Monthly Blog - May

So, having only two real days of mentorship within the month of May, I feel that the one aspect of store management that I've focused on the most would be salesmanship. Salesmanship is the defining factor of customer service that determines whether or not you are going to make a sale. One of the temporary mentors during my mentorship had told me how important it was to appeal to customers and try to get them to buy certain merchandise that would possibly benefit them. One instance at my mentorship would be to get the customers to at least buy ten of our fine doors for the day. So, in order to do that, I had to ensure that people were actually within our ReStore looking to buy doors. Making a proper sell on a door meant that I had to take into account the following properties of said door: correct size according to customer preference, clean pristine condition (no chipped paint on the door or abrasive scratches), and correct weight and material (there are huge differences between security doors, outdoor doors, indoor doors, etc.)

Another important aspect in salesmanship would be to ensure that you have confidence in selling the item to the customer. The store's reputation is at stake if you sell an item that is in bad condition or wouldn't service the customer to satisfaction. It's important to sway over your buyers and ensure confidence by providing your extensive knowledge and faith of the quality of your product. As seen above, our doors are in relatively well condition, considering that we sell almost all doors of all shapes and sizes for around $10 each. With the price considered and the condition of the item, I was able to sell about twelve doors that way, which was a fantastic feeling because usually the door section could become packed. All-in-all, that's the gist of May, salesmanship and my final senior presentation! A good month of learning and preparation for myself.

Blog 23: Final Lesson Reflection

(1.) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and\or senior project? Why?

I felt that my stage presence was immaculate during my senior project presentation relating to store management. I had great volume, a professional and fiery presence, and I had kept the audience engaged by providing substantial, high-quality information backed up by reliable sources such as books and examples from mentorship. These aspects are extremely important when it comes to telling the audience about a relatively information heavy topic. The key element of a good presentation is finding the balance between high-quality source information and being interesting to your audience.

Behind the scenes for my senior project, I worked extremely hard on both of my Independent Components #1 & 2 along with putting in a total of 113 hours into my entire senior project. I felt that both of my Independent Components that were posted on the blog contained high quality information and related flawlessly toward my essential question. I was also extremely detailed on those Independent Components' and the importance behind them. From training new volunteers and organizing the main loading dock, I worked in collaboration with a team, which is the absolute essence of being a manager; working with fellow employees to successfully complete objectives.

(2.) Questions to Consider

a. What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation?

Undoubtedly, I would give myself a grade within the P+/AE Range. I worked extremely hard on rehearsing and absolutely dominated the front with every aspect of my oral presentation. I was strong, confident, and I kept my audience engaged and entertained. As said before, great quality of information and interesting stage presence are definitely the main factors within creating a successful senior presentation. I referenced lots of high quality sources and provided a ton of examples from my mentorship at Habitat for Humanity Pomona Valley.

b. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project?

Speaking from honesty, normally I don't ever give myself or recommend my grade to be higher than a P. However, I found that during the overall senior project I had met lots of deadlines and put in an extensive amount of work into my senior project. I found that the senior project was absolutely eye-opening and revolutionary to changing and adjusting my opinions about store management. My own blood, sweat, and tears were etched into the very fabric of this project. Keeping strong during the hardships and high workload of mentorship was one of the most fantastic feats I've ever accomplished. Throughout the summer and even to the spring I've stuck with my ReStore through thick and thin, and my mentors have commended me as a valuable volunteer, worker, and leader. Also, compared to lots of other senior's blogs, I feel like I've added more detail and more emphasis on the importance of the work that I have performed. Very rarely do I say this about a project: I know I worked hard and I know I deserve an AE. 

(3.) What worked for you within the senior project?

• Multiple qualified mentors
• My emphasis on research and mostly using book sources
• The detail added on each of my blog entries
• My ability to meet deadlines and gain quality information
• My ability to go above and beyond in my exit interview and lay out my extensive mentorship record and knowledge of my Independent Components and answers for my EQ 

(4.) What didn't work? If you had a time-machine what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time.

Extremely hard to find flaws within my mentorship. I would say that if I had to change anything, my mentors would be present to watch me during the senior presentation and I would take more pictures with ReStore workers and the people I have trained during the course of my Independent Component #2.

(5.) Finding Value; How has the senior project been helpful to your useful endeavors? Be specific and use examples.

