Kyle Roberts’ Post

Happy to announce that I am celebrating a decade of dedicated service with OSL Retail Services! I'm grateful to Gary MacAskill, OSL Managing Partner, for hiring me ten years ago. Thank you for your compelling vision, empowerment, and bottles of scotch. At its core, OSL Retail Services is a dynamic, people-powered movement whose culture is deeply rooted in its customer-centric focus. Special thanks to ownership for building a formidable organization. Thanks to my colleagues, head office staff, and vendor community for your support. My incredible Western Canadian team of 650+ has brought out the best in me. You have supported me, challenged me, and made me laugh. You have been the fuel that has driven me for the past ten years. We are nothing without you! Huge call-out to my Senior Leadership and Operations support team, twenty-two of the best conception-to-completion leaders in the game. Thank you for your absolute best and belief in the Cycle of Outstanding Performance, the evergreen cornerstone program of our leadership philosophy. Together, we have navigated chaos and some crazy sales budgets. Throughout this journey, you have held a steadfast mindset that outstanding leadership means being at the tip of the spear. You are the great simplifiers; you make it look easy when we know it is not. We realized trial and error was essential for growth and embraced discomfort. That said, the level we have been operating at across all KPIs is breathtaking and with systematic discipline. A mixture of incredible ups and inevitable flesh wounds characterized my 10-year odyssey. There was no Rubicon moment or any unplanned, traumatic, intense moment that would shape me like I've had in the past. It was more of a steady burn, where I instinctively reached into my leadership "Swiss Army Knife" of experiences and actioned the attachment that fit the situation. Defining eureka moments: 👉 Life is tough - get a helmet. Life's not static. Be intentional about moving forward after a throat punch. 👉 Every day is a school day. Build a fail-fast culture because no one starts off being excellent. 👉 You want people to tell you what they are not telling you. Don't be a Dunning-Kruger. Practice metacognition and nurture some self-awareness. My leadership intentions have always been rooted in serving others. Early on, I understood that you can control and lead but cannot do both; otherwise, you give rise to the automatons. A leader's job is to discover and unleash the superpower within everyone. Good leadership matters because everyone deserves competent leadership—it's a right, not a privilege. And the journey continues!! 📸 Banff 2023, Western Canada Leadership Conference! TEAM!!

We watch as another once prominent retailer files for financial protections recently. 95 stores were announced to be closing on April 22nd. It’s always a sad day for the teams that work hard everyday. Sadly they were not the only chain to file in the last few months. And it appears according to the news to be others to follow. Question? In your professional opinion- ✅Do you feel this retailers reign in the clothing sector ended by its own doing? ✅Could it have been avoided? ✅What other factors do you believe contributed? If you are hiring close to any of these locations closing their doors. Offer an opportunity to the team members not sure what to do next. #leadership #retail #jobs #teamwork

Kit hit’s the nail on the head with this one. It’s a beautiful thing, to see a company attempting to understand the voice of the front lines, experience the day to day in the stores. However, the cynic in me is screaming, what is 8 hours going to do? As a retail leader who grew up in the retail realm, starting as a cashier, 8 hours once a quarter probably isn’t enough. Some of the most volatile stores I’ve ran could have a perfect 8 hour day from 6am-2pm, but what happens when a shift crumbles? When you’re making dinner for your family and the call offs start? It’s a truck night. You’re down to one and one for register and kitchen. You haven’t slept since the night before. No one is answering the phone. No one will pick up a shift. No incentive is going to entice them. Because this is every week. Sometimes a daily struggle. As the store leader/store manager, you create a culture that should have people wanting to come to work and enjoying what they do even if the pay rate isn’t perfect. I always lead my teams with the understanding that I wouldn’t have a job if it wasn’t for them. If you have no employees, then who are you leading? But sometimes incentive isn’t enough. Sometimes OT isn’t worth it. As Kit said, “be utterly exhausted at the end of the day.” If your labor model isn’t working and this is the day to day, or week to week, then 8 hours a quarter isn’t going to show you much. Shadow me or a department lead when labor gets cut. Shadow me after annual raises and help me explain to an employee why a 4/5 star rating got them 75¢ more an hour and how that’s the best we could do. Again, while this is a step in the right direction for Home Depot, I’ve had countless District Managers, Managers of Operations, Directors of Operations, enter my store and help. They’ve stood beside me in the kitchen and assisted through a short staffed, busy lunch rush. They’ve jumped on a register and helped get the line down. I’ve had DMs show up in scrubbing clothes, get down on their knees, and wipe down baseboards, weed the parking lot, scrub bathrooms. Yet, sometimes that’s only for a day, in prep for a dog and pony show, and quite frankly, there were far and few who did the aforementioned tasks when the store needed it. All in all, I can’t wait to read on as Home Depot figures this out. I have the upmost respect for any company who willingly tries to make a difference and tries to understand. Who knows? Maybe a lot of us can learn from what’s about to unfold!

