Personnel management: how to create a stable team in the store?

05.10.2023 16:31

Trade automation expert at Torgsoft

Система управління пероналом The issue of human resources management usually becomes relevant for a manager when the business starts to grow and there is a need to expand the staff.In this article, we will consider strategies for effective HR management, the principles of building and the importance of corporate culture for the development of the company, and identify the main causes of conflicts among employees and signs of a healthy psychological microclimate in the team.

Corporate culture: what does it depend on and how to create it?

Corporate culture is not just about dress codes and company branded products. Its essence lies in the presence of ideas, values, and common goals within the team that should unite it.

A certain set of rules of behavior helps employees to orient themselves in the team faster, and makes it easier for the manager to manage it.

The store's corporate culture, on the one hand, determines the style of communication between employees, and on the other hand, their behavior with customers in typical situations, increases staff motivation, reveals their abilities, and thus educates them in the way the business needs.

The ultimate goal of corporate culture is to project the company's values from the team to customers and strengthen its reputation in the market.

How to successfully build a corporate culture in a store?

The process consists of several stages:

1. Determining the mission for which the team was formed: forming the foundations of the company's internal philosophy and values.

The fundamental values of Torgsoft are: time - we value our customers' time and our own, professionalism, public accessibility - we speak simple language about complex things and make accounting accessible to entrepreneurs, responsibility, constructive interaction, mutual assistance, tact and respect for each other, order and discipline, systematization in everything.

2. Formulation of corporate standards of the store: behavior of employees, ethics of communication with each other and with customers, norms of informal relations (minimum: prohibition to drink alcohol at work, disclose personal or family relationships, etc.)

3. Introduce the practice of "brainstorming", joint discussions of work situations and finding solutions.

In a sales team, this may include analyzing such situations:

How to deal with scandalous customers?

Sellers' actions with regulatory authorities,

What to do if a customer or employee spoils or damages the goods?

What to do if the buyer insists on a discount or lacks a very small amount of money to buy?

Sellers' actions in case of theft of goods by customers,

Relations and communication with partners, distributors and suppliers of the store's goods,

What to do when a secret competitor visits the store? and other typical situations.

Instructions for communicating with customers are accumulated gradually in the team, and this invaluable experience should be written in regulations or corporate standards. In this way, you will have your own internal code, which can later be used as an adaptation guide for newcomers, in methods for certifying salespeople and other corporate events.

4. Formation of company traditions, its identity and external attributes, which will be reflected in the positioning: uniforms for salespeople, a single style in design, advertising, store interior, branding of promotional products.

The role of the manager in creating corporate standards

Psychologist Edgar Shayne, a consultant to many successful corporations, believes that the best mechanism for instilling values in a team is the behavior of the leader himself, from department heads to the CEO or founder.

Employees tend to pay attention to the following features in their bosses' behavior:

Focus of attention: What does the boss control or study the most, what does he or she monitor? What are the main triggers of their behavior?
Critical situations: How does the boss react to critical and uncomfortable situations? How does he or she resolve conflicts and how does he or she behave?
Compliance of the leader's behavior with the values implemented. Does he/she set an example for his/her subordinates? If employees are required to adhere to a dress code, does the boss follow it? Does he show respect and kindness to his subordinates and clients?

7 tips for HR management in 2024

The HR management system is constantly evolving, and in 2024, it is important for entrepreneurs and business owners to take into account current trends and employee needs.

1. Focus on people. The most important part of any business at all times is its people. Create a culture where employees feel valued and motivated.

2. Invest in training and development. Train and encourage your employees to develop to help them become professionals in their field and to facilitate their contribution to the overall result. This can be done by organizing online courses, seminars, or individual trainings for staff.

3. Create a culture of trust and collaboration. In 2024, more and more people will be looking for a job that reflects their values. Develop mutual trust among employees so that they feel their voices are heard. Promote collaboration. For example, organize employees into focus groups or teams to solve a specific problem.

4. Be transparent and fair. Employees want to feel that they can trust their leaders. Make honest decisions about each employee. Also, give regular feedback on their work.

5. Analyze your actions. Continuously collect employee data and generate reports to determine what is working and what is not. This will help you identify any problems and make the necessary changes.

In order not to lose anything important, you need a well-established system that would allow you to store all information about employees in one database, track their productivity indicators, working hours, and schedules, as well as calculate salaries, bonuses, and allowances for successful sales.

This task is perfectly handled by the Torgsoft program, which is able to keep records of employees, analyze the effectiveness of each salesperson, and motivate them to keep records of personal sales.

In particular, the program option "Linking the sale of each product to the seller" assigns the sale of goods to a specific seller, which is especially important for calculating personal sales of consultants in a store with one cash register.

An additional option of the program "System of salary calculation and motivation of salespeople" is able to automatically distribute bonuses or bonuses to employees for achieving sales goals. All this helps to create a stable team that is always focused on achieving results.

The undoubted advantage of automated control over employees is that the store manager frees up time for more important strategic tasks.

6. Promote a balanced approach of employees to work and personal life, which will increase their satisfaction and productivity.

7. Develop human resources. Attract, retain, and develop talent by relying on internal reserves and focusing on the leadership development of such employees.

How to create a healthy psychological climate in the team?

A well-coordinated team has a normal mental and psychological climate, respects the corporate culture, and is focused on achieving success through joint efforts.

Such an atmosphere is characterized by optimism, the ability to think and create freely, grow intellectually and professionally, make mistakes without fear of punishment, trust, mutual support during force majeure, responsibility for one's part of the work and keeping promises, and open communication.

