the language around the retail sector currently draws parallels with wartime – ‘rationing’ and workers ‘on the front line’. In this climate, it is understandable that leaders would be focused on winning the battle their business is currently fighting, be that keeping shelves stocked or just staying solvent, rather than contemplating about what the aftermath will look like.

However, McNeish believes the businesses that survive and, at some point, thrive in the aftermath of coronavirus are those whose leaders take time to think about the future of their business now.

“Social distancing has actually made the world much more mutable, which offers a greater capacity for leaders to invent a future for their business rather than just being subject to whatever is going to happen,” he says.

Leaders who think creatively about what kind of business they want to operate after coronavirus and how it will look different will do well, says McNeish.

“Start painting a picture of how you can make your business better. People need hope and made to feel they are part of the future”

Mark Price, Engaging Works

The financial constraints put upon a retail business in these unprecedented times can also offer businesses license to make tough decisions about their future that they may have needed to make for some time, he says.

For example, Arcadia and Clarks have used coronavirus as a springboard for further store closures, and H&M has pushed landlords for break clauses on store leases if sales do not bounce back after the pandemic ends.

Price agrees that retailers must have an eye on the future: “Leaders need to take time to think about how the world might be different after all this, and what that means for their business and workforce.

“Start painting a picture of how you can make your business better, and then communicate how you will pivot to your employees. People need hope and made to feel they are part of the future. Although this is a challenging time, it is also one that will lead to exciting changes and will be really galvanising,” he says.

A combination of hope, foresight and realism are just a few of the common traits that will set leaders apart during this crisis. Those that see the pandemic as a chance to connect with how their customers want to shop and their staff want to work, both now and after the crisis has passed, will be the ones who thrive.