Archived is being a team lead difficult?

[redcounts]

What are the everyday job duties of a team lead?

Obviously, no job is Easy peasy. But is there alot more tasks than a regualar team member?

Do team leads schedule employees? & can a team lead fire an employee?

I know they also do stuff that regular team members do too like reshop, zone & lead the team at night & assign tasks to team members.

Is there like sales planners to set? I've seen team leads set end caps before.

I'm sure setting end caps is easy though.

& what if your promoted to team lead and they decide they don't like you as team lead anymore, do they put you back as regular tm?


Sorry for so many questions. I know i'm a pain in the butt lol

 

[commiecorvus]

Which department TL are you asking about?

 

[betzph]

Being a Supervisor, aka mid level management in retail is one of the worst positions one can hold anywhere period.

 

[APredux]

Difficult compared to... what? Being a non-leader TM? Yes, significantly more difficult. Deadlines to meet, routines to complete, metrics to exceed, and likely stress. But you are also paid more. Depending on your position, experience, education, etc, possibly a lot more.

 

[redcounts]

Say Market team lead or hardlines team lead. Is there any other higher paid positions? Like cosmetic specialist at target?

What deadlines?

What routines for example,

& what is considered metrics?


& say you are a manager, and say the store doesn't meet the "sales goal" every night, would that be put on you?

Sorry for all these questions. I'm just curious because I am interested in moving up. I want to be more than a team member.

 

[redstripes]

There are many many variables to account for in this.

Before addressing anything else, "specialists" are no longer a title, and the pay grade that was once related to specialists is mostly obsolete. The brand team members are often the "new specialist", but at a lower pay grade.


As far as the TL position goes…
If you are in a store that is not performing the only way to not be on the hot seat is to have an all green work center that is proven to be contributing positively to the store, and that still may not be enough.

In addition to executing job tasks yourself and with your team based on daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly goals, you will also be responsible for team follow up. If you have a hard time giving praise or coaching others this will be very difficult. Many people underestimate the challenges of consistently and effectively coaching or recognizing others in the work place (your own team members and others) and this can be detrimental to your personal performance. This may come up in a team member that you cannot terminate despite a resoundingly poor performance, losing a stellar team member due to the feelings of under appreciation, or even a bad score on your BTS survey.

Depending on the store, as a Team Lead you may write the schedule for your team. Depending on work center this can be easy or very difficult. For example a Price Accuracy or PPTL may have to write a schedule based on number of markdowns, but also be aware of and open to last minute changes. You may only have 5 hours to give a team member one week, but 36 the next.

You will not be responsible to fire someone, but the documentation on performance will fall on you if at the year end someone on your team is performing at a U or IE score. Depending on your HR and STL getting rid of an employee may be very difficult despite documentation.

Again, there is so much more to it, and the work center you are assigned will change things, but you are measured and put under pressure all hours of attendance. If this all sounds good to you, find out more from your TL and ETL team, and they can talk to you about opportunities in your area and with yourself.

Lastly, if you are promoted to TL and you are not performing, there is more or less no way "out". You cannot demote under regular circumstances. Once you have attended the meetings and know the "inside knowledge" within a store, they will not want you working as a standard team member in that store. Exceptions may be permitted if you move far away and cannot secure a TL spot in a new store, but this is also not considered a normal practice.

 

[Kartman]

"Inside knowledge?" Da fuk?

 

[redstripes]

"Inside knowledge?" Da fuk?

Team Lead meetings may talk about knowledge that team members shouldn't at large know. For example discussions may go:

ETL "Jane, John, and Jill all are cashiers and applied for Target Cafe."
GSTL: "Jane calls out once a week, and I don't have enough cashiers that know Food Ave to replace her every time."
HTL: "John is an expert on everything in electronics and is really up to date with toys, and as soon as my hours come back I want him in my work center. I've asked him his thoughts and I know he is interested."
FATL "Jill is dating one of my current team members, and they seem to distract each other enough without being side by side all day. I don't want her moving in so they can just hang out all day."

For obvious reasons this sort of conversation wouldn't occur at an open huddle.

Other things that are talked about are team members that should be considered for team lead bench, coaching opportunities around the store, and in-store changes that may not yet be completely unveiled knowledge yet.

It's not CIA level knowledge, but understandably they don't want a demoted team lead walking up to Jane, John, and Jill and saying "So all the team leads think you're a flake, Jane. And that you can't keep it in your pants, Jill. But since you're a guy John, they think you're the best thing ever and that you are better than working at Food Ave."

 

[YourPPTL]

There are many many variables to account for in this.

Before addressing anything else, "specialists" are no longer a title, and the pay grade that was once related to specialists is mostly obsolete. The brand team members are often the "new specialist", but at a lower pay grade.


As far as the TL position goes…
If you are in a store that is not performing the only way to not be on the hot seat is to have an all green work center that is proven to be contributing positively to the store, and that still may not be enough.

