NACS Leadership Challenge
96% of NACS Leadership Challenge attendees recommend the program to their colleagues because the focus is on acquiring skills you can use on the job to improve leadership and operational performance.
In 2012, Leadership Challenge participants achieved the following performance improvements after returning to their stores:
- Turnover improved 7%, 25% and 35%
- Inventory control improvements from 16% to 45.8%
- Inventory shrink improvements of 38% and 76%
- Inside sales growth from 8.6% to 11% to 16%
- Cash controls improved 46%
These performance improvements, and others like them, are made possible by the Leadership Challenge Formula for Performance Improvement.
Business Experience + Leadership Intelligence + Ability to Execute = Improved Performance
In this formula each participant brings in-depth, operational business experience (knowledge and skill) to a weeklong intensive program. The faculty adds a large helping of leadership intelligence (self-awareness, self-management, team effectiveness, coaching, performance management, etc.), which is integrated through a variety of instructional methods. Once thoroughly mixed over 5 intensive days, the proof of the pudding is in each person's ability to execute over the next 6 months with his or her group of stores.
Qualified applicants must have several years of operational experience.
Pre-Assignment: Upon acceptance into the program, a pre-assignment is required of all participants. This is a Workplace Perspectives Survey patterned on 25 years of the Gallup organization's research on how to keep your best and brightest and maximize profits at the same time. (Isn't that the leadership challenge?) The participant's store managers complete the survey. Their combined responses benchmark the participant's current behavior on 15 critical dimensions of their leadership that are critical to employee satisfaction and productivity.
At the on-site retreat, we start by diving deep and looking at leadership from the inside out. All current research shows that behavior (what we say and do; our actions) and our decisions are driven by our values (ours, our superiors, our companies) and those actions and decisions drive our performance; the results we are measured on. Discussions, group projects, readings, and experiential activities drive the concepts home.
Back home, the field application project is the third and final part of our leadership development model. What is apparent over the years is that the business goals of each L.C. participant almost always fall into three or four categories: building sales and profits, reducing shrink or turnover, and employee development at multiple levels. All are industry and store-level performance specific.
Each participant joins a business team of their choosing to work on the store-specific business challenge they most need to accomplish. They are supported by other class team members who work similarly in their respective company's group of stores on the same challenge. The "back home" designated mentor of each participant is expected to approve the project chosen and has committed to offer support.
13 years of outstanding store-specific results by the highly diverse business teams we create to solve your business challenges/goals attest to the fact we have exposed a high potential opportunity to improve customer loyalty as well as employee loyalty. All it takes is an investment in behavior change and new performance management techniques.
Back home, the field application project is the third and final part of our leadership development model. What is apparent over the years is that the business goals of each Leadership Challenge participant almost always fall into three or four industry- and store-level performance categories:
- Building sales and profits
- Reducing shrink or turnover
- Developing employees
Each participant joins a business team of their choosing to work on the store specific business challenge they most need to accomplish. They are supported by other class team members who work similarly in their respective company's group of stores on the same challenge.
Following the 6-month program with the incredible "high" that many participants experienced, the on-going challenge becomes how to sustain the change in leadership style and behavior. Feedback on the effectiveness of their leadership practices is essential for their continuing motivation.
Enrollment is limited to 22 individuals from NACS retail member companies and, as a result, is competitive. Due to the likelihood of a waitlist, NACS reserves the right to select participants from registration forms once received.