Archived Can someone tell me what are the ETL and STL core roles?

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Have hour breaks at Starbucks, have hour breaks in clerical, wear a walker but turn it down or off, walk around the store once a day, delegate everything they possibly can, fuck with the schedule, freak out over a possible DTL visit, ask you to do the impossible. Those must be the core roles just judging by the way many ETLs behave.
 
From a lot of the threads I'm reading it seems likea lot of our US sows don't have the best leadership teams in place.

I am an ETL here in Canada and my core values are the wellbeing of my team. My role as explained to me is mainly over watch of my teams and ensuring that everyone is developing in their position and recieving the appropriate support where possible. Either from myself ora TL.

I work a lot on coaching my teams and funny enough chasing them down to make sure they are taking their breaks.

Obviously there is a lot more that we do but I would say personally that my team is my core job.
 
For one of my stores it was

ETL Logistics - Do not retain the 6 weeks of in-store training from the previous ETL Logistics. Call in hours after failing to open the store for the Flow team to lie that you were admitted to the hospital; in reality, you partied too hard the night before. Then threaten the store that you won't turn store keys in until you get your last check.

ETL Hardlines - Get married then have relations with a 18yr old TM in your office.

ETL HR - Just sit your office browsing the internet and working on crafts. And pawn off the schedule making to clerical.

STL - Threaten TMs of termination if they don't get their Red Card apps scores up.
 
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From a lot of the threads I'm reading it seems likea lot of our US sows don't have the best leadership teams in place.

I have so many jokes to go with this but but I'm going to start with the ETLs not knowing how to make a silk purse.

You're right the team is the core role of the STL and ETL but since most of them haven't been that far around the block most only know the list that they are sent by Spot.
 
Maybe they have a copy on those super important clipboards they would never be caught without?

At my store one of the ETLs walks around with a clipboard and a cart filled with random folders and boxes. They have to force him out the door hours after his shifts end, which would be great if he actually did shit.
 
Maybe they have a copy on those super important clipboards they would never be caught without?

At my store one of the ETLs walks around with a clipboard and a cart filled with random folders and boxes. They have to force him out the door hours after his shifts end, which would be great if he actually did shit.

I have one of those too! Then the other ones don't do anything either...
Only one person on my store's Exec team is any good.
 
We have a new STL, so I have no knowledge of him yet....

BUT, i've been pleased with my interactions with the majority of our ETLs. They dig in and work - HR always answers a backup call to the pharmacy first if she is in the building.
 
My opinion on this would be their roles are to make sure that no one dies or gets hurt. Basically a baby sitter role and also take credit for the good things that happen while placing blame on others when bad things happen.
 
An ETL's job generally is to delegate and make sure the work gets done. That doesn't mean that they should always jump in and do it themselves. HOWEVER, they should know when it's necessary to jump in and help the team. They are also responsible for making sure the staffing is sufficient for the expected workload.

Example of good ETL:
Overnight had a few call ins and as a result, there's a lot of backstock left over from the truck and rapid progress needs to be made so instocks can do accurate research on outs on the floor. A good ETL will see if there's anybody available to come in and help and if necessary, come back himself and knock out some of the areas with less backstock which allows instocks to research those areas on the floor and the more experienced (and thereby faster) backroom TMs to focus on areas with more backstock.

A bad ETL will just look around and say "Make sure it gets handled" and disappear for a few hours before showing back up and complaining that you're behind.


There are plenty of examples of both. Personally, I viewed it as this: If I can't get things done without asking an ETL for help, I'm either short staffed or I failed in doing my job as a TL. That is of course looking at it from a backroom perspective where the workload is fairly predictable and guest interference is usually minimal.
 
I think the saddest part of this thread is that in all the time since it was posted and all the replies, not one person has actually been able to provide the actual core roles of an ETL or STL. Contrary to the above posting, the core roles are not to "help when the team falls behind". It kind of makes you question all the TMs who say that ETLs aren't doing their job.... because it is clear most TMs don't even understand what an ETL does.

At the ETL level, the core roles are about controlling, planning, leading, and organizing. That is it. It is an upper management, salaried, FLSA exempt position for college grads. They are not getting paid $50,000+ to help TM's stock the shelves.

An ETL should be controlling what is going on in the store - the entire store, at all times. Yes, that means delegate work, give instructions, decide if things are running as they should.

An ETL should be planning. That means deciding who is going to work where, what a department needs to be doing tomorrow/next week/next month, preparing for both good and bad situations.

An ETL should be leading. That means all the nice buzz words - "inspiring change", setting an example, inspiring trust, etc. Part of this *does* involve helping with the daily work, but it is only a small part of leading.