In addition to executing job tasks yourself and with your team based on daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly goals, you will also be responsible for team follow up. If you have a hard time giving praise or coaching others this will be very difficult. Many people underestimate the challenges of consistently and effectively coaching or recognizing others in the work place (your own team members and others) and this can be detrimental to your personal performance. This may come up in a team member that you cannot terminate despite a resoundingly poor performance, losing a stellar team member due to the feelings of under appreciation, or even a bad score on your BTS survey.

Depending on the store, as a Team Lead you may write the schedule for your team. Depending on work center this can be easy or very difficult. For example a Price Accuracy or PPTL may have to write a schedule based on number of markdowns, but also be aware of and open to last minute changes. You may only have 5 hours to give a team member one week, but 36 the next.

You will not be responsible to fire someone, but the documentation on performance will fall on you if at the year end someone on your team is performing at a U or IE score. Depending on your HR and STL getting rid of an employee may be very difficult despite documentation.

Again, there is so much more to it, and the work center you are assigned will change things, but you are measured and put under pressure all hours of attendance. If this all sounds good to you, find out more from your TL and ETL team, and they can talk to you about opportunities in your area and with yourself.

Lastly, if you are promoted to TL and you are not performing, there is more or less no way "out". You cannot demote under regular circumstances. Once you have attended the meetings and know the "inside knowledge" within a store, they will not want you working as a standard team member in that store. Exceptions may be permitted if you move far away and cannot secure a TL spot in a new store, but this is also not considered a normal practice.

Not completely true. They let our patl demote she stayed in our store and on the same team she was in charge of.

 

[POGguy]

Be ready for a lot more responsibility. And TLs demoting is very rare. Only seen it once or twice. Usually one of two things happen with TLs: they quit or get performanced out.

 

[Backroom22]

To demote you will need a valid medical or personal reason for doing so. When demoting they will most likely want to send you to another store, however this is not set in stone and it is possible to demote and stay in the same store. However, demoting is not something they will do lightly and will have to involve your HRBP and Target legal.

 

[redstripes]

Not completely true. They let our patl demote she stayed in our store and on the same team she was in charge of.

Ours have always been required to quit and wait 6 months before reapplying.

EDIT: To address Backroom22's response.
in our store even medically required demotions were told to quit. Just the experiences I've witnessed.

 

[Retail Girl]

I watched the GSTL stand around and talk and gossip to the PATL and other TMs (some of who were on the clock and others who were just in shopping) so much yesterday, I nearly went into compliance, and then she got pissed at me for bugging her about my lunch (10 minutes ahead of compliance) instead of waiting for it to be "convenient" for her.

I've watched another TL do GSTL for the day by standing in front of the cashiers reading a magazine. This TL will also spend tons of time in the TSC doing not much while lines form in her department and they punch the "extra assistance" button that she ignores.

So it might be hard. It might not be. It depends on if you do your damn job and if you have a team who is willing to work hard enough to pick up your slack if you don't do your job.

 

[jenna]

Depends upon several factors - your boss, your STL, other Team Leads, and team members. Not to mention sales volume, and payroll. And your vendors if you are a TL in Market.

The actual "work" done by a TL is fairly easy - setting/planning endcaps, ad walk, zoning, stocking, back up cashiering, interviewing, etc.

Accomplishing it all (and doing it well) with little payroll, or apathetic team members and ETLs is what makes it difficult.

Time management skills, and people skills are a must. You have to be able to alter your leadership style to match those who are on your team that day.

ETA: I am talking about being a salesfloor TL. Flow TL, BR TL, and PogTL is a whole other ball of wax.

 

[commiecorvus]

To demote you will need a valid medical or personal reason for doing so. When demoting they will most likely want to send you to another store, however this is not set in stone and it is possible to demote and stay in the same store. However, demoting is not something they will do lightly and will have to involve your HRBP and Target legal.

Remember the rule ASANTS.

I've seen a lot of threads about people demoting for various non-medical reasons and being allowed to stay at their store without there being any issues.
I think there are a couple of regulars on the board who have done this.

However I've also seen people who have gone through major battles.
So, it seems to vary broadly depending on the management.

 

[tgtguy]

We have someone at my store who demoted and still works in the same area as she did before. Her reason for demoting she just didn't want the hassles anymore. She couldn't be happier.

 

[tgtguy]

I am sure being a tl ,srtl can be tough but the ones in my store....all they do is stand around. IF they do any work that's all we hear about, how Suzy team lead pushed a caf etc etc. I have never in my life seen a group of leaders who are so afraid someone doesn't like them and or is talking about them. They walk around and talk crap about everyone but you better not say one word against any of them. I know there are those tl, srtls, out there who work hard and look out for their teams and to those I say thank you for doing your job. However, those types of leaders are in short supply at my store. Well let me rephrase that...they aren't in short supply they simply don't exsist in my store.

 

[monkeyman90]

I watched the GSTL stand around and talk and gossip to the PATL and other TMs (some of who were on the clock and others who were just in shopping) so much yesterday, I nearly went into compliance, and then she got pissed at me for bugging her about my lunch (10 minutes ahead of compliance) instead of waiting for it to be "convenient" for her.

