What I've Learned...

In October, 1995...

I interviewed for a job at the company I am now in charge of. The position was that of the "lead guy" of the music department. I recall as I made a counter offer just days before my wedding for a quarter more per hour.

...if I could only make $6.50 an hour, I would be ok.

Little did I know then, that God had a plan for my life within this company. I know I have made my share of mistakes along the way. But, God sure is faithful, isn't He? He's also extremely patient.

Along the way, I have had the honor to work a lot of talented people. In this, I have always sought to keep a watchful eye as to not miss a lesson that I could perhaps store away for a later time.

As we look back and celebrate our most successful year ever, I have also been looking back on some of things I have learned over the past 11+ years on this journey from that day back in 1995 to today. With this, I would like to share a few with you. Perhaps, at a later date, I will expand on each reflection.

One thing that must be said as I type this is... God is truly amazing and He has a plan for your life. Trust Him, Believe Him, Praise Him... For He is worthy to be praised! I am in this current position by the grace of God.

1. Clarity is the antidote to anxiety
2. Be accessible
3. Become a storyteller
4. Be an example - do I make people want to work here by how I treat them?
5. Be a student - surround yourself with people who have been there, articles that teach you about there, and books that will help lead you there.
6. An idea is no good if it is not implemented
7. Who's at your side? - surround yourself with the right people both professionally and personally. community is critical to provide balance in your life. it is a safety net to ensure that your job does not end up defining you, but who you are... defines your job.
8. I'm no better than you - we all have a roll. it's an (x amount of people in your company) three legged race.
9. You reap what you sow - what are you sowing into the employees lives? People matter, make sure they know it, and i'm not talking about money here either.
10. Be consistent
11. Be sensitive to the needs of others
12. Don't fear authenticity - be yourself
13. Health - to maintain optimum performance ability, seeking a healthy lifestyle and getting proper rest is crucial. In doing this, it will provide proper balance as well as enable you to enjoy increased energy and a higher ability to focus. (I'm still trying to work on this one... :)
14. IMPORTANT ONE**** FAMILY - Outside of our relationship with Christ, it is most important. how much do you have left in the "tank" at the end of the day? anything less than 51% is a problem.
15. IMPORTANT ONE**** A. Have God in your life B. Have God's word in your life C. Have God's people in your life

I look forward to the day when I have mastered each of these. But, the truth of the matter is that we fall down and we get up. Just as long as we never fail to stop learning from each experience we face each day. There are stories out there for all the world to see. In those stories is a lesson. What part of those lessons will be used to help mold and define you?

In other words... what did Mt. Rushmore look like before? It was just a mountain with no faces.

What important lessons have you learned over the years that have helped define who you are today?

Please feel free to post a comment. I can be reached at gunsim@msn.com

31 Days... 31 Questions to Clarity for a Store Manager

Challenged one day by a statement one made about all the projects we gave managers to do. The statement was, "[sigh] this is just another thing to do." I was challenged, because I wanted to peel back that statement and identify the root of such an attitude. Perhaps, in this... we might find clarity. Perhaps, in this... we might find our competitive edge.

So, how well do you know the company, your team, your guests, and yourself as a manager? Take some time to answer these questions and feel free to post a comment.

Gunnar

1. What is the most effective way to motivate your staff?
2. What are the top 3 challenges you face with motivating your staff?
3. How well does your staff perform when you are not onsite? (days off, night shifts, and lunch/deposit breaks)
4. What are the top 3 areas you need help with?
5. What have been the top 2 most effective channels of advertising for your store? Why?
6. What have been the most effective types of sales promotions for your store? Why?
7. What are the top 3 things we can do today to increase foot traffic?
8. What are the top 3 things you can do today to improve conversion rate?
9. Is there a product line that we are missing that would further meet your store consumer needs?
10. Is there a product line that we are carrying that needs an increase of stock that would further meet the consumer needs?
11. How do you increase your average dollar per transaction? What is your stores average dollar per transaction YTD?
12. How much church traffic does your store get?
13. What are the top 3 areas you feel you need to improve in? How can we help?
14. What is your strength as a manager?
15. What is your weakness as a manager?
16. How do you increase sales?
17. How do you increase profits?
18. How do you impact life?
19. How would you rate the overall performance of your staff?
20. How do you improve the overall performance of your staff?
21. How does your staff find out about current company advertising campaigns and promotions?
22. Do you have clarity on what is expected of your role?
23. Does your staff have clarity on what is expected of their role? How often and what tools do you use to coach your staff?
24. How would you rate the overall product knowledge of your staff?
25. How would you rate the overall product knowledge of yourself?
26. What is the most effective way to train your staff on product knowledge?
27. What are the characteristics of a great employee?
28. What are the characteristics of a poor employee?
29. What is the most effective way to motivate you? How do you stay motivated?
30. What part of this company are you most passionate about?
31. What are the top 3 areas we could improve as a company?