🌟 Reflecting on My Journey: Embracing Collaboration and Drive 🌟 As I step into this exciting new phase of my career journey, I find myself pausing to reminisce on the moments that have truly shaped me both personally and professionally. These are the instances where my unwavering commitment to collaboration and my unrelenting drive to excel have led to remarkable outcomes. 🎯 Driving Compliance Excellence: During my tenure at Target Headquarters, I embarked on a mission to enhance store compliance with CA Title 20 law. In just my first month, I spearheaded the development of a groundbreaking process that not only ensured compliance but also averted a potential loss of $3,500,000 for our Merchandising team. 🤝 Building Strong Partnerships: Cultivating meaningful relationships has always been at the heart of my approach. By fostering trust and rapport with District Managers at Target, I was able to garner their invaluable support for implementing crucial process improvements across their respective stores, thereby mitigating compliance risks and ensuring operational efficiency. 💼 Strategic Innovation: Leading a dynamic team, we crafted a strategic roadmap that held the potential of substantial savings—up to $17,500,000—in pricing workload expense for Target stores. It was a testament to our collective vision and tireless dedication to driving tangible results. 🌱 Nurturing Talent: Guiding and empowering others has been a deeply fulfilling aspect of my journey. Whether it's through mentoring initiatives or providing constructive feedback, I've always been committed to supporting my colleagues in their professional growth and helping them set ambitious goals. 🚀 Accelerating Growth: Fuelled by a relentless pursuit of personal accountability and excellence, I was honored to be swiftly promoted to Senior Business Partner and subsequently to Manager within my first two years at Target Corporation. These milestones stand as a testament to the trust and confidence bestowed upon me by my peers and leaders alike. 🌟 Looking Ahead to 2024: As I eagerly anticipate the opportunities that lie ahead, I am fueled by a renewed sense of purpose and enthusiasm. I am deeply passionate about leading impactful projects, forging meaningful partnerships, and driving transformative results in the year ahead. Let's connect and explore how we can collaborate to achieve extraordinary outcomes together! During this time I also want to take the time to recognize those who have been an instrumental part of my career growth, development, and success: Lori Rinke Erin O'Leary David T Sommer Juan Galarraga Derrick Gorden Murray Williams Holly Parsons Melissa Doll, MBA, CAPM Stuart Ashworth Keith Richardson Tina Janeshek, MBA #projectmanagement #target #collaboration #processimprovement

You can’t set out to be the cool manager and be successful. That was something I would coach new leaders and aspiring ones about. You can be well liked. You can treat people well. But when you set out to be the cool one, that means you are eluding that the others aren’t and undermining the consistency. Consistency is what separates the successful from those with an occasional win. If I could sum up in one word the reason I left a position I absolutely loved: (lack of) consistency. It’s also the one thing that I think is 100 times harder in large stores vs specialty. In specialty, even though there’s an operations manager and an experience manager, at the end of the day, you were still responsible for all of those other daily tasks. There is no “That’s not my area.” To be successful, those values need to be displayed by all leaders. If you have Guest First plastered on the wall, yes, that means even the backroom team and the inbound team. It was something that led a Merchandising Manager I worked with to reevaluate who he was hiring. You can’t hire the “I hate people” person, even in those areas, and successfully run a Guest First culture. Routines have to be consistent. It can’t vary by who opens or closes. Do you stay until scheduled or until open ready? Choose and make sure all leaders are following. It doesn’t matter what you have after work (afterall, you would probably frown upon an associate leaving early). I once had a Store Manager that would always let everyone leave early at close when I was just an associate. The other managers and staff would be chewed out if one item was unfolded on their closes. When the SM closed, it was left a mess. Even as an associate, you can feel that discord. They were trying to win the popularity vote by being lax on their shift, but it actually backfired and made them less respected. You can’t do things just for events or just for visits and wonder why the results aren’t coming. When you’re off, your store shouldn’t miss a beat. If you can’t take a day off without more work, it means there’s no team consistency. All leaders need to have the same expectations. There’s reasons that the company sets standards for everything. You should be able to walk into another store in your brand and it should run the same. Can you? There’s a reason there’s a piece or carton per hour standard. Maybe you aren’t hitting it consistently, but it should be the goal. There’s a reason there’s set loyalty goals. It isn’t something you choose whether or not to drive. There’s a reason there’s a standard of what a line it. It doesn’t matter what register you use, how many items they have, what other tasks need done, or who the manager is. Your guests usually also know that standard so you can’t hide it. To be successful, every leader needs to show up every day with the same expectations. It shouldn’t matter what day of the week it is, who’s closing, or if we are getting a visit. Successful teams have consistency.

