Archived Advice for becoming a TL

[Flowtm12]

I would like to become a team lead, currently my store doesn't have any open positions but we don't have anyone on the TL bench. Most of the threads I've read on here about becoming a TL the TM was approached by leadership. So I guess my questions are has anyone had success with going to leadership and telling them you want to be a TL? I know most of the time when there is an open position they already know who they want for it. Who should I talk to about it? What is the interview process like? What kind of questions are asked? I have only been with target for about 2 years and have no management experience do I have a shot? Any help or tips are appreciated!

 

[WalmartDrone]

Funny thing, today I was approached by my HR on my development. He says he sees me as either Consumables or Backroom TL. Anyway, you go up to them and you hound them to develop you. One thing they constantly need from you is a sense of urgency and being one step ahead of the game. Yes, you have a shot if you work hard at it and you kiss ass to management.

Questions are the STAR method with your ETL-HR, STL and possibly DTL. Typical stuff "Name me a time you had a difficult project" etc dumb shit like that.

My advise to you is this: Don't wait for them. Show them initiative and inform them you see yourself more than just a TM, the tricky part is to wow them. Be a leader amongst your peers, take ownership of something and go from there.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

You can check on ehr & see if your store or another store is hiring. Spot usually gets TL's started on the bench, then the job.

 

[theanimal]

I became a TL by telling my TLs and ETLs I wanted to move up. Took me a while but it all paid off, they started giving me little things to improve and such and with time I was holding people accountable. Staying at your own store gets a little weird at times if you are friends with people that you may need to follow up with. From my understanding you only do interviews with ETLs and the STL, no longer with the DTL. I'd say start by talking to your leaders and start taking ownership in some areas that need improvement.

As far as questions go, if your store is reallly going to help you develop, they will give you sample questions to practice.

 

[Spitfire]

Mention to your ETL that you'd like to develop towards TL and ask them to take on more responsibilities. They'll definitely give you something, because team members taking initiative is great and makes everyone's job easier. Manage the execution of said responsibility and you'll prove yourself as someone who gets stuff done and you'll get a great interview story out of it.

Being a TL is more than just being a top performing TM; ask your ETL/STL for responsibilities/projects where you can start flexing your leadership skills. That'll show you're actively invested in your development and should get the ball rolling. Focus on this kind of stuff first, interview prep will come later.

 

[cobycord]

HR would fall in love with you if you ever came to their office and told them that you wanted more responsibility. A big focus for our district is having TLs and ETLs on the bench, any good HR-ETL would jump at the chance of having a TM who would want to work on doing more than just zoning and doing strays.

 

[SrTLall]

I have TMs who are hard workers that would never translate to a TL.

I look for people who try to solve problems and create permanent solutions where we have gaps in our store. Finally, translate that solution into practice and get buy-in from your peers.

Since you're cross trained in multiple areas and you train people as well, I'm sure you have thought 'hmm, I wish there was a better way to do this...' Brain-storm something, run it by your TL, so it does 't look like you're going rogue, and implement your solution.

Being a primary contributer into turning a store's opportunity into a win is the easiest way to showcase what you can do and move up to TL.

 

[sher]

My store occasionally does an event where TMs can express interest and learn more about it all. But if you express interest outside of one of those official types of things, it doesn't make a difference vs going to the event. I skipped the event, but I applied for a promotion once, so for a while they thought I wanted to move up and they were giving me opportunities to do more. I don't actually want to because the 2 bench people in my particular store are being taken advantage of and have been for years. Don't worry, though. That's just my store. If you want to move up, you should say something.

 

[smashandthrash]

Tell them and show interest. Get a TL and ETL on your side for development. Kiss your STL's ass Get on your STL's good side and try and relate to them. My store was very political in this way... the STL was interested in surrounding themselves with yes-men. BUT. My experience. Other TL's here can really help guide you.

 

[cobycord]

honestly, I did two things and was offered the ETL intern position. 1) I looked over all the break room and tried to learn everything that was happening in stores around the country. If I saw something that looked like it could be true I inquired about it. Turnover is a focus this year and leadership wants to keep people who they know will work hard and be promotable. My DTL made it mandatory that all his stores keep 2 TLs on the bench and one ETL on the bench because no one it seemed was being developed. This website is a Shangri-La of information that you can take, process, and share with your store and to leadership it'll show that your interested in the company. 2) Straight up tell your leadership that you want to promote, I told my ETL-HR that I wanted more responsibility. Unfortunately he'd been there so long that he'd started to become more of a friend to TLs than a resource and because I had so many of these TLs smiling in my face and telling me how good of a job I was doing then talking behind my back he really just said okay and smiled and I pretty much went on my way. THANKFULLY a new ETL-HR that had just been promoted from a TL position came in and my STL saw something and kept challenging me so when the time came they honestly had no choice but to promote me because i'd shown them i deserved a chance at something greater.