And finally an ETL should be organizing. They need to be making sure that they are partnering with other ETLs, the STL, TMs, and TLs to make sure everyone is on the same page. (need to be doing this constantly) They even need to be doing this to a small degree with other stores. They need to be making sure they are balancing their own time to make sure they are able to get all of the other things they need to do done. They also need to be making sure everyone below them is balancing things properly to get everything done.

The above is what a *manager* does. Everything else is what a *worker* does. (Worker: Stock shelves, check guests out, zone, work stray, etc) A lot of people don't want to hear this. They want to hear that a manager does what a worker does, because it lowers the "power distance" between the two. No one likes to be reminded that someone else has more power than they do, but the fact is, that is life. The fact is, there is a lot that a manager does that a worker doesn't have to do, doesn't have to think about, and doesn't even have to be aware of.

So you may ask - WTF is a TL then? Well, a TL is weird quasi-worker quasi-manager. They share some of the roles of a manager, but also some of the roles of a worker.

Does any of this mean that a worker (TM) is not important? Absolutely not. As people often note, things wouldn't get done without TMs. This, however, doesn't change the fact that TMs are not managers and ETLs are not workers.

So to the OP - now you know what the core roles of an ETL are. (If you want the same thing, but full of Target lingo and bull sh** catch phrases, you can login to work bench and get the core roles in Targets words there).
 
I think the saddest part of this thread is that in all the time since it was posted and all the replies, << snip >>

Unfortunately, many of the new ETLs think they can do the above from an office chair without walking the store, let alone the area for which they are directly responsible for. Granted there is office work, but there is a ratio of leadership to task. A former ETL in my store left early, or called in frequently. Probably was in the store 25 hours a week, and the majority of that was in the office.
 
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I think the saddest part of this thread is that in all the time since it was posted and all the replies, not one person has actually been able to provide the actual core roles of an ETL or STL. Contrary to the above posting, the core roles are not to "help when the team falls behind". It kind of makes you question all the TMs who say that ETLs aren't doing their job.... because it is clear most TMs don't even understand what an ETL does.

At the ETL level, the core roles are about controlling, planning, leading, and organizing. That is it. It is an upper management, salaried, FLSA exempt position for college grads. They are not getting paid $50,000+ to help TM's stock the shelves.

An ETL should be controlling what is going on in the store - the entire store, at all times. Yes, that means delegate work, give instructions, decide if things are running as they should.

An ETL should be planning. That means deciding who is going to work where, what a department needs to be doing tomorrow/next week/next month, preparing for both good and bad situations.

An ETL should be leading. That means all the nice buzz words - "inspiring change", setting an example, inspiring trust, etc. Part of this *does* involve helping with the daily work, but it is only a small part of leading.

And finally an ETL should be organizing. They need to be making sure that they are partnering with other ETLs, the STL, TMs, and TLs to make sure everyone is on the same page. (need to be doing this constantly) They even need to be doing this to a small degree with other stores. They need to be making sure they are balancing their own time to make sure they are able to get all of the other things they need to do done. They also need to be making sure everyone below them is balancing things properly to get everything done.

The above is what a *manager* does. Everything else is what a *worker* does. (Worker: Stock shelves, check guests out, zone, work stray, etc) A lot of people don't want to hear this. They want to hear that a manager does what a worker does, because it lowers the "power distance" between the two. No one likes to be reminded that someone else has more power than they do, but the fact is, that is life. The fact is, there is a lot that a manager does that a worker doesn't have to do, doesn't have to think about, and doesn't even have to be aware of.

So you may ask - WTF is a TL then? Well, a TL is weird quasi-worker quasi-manager. They share some of the roles of a manager, but also some of the roles of a worker.

Does any of this mean that a worker (TM) is not important? Absolutely not. As people often note, things wouldn't get done without TMs. This, however, doesn't change the fact that TMs are not managers and ETLs are not workers.

So to the OP - now you know what the core roles of an ETL are. (If you want the same thing, but full of Target lingo and bull sh** catch phrases, you can login to work bench and get the core roles in Targets words there).

the main issue is that while it may be defined by Target that your core roles don't include "helping" with the menial tasks that doesn't change the fact that people in this world don't respond well to managers that only bark orders then disappear. This separates the good ETL's from the ones that only last six months to a year. Spot likes to wine and dine kids out of college into thinking ETL means you just plan and develop but the reality is a team can't be led from a desk at tsc no matter what Spot wants to put on a bullet point list of core roles. Taking three day weekends, coming into work 3 hours into a truck process, never showing your face at guest service but complaining on the walkie about red card numbers, taking a coffee break 30 minutes after walking into the building, may all be well within the Spot core roles but doesn't change the fact you aren't motivating your team.
 
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To be fair, stateoftarget's answer is the most accurate one as far as Target policy is concerned. The amount of involvement in the store's day to day functions that is expected of an ETL is ultimately going to be up to the STL. I've seen both extremes before where the STL expected the ETL staff to be neck deep in helping get things accomplished, to borderline "coaching" them if they so much as open a box instead of telling a TM to do it instead. We can all debate how much that we expect them to "help" but it's always going to vary by each person's definition of leadership.
 