My mentorship has taught me the importance of being adaptive both as a manager and a worker. Always expect the unexpected. Never leave anything to chance. Always respect the possible occurrence of Murphy's Law. Be prepared. Hope for order, but thrive in chaos. I've also learned an entirely new prospective on customer service and leadership and performance management. As a person, this senior project has aided me extensively in real world, high-risk scenarios that involve close collaboration with other people. The connections I've made at my mentorship have actually given me a leg up. I've been given the invitation to take a job straight out of high school by the ReStore and I really find that as an accomplishment as a volunteer. This project I will never ever forget because I've actually found a career path that I'm proficient at, straight out of high school. During project groups in the future, I'll be able to plan out and take charge of any teams and meet deadlines effectively. I say that with the utmost confidence. Thank you senior team for this difficult, yet challenging and insightful project. The hardest of steel was forged in the fieriest of flame.

Blog #22 Mentorship

Content

• LIA Response to Blog

Literal

A link of my recorded mentorship hours will be on the side.

Contact Name: Sara Timberlake

Area of Mentorship: Habitat for Humanity Pomona Valley ReStore

Contact Info: (909) 399-0202

Interpretive

During the duration of my mentorship, I have learned many store managerial aspects such as leadership with teammates, meeting deadlines, conflict resolution, customer service, and volunteer/employee training. The most important element is extremely hard to decide, due to the fact that all of these types of manager skills are important to have within a business setting. Personally, if I had to decide the most important, it would have to be leadership skills within a team setting because employees are the lifeblood of any type of operation that seeks to sell a service or product. Essentially, without leadership skills, there is no store. One person cannot do all of the tasks within the store on their own. It's all about collaboration and making sure that everyone is satisfied with their position and on the same page.

Applied

With the Pomona Valley ReStore being a place that's extremely unpredictable in terms of customer influx, I would say that environment helps to find efficient answers to my EQ: what is the most effective way to manage a store during the busiest hours of the day? There have been many times within the year, most notably the beginning, where customers always came into the store and needed to be serviced and aided, throwing the store into a bit of a panic because there were times where we at the ReStore were understaffed. Now, being in that environment, the management have made some changes to policy in order to counter-act certain issues that we would have. The management adapted based on certain circumstances, which is a fantastic lesson to be learned when working in a store setting. You have to know what your problems are and figure out how to address them. To add onto another lesson I learned, I've learned that it is paramount to ensure that all staff and volunteers are not losing interest in the cause. Losing staff and volunteers is not ideal in a setting where understaffment is the norm. As a manager, you must keep employees engaged and satisfied while at the same time setting standards and challenging your workforce to grow in both skill and aptitude for their service.

Blog #21 Exit Interview 

Content:

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

My EQ: What is the most effective way to manage a store during the busiest hours of the day? 

1. Answer 1: By practicing smart and efficient prioritization
2. Answer 2: Increasing employee engagement and job conditions within the workplace
3. Answer 3: Have a strong presence and show that you're in control towards both employees and customers alike.

With employee turnover higher than it has ever been nationwide, increasing employee engagement and job conditions within the workplace is unremittingly the best answer. Employees are the lifeblood of the store. Without dedicated and capable employees, the manager would have nothing to work with. Increasing employee engagement is essential because employees become more productive and are less likely to leave during the duration of their jobs or careers. Having the lowest employee turnover ensures that the workforce can grow in both job ability and experience.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

Common sense. With all honesty, after the duration of my mentorship, I found that within a department store environment, the work output expected from each employee on a daily basis is more than anticipated. There are a lot of tasks and missions put upon the backs of the workforce, and in anyway to ease the work experience of that work force is very helpful. At my mentorship, the ReStore, all volunteers, staff, and management are encourage to both ask and lend assistance wherever and whenever needed. When I, as a volunteer, work in that type of environment, I tend to built up strong ties with the staff, management, and other volunteers. It feels rewarding and it's what keeps me going back to lend my time and support. Work is only excruciating when the job isn't meaningful or you aren't getting anything out of it in return. I see my ReStore as a place of learning and a good environment to learn about customer service skills, prioritization, and ethics of great teamwork. 