Signs of an unfavorable climate: lack of initiative and unwillingness to contribute to the company's development, pessimism, irritability, apathy, tension and conflict, uncertainty, fear of punishment, suspicion.

A real-life example.

When implementing computerized accounting in a store, we constantly have to observe how sellers perceive this innovation. It has been noticed that in successful retailers, before automating a store, the manager informs all staff about it.

At a meeting, he explains the need to implement changes and improve teamwork: "As a manager, I decided to install a computer program for accounting - it will facilitate the work of sellers and the warehouse, and help to serve customers better, provide them with additional services that cannot be implemented without the program. We need to develop and be different from our competitors. All of this will allow us to work more profitably and, ultimately, improve the well-being of each of us".

In such teams, there is a noticeable cohesion, with salespeople actively learning the program, offering options on how to organize the acceptance and labeling of goods, and modeling possible situations. Employees feel involved in the improvement of the store and show enthusiasm.

On the contrary, in stores where the owner does not talk to the staff about upcoming changes, it is immediately obvious that the corporate climate is "lame." Sellers perceive the introduction of computerized accounting as an interference with the usual well-established scheme of work, master the program reluctantly, get irritated if something does not work out, resent having to learn something new, criticize, and so on.

To understand the general temperature in the team, pay attention to:

✓ the level of staff turnover,

✓ the number of tardiness, absenteeism, and breaks in work,

✓ the number and nature of claims and complaints from partners, clients, and employees,

✓ completion of work on time or late, obligation to fulfill assignments,

✓ accuracy or negligence in handling store equipment

✓ team inertia and resistance to innovation or, conversely, initiative and enthusiasm.

Reasons for employee dismissal:

uncompetitive salaries,
unfair payment structure,
unstable earnings, delays in payments,
inadequate or unsafe working conditions that lead to health problems,
oppressive or unpleasant management, conflicts in the team, and a "juicer" attitude towards staff,
Lack of opportunities for promotion, training, professional development, development, career growth,
long or inconvenient working hours,
lack of a special need for employment (the employee is not the family breadwinner, works to keep busy),
ineffective selection and assessment during hiring, throwing newcomers to the front line,
problems with transportation to the place of work,
lack of awareness of staff during restructuring or other global changes in the company: people do not know what to expect,
instability of the company, which is manifested in frequent changes of management, frequent dismissals and recruitments,
personal reasons (moving, marriage, maternity leave, illness, etc.).

Typical causes of conflicts at work

1. Gaps in pay and division of responsibilities.

Most people crave justice. And despite the fact that this concept is subjective, it is very important that employees who perform better receive more. A situation where "the one who carries the load is the one who gets the boot" and at the same time everyone is nominally equal is a very irritating factor that offends the more responsible and professional employee.

If you, as a manager, trust one of your employees more, entrust them with more important tasks, and are satisfied with their work, this should be reflected in a promotion, salary, bonus, vacation, more comfortable workplace, or new equipment.

2. The manager gets into the specialist's area of competence.

This happens when a business owner or manager takes away an employee's part of the job and demonstratively shows how he or she thinks it should be done, or often makes unreasonable and insignificant adjustments "just to make it work." Such an arrogant leadership style can cause irritation and resistance among professionals, or an unwillingness to do anything at all.

3. Psychological incompatibility of employees.

People who differ in age, temperament, nationality, standard of living, education, and professionalism may feel uncomfortable with forced interaction with each other. This is how a hidden conflict arises. You can recognize it by observing people: employees rarely approach each other and try not to contact each other. In this case, the manager should focus everyone on work, not personal feelings.

4. The presence of "protégés" in the team.

In a small business, having "your own" person helps to keep the staff in good shape rather than destabilizing them. In any case, you should make sure that your "own person" is a true specialist, otherwise you will not avoid the typical problems of a family business.

Signs of a healthy microclimate in the team

✅ The team has informal relationships outside of work (employees are friends in everyday life and share common interests).

✅ The team adheres to traditions, everyone is happy to attend joint team events.

✅ Employees, regardless of their position, freely express their opinions when discussing issues related to the common cause and any improvements.

✅ Employees feel satisfied and proud to belong to the company. They often use the pronoun "we" in their communication.

✅ There is a collective search for solutions in case of difficulties or conflicts with customers.

✅ Employees are well informed about management plans and the state of affairs.

✅ Sellers always have something to tell the manager about the day: what successful deals were made today, which of the buyers "distinguished themselves", etc.

✅ Employees are aware of the current affairs of your business: what prices and products competitors have, what interesting advertising chips they have seen, they share valuable information.

Creating a stable team in the store requires systematic work and the introduction of new approaches to personnel management. Automation can greatly facilitate this process and help a store succeed in this area. It is also important to combine strategic thinking, flexibility, and the ability to meet the modern labor market in HR management.

Програма обліку товару для інтернет-магазинів, крамниць, торгових точок, складів та виробництва

Екатерина

14-03-2019 в 10:11:19

Чтобы в коллективе была мирная обстановка и не было недовольных своим положением, необходимо не выделять среди них " любимчиков " и персонал подбирать по возможности одного психологического типа. Ведь известно, что одни люди работу делают быстро, а другие медленно, и здесь как раз и будет тот случай, когда одни будут выезжать на других. В крупной организации желательно иметь своего психолога, чтобы он видел ситуацию изнутри, если возникнут конфликты среди работников.

Thank you for your feedback! It will be published after being reviewed by a moderator.

Last name and first name
Phone number
Other contact information
Database type
Do you need a call and consultation from a company employee? Yes No Choose one of the options
I agree with Torgsoft's Privacy Policy. Please review Torgsoft's Privacy Policy. If you agree, please confirm below.