Because there is no clear definition of the core role as far as TM's know, its all up to perception. And its their perception that is applied when they do their annual survey. If they have an office gopher as an ETL, many will likely have some dissatisfiers on their survey when grading their leaders.
 
In the past three weeks, I have heard two ETLs say, word-for-word, "that's not in my core roles," when asked for help by team members drowning in work. That type of communication and leadership style is both unacceptable and reprehensible. Had the STL overheard those comments, the ETLs in question should have been put on immediate disciplinary action.
 
In the past three weeks, I have heard two ETLs say, word-for-word, "that's not in my core roles," when asked for help by team members drowning in work. That type of communication and leadership style is both unacceptable and reprehensible. Had the STL overheard those comments, the ETLs in question should have been put on immediate disciplinary action.

Errr... no, they wouldn't. ETL's *do not* have to help TMs do their work *unless* they are specifically told by the STL "Hey, go help them out now".

How else would you like them to tell you this? Basically, they are telling you it is not their job to do *your* work.

This is the same as, for example, an electronics TM walking up to a cashier and saying "Hey, I have lot of work in electronics. Come help me out". The cashier is entirely in the right to say "No, that's not my job. What I am doing now (cashiering) is my job." The only exception would be if someone above the cashier (TL/ETL) said "Hey, go help him out now"

The problem is, you are a TM not an ETL. You have no authority to tell an ETL to go help you do your work. You also, frankly, have a lot of audacity yourself.... just like the electronics TM who goes over to a cashier and wants them to come help them do their work in electronics. Your ETL has work to do too, believe it or not. Just because you may think less of their work or say "Oh, that's easy and my work is hard" doesn't change the fact they have other things to do besides help you do your work.

Honestly, you are lucky your ETL only responded with "that's not in my core roles". If a TM tried that stunt at my store (telling an ETL to come help them do their work), that TM would be on the quick path to a write up.
 
This list can be found on workbench. Just search for ETL Core Roles.

ETL Common Core Roles

  • Perform LOD duties; ensuring team is productive and store is brand
  • Walk the salesfloor and set goals and expectations for the team
  • Coach and follow up with TMs
  • Identify and resolve any issues including in-stock, presentation, pricing, or signing
  • Work on personal development; seek feedback
  • Lead the team through new initiatives and change
  • Take part in contribution meetings
  • Promote well-being
  • Help others to be their personal best
  • Provide amazing moments (both to guests and TMs)
  • Assess and pick talent from the TM level
  • Performance Management: recognition, coaching, providing feedback, corrective actions, and performance reviews
  • Hold TMs accountable for position training
  • Follow up with new TMs on their training
  • Take action in team commitments
  • Ensure schedules provide proper staffing
  • Develop business leaders
  • Lead a compliance culture
  • Drive a safe and secure culture
  • Encourage safe behaviors
  • Lead a culture of sales and expense financial accountability
  • Use tools and reports to meet or exceed payroll goals
  • Demonstrate awareness, engagement, and accountability for gross margin
  • Appropiately prioritize and drive continuous improvement in the areas of the profit formula to impact total store profitability and company earnings before interest and taxes
  • Promote theft and fraud prevention through guest service
  • Guarantee TMs are handling food by following the food freshness standards
  • Complete timely and quality merchandising transitions
  • Drive excellent instocks with minimal outs
  • Hold team accountable for accurate pricing, signing, and zoning to planogram
  • Maintain a clean and efficient backroom
  • Maintain a clean store (interior and exterior)
  • Empower the team to make it right for the guest
  • Must spend more than 50 percent of time on leadership activities, rather than hourly tasks
These are the common roles that all ETLs share. Keep in mind that each ETL also has core roles that are specific to his/her workcenter.
For example, the ETL-HL and ETL-LOG have the same common core roles, but they each have different additional core roles.
 
I have never worked retail before. I have a different mindset then most...I just go in, do my job, and go home. I see the chiefs huddled and chatting all the time...they are all young. Their interests are boyfriends, tattoos, etc. As long as they bring me change when I request it, then I am fine. For cashiers (or anyone dept), if one is not happy in their job, then find a new one.

ETL Logistics - Do not retain the 6 weeks of in-store training from the previous ETL Logistics. Call in hours after failing to open the store for the Flow team to lie that you were admitted to the hospital; in reality, you partied too hard the night before. Then threaten the store that you won't turn store keys in until you get your last check.

ETL Hardlines - Get married then have relations with a 18yr old TM in your office.

ETL HR - Just sit your office browsing the internet and working on crafts. And pawn off the schedule making to clerical.

STL - Threaten TMs of termination if they don't get their Red Card apps scores up.[/QUOTE]
 
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