Knowledge, Fun, and People

Passion Driven Product Knowledge, Purpose Driven Fun and a Heart for people…
g. simonsen

In October of 1995, I with several others was hired to be a part of the Christian Supply team at our Beaverton location. Quite frankly, back then there were absolutely no job training or job descriptions. There wasn’t even good POS training. So, there we were a whole new store that just relocated from across the parking lot filled with a whole lot of new team members. What a crew we were…

With that said, we came onto the scene like a meteorite armed with three critical desires…

1. We were passionate about the product
2. We loved to have fun
3. We loved people

1989, I sold cars. That’s right, I said it…I sold cars and after 3 months of 6 days per week and 16 hours per day…I quit. In retrospect, I found that I was missing one of these three desires…

1. I loved to have fun
2. I loved people
3. I wasn’t passionate about cars

In this, I realized that I could only have so much fun. But, without having a passion for the product or the mission of the company, it certainly made my job a whole lot harder; it also probably made the work for my employers a little more difficult too as I wasn’t performing at the levels I was expected to. However, before I left, I did have a day where I sold three cars.

Yahoo!

Of course, when I speak of having fun, please know that I do not mean having fun at the expense of the company. I mean fun as in we loved life, we loved working with each other, and we loved to laugh. With this, it made a huge impact on the environment of the store. People just liked to be there. And, if our employees just like to be here…then chances are, this will rub off on the guests too.

Sure, we were all responsible people and though there was lack of clarity on expectations and training, we also had a keen awareness of stewardship. So, it wasn’t just a big laugh-fest. We did our jobs. We kept the store clean, we kept the shelves stocked, we greeted every guest, sought to help every guest, we read all the trade magazines for the latest book reviews and listened to all the new music, we answered the phone with a smile, we held each other accountable, and the best part was…we had fun doing it. Even though there were no job descriptions to be seen and no one specifically told us to do so. We just did it and loved it!

If we saw a need we filled it, fixed it, picked it up and threw it away, or asked the manager about it. We had initiative and we loved it! This coupled with a manager that modeled it was like pouring gas on a fire.

As we head into the critically important Christmas season, let us please be mindful of the importance of these three critically important desires. As leaders, how are we fanning the flames of these desires to create a wild fire that will ABSOLUTELY impact our communities?
For me, 11 years have past and I have found that after all this time…

1. I STILL am passionate about the product
2. I STILL love to have fun
3. I STILL love people

Where do see yourself in these areas? What does your staff see in you in these three different areas?

Fan the flames…

Christmas is coming soon…what will people see when they walk into your store? Will it be Passion Driven Product Knowledge, Purpose Driven Fun, and a Heart for people? What do you see?

Let’s make a difference this Holiday Season! I believe in you and thanks for all you do!

Gunnar

Energy and Service that sets you a part...

TO: All Employees
FR: Gunnar Simonsen

As I have had numerous opportunities to meet with our owner this past year, I feel it is always important to seek to download as much of our conversations as possible to you on the front line. That way, it keeps us in step with our leadership as well as to what really is important.

In recent discussions with our owner about our retail operations, a few themes are consistent…

The importance of service that sets you a part and reflects a personal touch
An environment that reflects energy

Please discuss with your staff the following questions and document them. Hang them up in the break room, hand them out to each staff. It has the potential to become your culture. But for it to become our culture, we need to be the culture.

What does energy look like in a retail store? What effect does it have on people? How is this energy created? Who is responsible for this?
What does service that sets you a part look like?
How do our attitudes and that of our teams play a role in both service and energy?

A few other great questions for you to ask your staff and document are:

List Top Ten Reasons a Guest Would Never Return to Your Store – list solutions for each of the ten reasons
List Top Ten Reasons a Guest Would Visit Your Store and Leave without Making a Purchase – list solutions…

These are critical and yet simple questions that can give both you and your staff a vantage point that might lead you to the next level. Taking the time to actually talk about these things, document them, pass them out, reflect them, act on them, and consistently coach your staff on them could make all the difference. In this, we must be relentless in our pursuit. And, hopefully in this…you may gain a clearer perspective of what is truly important as we seek to set ourselves a part and achieve business success from a reputation standpoint as well as a bottom line profitability standpoint.

Of course, there are other crucial areas as well as you all know with regards to managing our budget expectations. (i.e. payroll, food costs, margins, supplies, etc.)

I guess what it all comes down to is that if your store closed…would anybody notice? What makes us special? What makes us important? What sets us a part? Find our competitive edge and run with it.

Our types of businesses are tough places to be these days and it takes a lot to make them work. But, I believe that if we have the right people in the right seats of the bus with the right attitudes and the right tools…we can do it!

Last night, I watched an interview with Simon from American Idol and he said boldly that it is all about the audience…and he essentially said…they make us…we don’t make them.

And with service and energy…that’s our American Idol and with each guest that walks through our doors…they are our audience and trust me…they do have their remote controls in hand.

Let’s keep them tuned in. Thanks for all that you do and for acting on these dialogue points with your staff. Please let me know what you find out.

Thanks. Gunnar

p.s.

For the sake of returning to science class and understanding how energy works…here are a few explanations.

For the purpose of explaining energy to beginners, I think the best description is the following nearly-well-known Dave Watson definition:Energy is a property or characteristic (or trait or aspect?) of matter that makes things happen, or, in the case of stored or potential energy, has the "potential" to make things happen. By "happen", we mean to make things move or change condition. Examples of changes in condition are changes in shape, volume, and chemical composition (results of a chemical reaction). There are also changes in pressure, temperature, and density which we call a "change of state" in thermodynamics. Phase changes, such as changing from solid to liquid, or liquid to vapor, or back the other way, are also good examples of condition changes. Something happened!

Without energy, nothing would ever change, nothing would ever happen. You might say energy is the ultimate agent of change, the mother of all change agents.