Sharon Kane, award-winning c-store manager at Spar Cullybackey, part of the Henderson Retail group in Northern Ireland, on the challenges of introducing change
Sharon Kane: thought of change is worse than actual change
It’s been a busy month, getting ready for Halloween, planning ahead for Christmas and the introduction of SBO (sales based ordering) into our store.
Not an easy transition when you have a grocery manager, in total charge of doing the order, who believes his method is better than leaving it up to a computer!
One of the hardest tasks in our job is managing change. But when you have someone who has been doing a certain job for such a long time, and to be fair, is extremely good at it, it can be difficult to convince him or her that a computer can do it better, without knocking their confidence.
The skill is to remain positive and highlight all the benefits, which will make his life a lot easier in the long run. And, as he sees it working, his confidence and trust is building.
Sometimes people’s thought of change is worse than the actual change itself, but reassurance and proper explanation can help smooth the transition.
Award-winning store
To update from where I left of last month, I am delighted to say that I was awarded Store Manager of the Year, in the independent company-owned category, at the prestigious 2008 Retail Industry Awards.
This is one of the biggest accolades anyone could achieve in their career and to say I am over the moon is an understatement.
I will also be attending our local awards shortly, the Ballymena Business Awards, and I will let you know how we got on next month.
Due to our awards’ success last year, winning Henderson’s company-owned store of the year, I have been extremely lucky to be invited to attend the Spar Convention being held in Scottsdale, Arizona, with a two-day stop over in New York first.
This promises to be an opportunity of a lifetime and, don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about that next month too.
Sharon Kane