Retailers put huge resources behind succession planning at board level, but investing in the progression of staff on the shopfloor can be even more fundamental to a business’s success. And it can often pose an even greater challenge.
Succession planning at store level involves a difficult balancing act. High staff turnover means there is often little time to identify successors, which in itself can prompt staff to leave, because they aren’t being encouraged to work their way up. Equally, when there is a pressing need for new managers, it is more likely that the wrong person will be picked for the role, which again means higher churn rates.
“One of the most common pitfalls is losing sight of what’s important in your managers,” says Envision Retail managing director Jason Kemp. “When succession planning isn’t done right and you get unplanned turnover of staff, you can end up picking the most trusted member of staff, or the one with the highest work rate, rather than the one most suited to the role.”
Succession planning should not focus on preparing for when your managers leave, but preparing people to move up through the organisation. Ideally, it should be about ensuring there is always someone waiting in the wings to take on their next big challenge.
“The most successful businesses should plan for rapid promotion of the team,” says Sarah Cameron, a former Boots store manager and now head of PR.
Kemp agrees. “Looking out for talent at every level of the organisation should be part of everybody’s remit,” he says.
Making staff aware that roles are fluid will mean you get more out of them, rather than making them feel insecure, says Cameron. “If the culture of the business and store is such that people’s talent is being recognised, then people will go out of their way to suggest things – and that’s when you get exceptional performance and customer care,” she says.
BOTTOMS UP
According to Kemp, carefully managing the career of store managers is important for them and their successors. “If you leave someone in a store too long, they will get bored. If you move people around stores, that creates opportunity at the bottom, where you can create a learning ground for people coming through the ranks. It also exposes your store managers to different managerial and operational challenges in different stores,” he says.
So how is succession planning being put into practice? At Ikea, the core philosophy is identifying, developing and nurturing talent. “Our whole ambition is that we have people who join as co-workers and then move through the business,” says Ruth George, HR manager for Ikea in the UK and a former store manager.
The retailer holds a management review twice a year to look at the competence, passion and attitude of the managers in every store. The results are put on a graph to identify high potential and training requirements.
In May, the furniture retailer will launch its Next Step initiative – a management trainee programme designed to encourage and prepare staff in stores for the next rung of the succession ladder.
George says store managers would not be doing their job properly if they weren’t bringing people through the business with them. “If we found that a manager wasn’t developing co-workers, there would be a problem,” she says.
Helping staff progress at Ikea is also about giving them a greater freedom than retailers traditionally do. “We empower our people and want them to make decisions,” she adds. “We need them to not be afraid to take risks. We don’t want a tap-on-the-shoulder culture. We give people the opportunity to do jobs and want them to feel confident they can do the next role.”
Carl Taylor, former store manager of Ikea’s Bristol store, moved to become store manager of the Wembley store – the largest in the UK and one of the biggest in the world – in September 2006. He says that empowering staff can also lead to identifying successors who may not have been obvious under traditional circumstances. “We give our co-workers more responsibility and we are really starting to see the hidden gems now,” he says.
Half of his senior 12 have a grassroots background in Ikea. “The loyalty they bring is fantastic and they also bring fantastic Ikea knowledge with them.”
Richard Chalcraft, who took over Taylor’s post at Ikea Bristol, says another colleague was due to take the role until only a few days beforehand, but had to drop out because of long-term sickness. Despite not being directly groomed for the role, Chalcraft was thoroughly prepared. Having been at Ikea for more than 15 years, most recently as store sales manager, he had already voiced his desire to be store manager with Taylor, head office and the internal HR manager. “I went out of my way with Carl and other senior managers to make sure I was on the right development programmes,” he says.
ON THE BENCH
Chalcraft’s experience suggests succession planning isn’t just about identifying the next store manager and is most effective when you are developing a whole bank of people. As Cameron says: “It’s better to develop a pool of talent and give them the experience to develop a number of skills rather than just finding successors for one particular role.”
This can also result in staff pushing themselves harder. “If there is a peer group developing together, they are bouncing ideas off each other and get 360-degree feedback,” she adds.
At smaller stores, the fact that there are fewer staff may make this less achievable, but because the end goal of store manager can be achieved more quickly, staff may find it easier to get motivated.
Cameron says that not making successors immediately aware of your intentions for them also helps keep staff on their toes. “If you identify successors too early, they expect to get the job,” she says.
Equally, managers should ensure that they don’t alienate other staff. It is important that there is a fair, open and transparent process when identifying successors so that everyone feels included and that they have the chance to develop. “If there is any feeling of favouritism, that will be quite demoralising,” explains Kemp.
Taylor stresses that training and development must be an ongoing programme – whatever the retail climate. “Normally, the first budget that gets cut when times are tough is the training budget – but that’s when you should invest, because the co-workers are the most important people; they will keep you out of a recession,” he says.
Tough times may be ahead, but succession planning is one area where retailers can’t afford to cut corners.
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