Archived Newbie SFTL needs help

[KillerTL]

So I moved from Food Ave to sales floor team lead. I am not totally new to sales floor. I worked some hardlines shifts as a team member so i knew the basics (zone, pulls, reshop and a little on setting SPLs)

I made the switch in November and I was told that I would be sent out for training at the first of the year after 4th quarter. I've continued to ask my etl about training and nothing concrete comes of it. Is there even a point in worrying about training at this point?

I've been told I'm doing a good job but I want to do better. Its just frustrating because this is a store that was recently removed from the red store list so there are still tons of issues. I have team new team members who i haven't seen in a week or two due to cutting hours. This past week we have been trying to cut so much to make payroll for the month that there hasnt been more than one TM for hardlines and electronics throughout the whole day and this includes closing. (It is impossible for one TM to zone ABCDE in a super target and keep up with pulls and reshop)

I've been told our biggest opportunity is training the new TMs because the most senior hardlines TM I have is from last October. I just dont understand how I can train or work with TMs when I don't see them or have the chance to work with them.

A number of my TMs have issues with zoning. Do any of you out there stress the importance of detail zoning or mainly just train them to get the zone finished?

Any training tips would be greatly appreciated.

As far as my own training the only things I've really learned is how to plan my spl workload for the week. Other than SPLs, i just fill encaps, train TMs when i have one, push clearance, pulls, reshop, 4x4 on occasion (i want to implement a good 4x4 routine but I dont really know where to begin)

Anything else I should be trying to learn from others or teach myself because my ETL is struggling with finding time to help me develop.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

On 4 by 4's, start on 1 or 2 areas that are low or empty on products, be aggressive on research, labels & zone. Then, your product shows up & reward is increase sales. Time is not your friend now, there will be many days with no team to lead until March or April. Learn everything you can.

 

[BackupEverything]

From what I've seen, evening zone is mainly a TM pushing a shopping cart down each aisle and using it to collect stray items (that will eventually be reshopped) and doing very minor touch ups unless there is a major mess in an area or one part of the store is designated as a priority by the LOD.

Considering how much ground there is to cover in a store, you can't expect much more unless you have more people. What I've been told by long-time TMs is that once upon a time, the goal was every item at the front of the shelf facing out and looking amazing, but that just isn't the case anymore.

That being said, I've seen for myself how sales can be driven by nice-looking displays, and so that is a very worthy goal. One thing I've seen done is that the LOD or TL running the zone will do end caps themselves, while TM(s) do the aisles. As a result, the end caps end up looking nicer and drive sales. But a lot of it is based on how well you can partner with your colleagues. If the GSTL has a cashier they can spare, will they reliably assign them to zone whatever area is closest to the lanes? Does your ETL have a similar mindset as you do to reinforce how things should be done? Do you and your ETL work opposite weekends? I know that's the case with my TL and ETL and since they're on the same page, it offers good reinforcement for the team, some of whom only work weekends. And of course, you'll need to have a consistently good replenishment team or your evening work will get broken by daybreak.

My final thought is that if zone is an area of opportunity for you, make overall appearance of the department your emphasis, not necessarily just zone. My leadership consistently points out how quality displays mean more sales and more work hours and that we are supposed to constantly touch up and improve things as we move about our areas as we help guests, work pulls and reshop so that the zone isn't so overwhelming at night. If we didn't do that, I think our store would look like garbage, quite frankly.