Managing mavericks can be both difficult and rewarding

I found a very interesting article in the BBC website earlier this week and it reminds me of so many people I've worked with in retail-

'Sir Richard Branson freely admits that he would be a difficult employee for any boss to manage.

One of the UK's best-known and wealthiest entrepreneurs, he says that if he were a member of staff at another business, his line manager would have to "accept that I might not do things exactly as he'd like me to do them"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33609566

His argument is that the new ideas and drive that such mavericks bring to a business far outweigh the fact they may often be difficult to work with.'

The issue has always been that the maverick element in any worker has been so difficult to work with that they've ended up unappreciated and often in trouble. Not toeing the company line is always a dangerous path to tread - especially if you've got a line manager who's a stickler for the rules.

I've always said in large retail that if you're producing the results then nobody really cares how you do it. If you're suddenly not producing the results then it's ahead because you're not following the prescribed formula. But the reality doesn't fit the narrative. There will be parts of a mavericks performance in the good times that enables the store to perform and the team to achieve. It's down to a good manager to nurture this.

I worked with a guy once who was perfectly content to sit on a till for his entire shift day-in, day-out. I inherited him when I took over a failing store and he worked in his own way. He had been identified by the previous manager as part of the problem because he didn't follow the company line. He spoke informally (this was a petrol station and on his shift the customers were predominantly lorry drivers) and his whole persona was as a mate, not a server. But whatever you put in that till and asked him to sell - he sold. Everything from short-dated biscuits to cigarette lighters for every smoker and from dented tins of chocolates to doughnuts. Doughnuts were a big thing for this company and we were the tip sellers of doughnuts in their UK operation after we got the informal guy in on the act.

And all I had to do was nurture his talent, smooth some of the rougher edges but mostly - let him be himself. There was this disastrous attempt at restructure where I took him off the early morning shift and the lorry drivers and attempted to use his selling skills with the school-run mums in mid-afternoon. His informality rubbed them up the wrong way. But that was a short-lived experiment and he was soon back in the mornings selling away. From being seen as 'part of the problem' to actually being part of the solution wasn't a very long journey. Like most mavericks, he had a genuine sense of his own self-worth and was able to immediately switch back on his positive selling traits when he was encouraged to do so.

I know that we're looking at complete different levels from Richard Branson to 'guy in a petrol station' but the right talent nurtured in the right way becomes the leaders of tomorrow. Our seller is now an area manager and is able to see other mavericks in the network and identify with them.

What if I have mavericks in my organisation?

Is say that the first thing to understand us not to trample on them. Trying to form them into regular employees that fit nearly into the role that job descriptions define won't work for you or for them. There will be short-term disruption followed by the maverick leaving and possibly starting on their own. Spotting the individual talent that the maverick has is a large part if the journey. Then finding out how you can utilise this with as little disruption as possible to the rest of the team is the next step. Like our petrol guy, there may be areas where you put the maverick that don't work. Just don't be afraid to make the change again, having learnt the lesson from the previous placement.

I think that persevering with your maverick can have great long-term effects. The maverick can change the way you operates for the better, bring in new ideas and practices or bring out the best in their colleagues. Just understand that they're not trying to be difficult - it's just who they are.

Conflicting stories emerge about the success of 'Click and Collect'

Some news stories have emerged in recent times about the phenomenon that is 'Click & Collect.'

"A click-and-collect company which announced a major deal with Network Rail is to open fewer parcel collection points at stations than planned.

Doddle now wants to recruit people to use their own homes as pick-up points for internet shopping."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33597033

"Click-and-collect is a fairly new battleground for UK retailers, and promises rich rewards for daring firms.

It has been hugely popular over the past five years, as customers embrace the convenience of being able to order goods online and pick them up in store or elsewhere."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33371265

Now I don't think that both stories sit happily hand-in-hand and it's another case of the truth being more shades of grey than the black and white reporters make it out to be.

I've blogged loads of times about the advantages of 'Click & Collect' and I feel that these apply whether you are a High Steeet chain or a single independent retailer. It allows you to sell products online that maybe you can't stock in store. It brings people through your door that may not have otherwise visited, customers who collect spend more money whilst in store. There are even companies that allow you to collect things that you've not even bought trough them - Argos have set up collection points for eBay purchases and mdny independent stores have become Collect+ locations, with sellers including Amazon.

So why are John Lewis different?

Obviously they've looked at their business model and they don't think that it works at present. I've heard the head of their organisation talk before about customers needing to change their pricing expectation when ordering online. He believes that customers need to stop expecting a product at the same price and free delivery. I think he's deluded. The fact that they don't have to pay High Street or shopping centre rent, the savings in staffing and the reduced security concerns of having customers walk through their doors should mean a cheaper online product in my eyes. It's why Amazon are so successful - their long-term model to now has been online-only sales.

For independent retailers I'd say that having an online store will bring you extra business, not extra costs. Enabling your local customers to collect directly from you should increase your market, your footfall and your profits. Whether you do this through your existing website, a custom-built sales-only website, eBay or Facebook, one things for sure - you'll bring more people through your door, whether physically or digitally.

And that can only be good.

A lack of consistency frustrates your long-term team members

The reason I mention this is I've recently been working with a retailer and there have been a lot of changes happening, linked to the appointment of a new area manager. Many of these changes are reversing decisions made over the last two or three years. The effect this is having is that the longer term movers of the team are confused and frustrated as to why these reversals are taking place. As conscientious members of the team, they took in the reasons for the initial changes and worked hard towards ensuring that they educated teammates and customers in the new processes. The entire team understood the reasons given for the changes and got behind these reasons.

The reversal of changes, unfortunately with little explanation from the management team, looks like one of three things-

*the company has no long-term plan

*they have a long-term plan but it's not working

*the management team don't know the long-term plan

And it's the perceived hypocrisy that frustrates and annoys the workers.

Long-term planning is key to the structure of a business and it gives the guidelines for every other decision that the business makes. It's important to ask of every decision - does it fit into the long-term plan? The framework of the business revolves around the long-term strategic planning that takes place at the top of the organisation. These strategies look at the course of the organisation over the next 2 years and beyond. This, in turn, dictates the short-term decisions that affect the day-to-day and week-to-week running of the business and each of it's outlets.

For example, if you decide that the long-term plan is to have a great conversation with every customer then you will need to put things in place to make that happen. You will probably need more staff, a dedicated training programme and an area in your store where these conversations will happen. And you'll probably set off along the road to carry out these steps.

Now imagine, that you cut staff and remove the 'conversation area' from your store without communicating any reasons for the change. Your team would feel confused and at least a little lost as to what parts of their roles to continue and what parts to change.

And you can understand how the team members felt with the retailer I have been working with.