I've watched another TL do GSTL for the day by standing in front of the cashiers reading a magazine. This TL will also spend tons of time in the TSC doing not much while lines form in her department and they punch the "extra assistance" button that she ignores.

So it might be hard. It might not be. It depends on if you do your damn job and if you have a team who is willing to work hard enough to pick up your slack if you don't do your job.

i'm under orders from the stl not to be on a lane and be at the front available for any question/blinking light. don't fill endcaps/ set endcaps. this leads to many hours of gstl/gsa doing nothing at all but walk around. its not always our choice, and we would like to be productive.

 

[RedMan]

i'm under orders from the stl not to be on a lane and be at the front available for any question/blinking light. don't fill endcaps/ set endcaps. this leads to many hours of gstl/gsa doing nothing at all but walk around. its not always our choice, and we would like to be productive.

But you aren't just doing nothing. Hopefully you are engaging the guests, zoning the lane, motivating your cashiers, recognizing the work done by your team. It may look like nothing to others, but you are very busy and very productive.

 

[Retail Girl]

i'm under orders from the stl not to be on a lane and be at the front available for any question/blinking light. don't fill endcaps/ set endcaps. this leads to many hours of gstl/gsa doing nothing at all but walk around. its not always our choice, and we would like to be productive.

I'm a GSA. I know what we are expected to do at our store while running the lanes and standing around gossiping with TMs and other TLs and reading magazines ain't it.

 

[Ajax11]

If you have a soul and actually try to hold your team to reasonable standards, give them decent hours, and treat them all equally fairly then being a TL completely and totally sucks.

If you are an asshole, transfer all of your ETL's unreasonable demands onto your team, hold them responsible for not doing 3x the workload that corporate says they should get done because that is the payroll you received, hold them accountable to the same standards whether you assign them 30 hours of workload or 5 for the same shift (no cutting corners allowed), then being a TL might not be that bad. (Being told your TM are I.E. even though they routinely accomplish 1.5-2x the work corporate says should be done, asked to coach your team that did 12 hours of work in an 8 hour shift because "they didn't look like they were working hard enough")

 

[PinkZinnia]

Team Lead meetings may talk about knowledge that team members shouldn't at large know. For example discussions may go:

ETL "Jane, John, and Jill all are cashiers and applied for Target Cafe."
GSTL: "Jane calls out once a week, and I don't have enough cashiers that know Food Ave to replace her every time."
HTL: "John is an expert on everything in electronics and is really up to date with toys, and as soon as my hours come back I want him in my work center. I've asked him his thoughts and I know he is interested."
FATL "Jill is dating one of my current team members, and they seem to distract each other enough without being side by side all day. I don't want her moving in so they can just hang out all day."

For obvious reasons this sort of conversation wouldn't occur at an open huddle.

Other things that are talked about are team members that should be considered for team lead bench, coaching opportunities around the store, and in-store changes that may not yet be completely unveiled knowledge yet.

It's not CIA level knowledge, but understandably they don't want a demoted team lead walking up to Jane, John, and Jill and saying "So all the team leads think you're a flake, Jane. And that you can't keep it in your pants, Jill. But since you're a guy John, they think you're the best thing ever and that you are better than working at Food Ave."

I don't know what secret society store you work at, but all this is spoken about pretty freely on our floor, though they don't want team member comments.

 

[PinkZinnia]

Our store has had a few tl's step down to tm's. Mostly because they needed to cut their hours for personal/family reasons. It wasn't a big deal except that they had to take a cut in pay and are also expected to cover when other tl's call out.

 

[NeoDarikona]

The bigger issue about being a team lead is now officially being held accountable to the process or departments metrics and be more in the spotlight. This is extremely problematic if you have executives who are less than...pristine humans.

Oh, and you're guaranteed 32 hours a week minimum and a minimum 1.50 raise or some nonsense. So I guess you have that going for you.

As far as demotions, standard practices from a chit chat I had with HRBP is that it's not something they want happening. It makes the leadership look bad because they pushed the person to be signed off and suddenly that person can't do the job. It's why the practice is that they really need to know you want it before they send you off for the interviews for team lead. It happens though, with my store letting about 4 demote or transfer from AP to salesfloor. Coincidentally, they never seem to last more than a year. A nearby sister store was much more strict, I was aware of several of the team leads there and two of them just mysteriously became problem performers when they brought up demoting and started pushing. Odd coincidence of course. Of course, everyone knew who the HR was at that store, and how much of a cesspit she was.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

I am sure being a tl ,srtl can be tough but the ones in my store....all they do is stand around. IF they do any work that's all we hear about, how Suzy team lead pushed a caf etc etc. I have never in my life seen a group of leaders who are so afraid someone doesn't like them and or is talking about them. They walk around and talk crap about everyone but you better not say one word against any of them. I know there are those tl, srtls, out there who work hard and look out for their teams and to those I say thank you for doing your job. However, those types of leaders are in short supply at my store. Well let me rephrase that...they aren't in short supply they simply don't exsist in my store.

The sad part is, my favorite srtl got blasted by new stl for not doing their job his way. My srtl works very hard at front end, he doesn't understand spot process. He is from Wally world.