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

Biggest problem would be my mentor, Andrew Johnson leaving. I really grew attached to both his managerial style and the way he's taught me various skills over the past couple of years. However, this problem was a morale issue, not a technical issue. The biggest technical problem I could see would be thinking of an activity and sifting through the many possible answers for my EQ. There are MANY sentences and tips that could answer the my essential question. Management of anything tends to be very situational depending on what is being managed. Stores are a tricky concept. I've had the pleasure of working at the ReStore and volunteering to do some tasks at a grocery store. My answers tended to cover the more leadership and store presence aspect, but I felt those were the most important. Everything within management can be subjective, depending on who's giving the orders and what the status of the situation is.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

Learning by reading solely books has never worked out for me. The most effective way I learn is through experience. I've had over a year and a half of experience through the ReStore and I've learned a ton of info on the following elements of management: customer service, human resources, logistics, teamwork and leadership, department organization, and more. However, none of these things would have been possible if they weren't facilitated by my two mentors, Andrew Johnson and Sara Timberlake. Both of them have gone through leaps and bounds to teach me. Without the ReStore, the organization of Habitat for Humanity, and they, I wouldn't have had the slightly chance of knowing what I do now. My two mentors were very hands on with me and they both gave me invaluable feedback whenever I performed an important task for them, whether it would be right or wrong. They would go through and critique me, telling me ways how I could do better the next time I perform that activity. Those two were both very awesome to my learning experience.

Now, the second source, which is a book, is actually tied between four books, which are listed below. 

1. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity by David Allen
2. The Virgin Way by Richard Branson
3. Managing People's Performance in a Nutshell: Fast-Track to Success by David Ross
4. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Leadership Fast-Track by Susan Caba

All of these books have taught me valuable concepts relating to leadership, team management, decision making, professional speaking language, and manager presence. The best source, however, would have to be Managing People's Performance in a Nutshell: Fast-Track to Success by David Ross. This book has taught me a lot about employee coaching and performance management, which correlates with my best answer. The author is a coaching expert and the founder of a leadership workshop group known as "Performance Unlimited." The way the author's facts, arguments, and opinions are presented within the book are backed up by real life experiences, examples, and science.  

Monthly Blog - April

Things have really kicked off at the ReStore! Most of the work at mentorship I have done within the month of April have been concentrated on my Independent Component #2, which focuses on the training of employees. This has been a very insightful month in which I have worked with awesome people to learn one of the more dynamic aspects of store management: the focus on employee preparation. I've had the pleasure of training three volunteers in different aspects such as proper equipment usage, ReStore policy and mission statement. and customer service skills.

Aside from what I've done for my Independent Component #2, I've learned one of the most important aspects of store management which has to relate to the pricing of products and what the value is of merchandise. Stores in general, when they are starting out, usually have a rough idea on what they want to charge for their products, but don't actually know what the optimal costs are for making money. There are four aspects that I have learned that goes into the process of putting a price tag on a product.

• Quality: Obviously, whenever anyone shops, they want a product that will last them and be able to use that piece of merchandising to get their full money's worth. This is important because higher quality products should be better showcased and higher priced to make more sales. It is important that store put a huge focus on their more durable, reliable, and well polished products
• Brand: Brand significantly jumps up the price-tag on products. Even if two products are the same, the one associated with the more well known brand will tend to standout and appeal to customers. 
• Area of Sale: Your area tends to speak volumes on what your customers want/need. Smart retailers tend to do lots of research both within the area and in the aspects of human psychology to have a better idea of what consumers want. Example: if the area you are selling within has lots of teenagers walking the streets, smaller businesses would be smart to do their homework and cater to that particular demographic.
• The Approach: The most common methods for a small business to approach their pricing of products are the following:

  The income approach, which emphasizes your past, current and projected revenue and cash flow.

  
  

  The market approach, which derives value from historic sales of similar businesses

  
  

  The asset approach, which takes into account the fair market value of a similar businesses products.

• Buyer's Demand: Supply and demand is simple to understand. If your area has a need of something, it would be smart to capitalize off of that situation. 

To put the above elements into a specific example, take for instance this Craftsman Tool Box. Right off of the bat, Craftsman is seen as an extremely reliable tool, hardware, and work wear store. To further emphasize this, Craftsman are advertised of having a life time warranty with most of their products, labeling just the confidence the corporate higher ups have with this product. This gives the product more value within our ReStore.

Independent Component #2 - Training Your Employees

LITERAL

(a.) I, Diego Luna, affirm that I have completed my Independent Component #2 which represents 34 hours of work.
(b.) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the Independent Component #2

All of my books have been used in some way, but these sources are the most influential during the training process.