CEO Says "Yes" to Starbucks = $116M Power Move How did his 3 shots, pour that on? Welcome back to Next Level Sunday On Friday Brian Niccol became Starbuck's new CEO Making it one of the largest exec comp packages in corporate history 𝗧𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽.: $𝟭𝟭𝟲𝗠 > Base $1.6M > Cash bonus up to $8.8M > Annual equity $23M > Buy out $75M to make him whole from Chipolte Mexican Grille > Sign on: $10M > Plus, he's working remote from Newport Beach What are his 3 shots? 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 > Over Niccol's 8 years at Chipotle, he increased stock value +773% > Starbucks needs a jolt like this, sales are steadily declining 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: > Niccol's "yes" increased Starbuck's $21.4B in 1 day > His ability to deliver long-term value, overflowing 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: > Niccol is regarded as an effective and dynamic leader > Capable of driving cultural and operational transformation. What's the one thing you want to ask Brian Niccol to change When he starts on September 9th Consider a ♻️ repost ♻️ if you love coffee!! 𝗜’𝗺 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗳𝗳, 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗻𝗲. 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀, 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a hidden treasure in my desk - coins that brought back memories of a unique recognition program I developed. During my store visits, exceptional teams were awarded these coins for their outstanding work in customer care, merchandising, and overall excellence. These coins, when accumulated, could be redeemed for rewards like paid time off, gifts, and more. Those who received these coins were celebrated as "LINDA'S ROCK STARS" throughout our company, comprising over 500 locations and 2000 employees. Everyone wanted to get these and the stores would actually call me and ask me when I was coming to visit. And, if I forgot to hand them out, they asked! 💫 This recognition program fostered a culture of appreciation and excellence, boosting morale and driving performance. The average tenure of our team was 15 years. 15 YEARS. With all the struggles we have today just finding staff, think about what you are doing to retain them? Simple yet powerful recognition goes a long way. Who wouldn't want to be a Linda's (your name) Rock Star? 🏆 Recognition matters – it's a simple yet powerful way to motivate and inspire teams. Let's continue to celebrate and acknowledge the exceptional efforts of our colleagues. If you want more information or help building your recognition program, contact me today. 🌟 #EmployeeRecognition #Motivation #Appreciation #retention #employees #recruiting #hiring #training #retailers #TopRetailExpert International Retail Group, LLC Ron Thurston RETHINK Retail Liza AmlaniWendy GannawayMelissa MooreChris IgweTorben Valsted

I get asked alot of times on what made me successful in running my businesses. My answer was simple. Rule #1: Take care of your people. If you take care of your people, your people will take care of you! Rule #2: Take care of your customers. If you take care of your customers, your customers will take care of you!! It's not rocket science! But so many people and companies get caught up in projects or the numbers and sometimes forget about these two critical things. If you always focus on these 2 things, everything else will fall into place. I promise! 😉 Because if you take care of your people then you build a culture where your people love to come to work at. Where they view each other as family. Where it is a TEAM TEAM TEAM mentality. Which the customer experience is the recipient of getting a positive more wonderful experience. Because they see people who truly care about them and all pitching in to take care of them. Plus, this leads to people wanting to join this "team" and be a part of this winning family oriented culture. I can testify to this as well as many of my past associates or customers. I am not saying that we were perfect. No. But we strove for perfection. And we had very little to no turnover. Extremely high promotions from within the program. Many who went from part-timers to full-timers to supervisors to upper management. And I have had a handful that became store managers (mostly women). Over the last 10 years, while many businesses struggled to hire, we were blessed to always have a strong base and a waiting list of hires. Typically only replacing my part-timers from high school and/or college after they finished school and went away. Hiring was never an issue. Thus, culture matters! And at the same time, I was also very blessed by God to also have successful year after year in sales. A result of taking care of our people! Anyone who knows me knows those are my 2 biggest passions. Because I firmly believe in being an advocate for my people and my customers, always! 😉

Retail isn't a solo sport. It's a team game, and the best retailers have built great teams; you simply can't do it all yourself.  We're juggling brick-and-mortar, e-commerce, social media, BOPIS, curbside pickup - the list goes on. You need subject matter experts who can navigate these complexities and build strong teams in their areas. But here's where many leaders really stumble: it’s not just about finding good talent, it’s about keeping them. Want to know why Costco has a turnover rate of just 7% when the industry average is 50%? They treat their employees well, keep them engaged, and create a great experience for them. Remember, happy employees create happy customers. And happy customers drive profits. So, my challenge to you: How are you building and nurturing your team? Are you playing to people's strengths? Are you creating an environment where your employees want to stay and grow?

Retail teaches leaders such a wealth of knowledge and better yet, how to put this knowledge into workable action. Great article.