January 2013 already!
Things have been so busy in Timaru that is has taken me since September last year to get on here and update my blog!
Where to start?
Timaru definitely got off to a really good start and I instantly enjoyed working in a large store again, and the icing on the cake is how close I am to home. A 2 hour drive at the end of my working week has me back in Christchurch spending time with my friends and family. One of the biggest contributors to your success on the programme is your flexibility and ability to move between any of our 91 stores and locations. Although I am close to home now, and in the region of stores I began my career in 6 and a half years ago, I have spent my share of time away, and expect to do more travelling as my career progresses.
I have set myself up in Timaru slightly different to the other locations I have lived in while on the SMDP. Rather than a flatting situation with other people (which when travelling on the programme I highly recommend as it can be highly social and a good start in a new town), I have opted to rent my own house. I felt while in Timaru I wanted to be fully independent, and have my own space, which has seen me rent a 2 bedroom apartment like house, with a bit of a section too! Over 5 months in Timaru now and definitely enjoying the decision! I have to admit though, I thoroughly enjoy it when I have mates come down and stay!
On to the job now. As I always say, on the programme the learning never stops. After completing all Team Leader roles and gaining experience as an ASM in Cambridge, I was happy with what I had learnt so far. 5 months on in Timaru, I have learnt soo much more still. Every store and environment is different, and as an ASM, you also have to manage and lead different sized and skilled management and leadership teams. I am lucky in Timaru to have a great team, who thrive on success and enjoy development and coaching you give them. I am fortunate to be working for one of the company’s most senior and experienced store manager’s. He constantly challenges me, and often gives me extra responsibility or even more- the whole store at times! With all of that comes feedback sessions which are highly valuable. All part of his way to develop me to be ready to be a store manager one day.
In my role in a bigger store, I have all areas of the store managed by a manager or at least a supervisor, so for the first time in my career, all the results that I drive, are actually driven through manager’s who drive it through their own respective teams. It takes a while to get used to, as I have become so used to working directly with a team member to achieve a result. But this can be highly rewarding as an ASM when things start to tick for you.
We have been lucky in Timaru as a store who is achieving some spectacular results. Since October, Timaru has been not only the number 1 ranked store on the balanced score card for our region- but the entire business. A result we are not getting complaisant with, but certainly celebrating. We all understand that we still have a lot to work on to not only maintain this result, but continue to improve. ‘Continuous improvement’ is a term the management team hear me use a lot, and it is all about assessing how we have performed, taking the good and the bad, and adjusting next time through our learning’s to be even better still! We have recently outlined the big rocks that will give us our biggest bang for buck as a store throughout 2013, to ensure we are all aligned to each other.
We got through Christmas 2012 quite well. We achieved sales targets, and had some fun along the way. Now that it is over, all the team are going about taking some leave and spending some time with their families. When all the management team are back together, we will go offsite and spend some time doing a very thorough debrief on Christmas as a whole. What went well and what could we do differently next Christmas to create an even better environment for our team and customers (continuous improvement).
I recently enjoyed some time off, and after boxing day, flew to the gold coast to spend the new years period with a group of friends to relax, unwind, and of course enjoy some cold ‘fantas’! Back and refreshed now I am motivated and ready for a cracker year that will be 2013!