1. My mentor Sara Timberlake and my former mentor, Mr. Andrew Johnson helped me throughout the training process and store policy.
2. Mr. Richard Branson's book "The Virgin Way" helped me to understand how to connect with employees and train them with patience.
3. Caba, Susan. "Hire Good People." The Complete Idiot's Guide to Leadership: Fast-track. New York: Alpha, 2013. 59-77. Print.

(c.) Update your Independent Component #2 Blog

Okay.

(d.) Explain what you completed.

INTERPRETIVE

The finest method of managing a store during the busiest hours of the day is proper preparation of both employees and the manager. Proper preparation falls under the lines of training your workers effectively to deal with any scenario that comes their way, eliminating the need of having a manager to completely micromanage the situation. The idea is that employees should be informed and be knowledgeable of store policies, procedures, and protocols. As the store becomes busy, the manager should have lesser stress knowing that their employees are well prepared and well trained to deal with the urgent tasks that either customers or others might bring. 

Now, one might ask themselves the following question: "what can this 18 year-old teach me? He hasn't worked professionally within the industry?" It's an odd notion to lead or train someone who is twice as old as you and has had true job experiences in other fields. Truth of the matter is, I know how my store works. I've had about a year and a half of experience about store policies, what tasks need to be prioritized first, and working with customers who tend to underestimate what type of leadership skills that I truly have. Experience comes easy with time. I adapted rather well to the busy store environment, and I know my stuff. My mentors back me up due to the fact that I've had to train new volunteers on what to during the summertime.

Bringing people up to speed on how the dynamics of the ReStore works wasn't a hard task at all. The problem was blatant consistency issues. As planned before, I wanted to train ONE volunteer, and record all of my time with him/her. Problem was, when I would be in the process of training a volunteer, they wouldn't come back until a month from then. I would ask what happened, and instantly think that it was my fault they didn't come back. I would get answers all relating to them coming once a week. One person actually told me that they were serving community service time for a parking ticket. Despite this minor setback, I grit my teeth and did the best I could training with different employees, and taking pictures within the process.

The basic store policies that I have taught my trainees during the duration of the process were the following:

• Always be friendly and approachable towards customers!
• Customers are limited to a two-hour hold sticker, unless given executive position from the manager or assistant manager.
• When the truck comes in, all volunteers must rally towards the loading dock to ensure that the delivery is unloaded and a new influx of merchandise makes it onto the store floor.
• All items must have a price-tag, measurement, and department number.
• Donors get priority service due to the fact that they are giving items to sell within the store
• If anyone needs help lifting something, do NOT hesitate to help
• Customers cannot and shouldn't haggle with volunteers or staff about lowering price of items (the items at Habitat for Humanity ReStores are naturally 50-80% off normal department stores)
• Always dress presentable and casual, as the ReStore is a job that involves regular heavy lifting. 

The first volunteer I had trained was a woman named Shelly, who handled tasks around the ReStore such as pricing and placing measurement on doors and items. I told her that before products needed to be taken out onto the store floor, they needed to be priced, measured, and checked for major damages such as molding for wood or rust for metal. Once those three things are done and the product is undamaged, I then had to take those items onto the store floor, in their respective departments. The picture on the very left are our measuring and pricing tapes. We use those to also account for which department the item was sold in. For example, doors are department ten, and to aid in customer convenience, we at the ReStore measure the item to eliminate the need of a customer having to bring a tape measure everywhere. To the middle picture, Shelly had labeled the item, which was a desk set. To further emphasize the idea of customer convenience and organization, I told her that alike items had to go together and look presentable in fashion.

The next trainee was Louie, who was a volunteer that regularly dedicated his time to building homes rather than working within the ReStore. Being an easy to approach man and a strong partner in lifting heavy items with, he and I both worked on primarily three tasks: receiving product, putting the product in the right departments, and aiding customers who needed assistance. In the picture on the right, Louie was helping the man behind him as they were both looking for certain set of shudders for exterior windows. I pushed him into the job, telling him to ask what he needs and if he needs something in particular, to tell you. Nothing quite like pushing someone to help someone else to get the wheels rolling! As the day went on, Louis and I had talked over key store policies, using even core store activities to put them into practice. One of those key policies was to ensure that customers are serviced and fully satisfied because at the end of the day, that's what keeps a store alive and kicking!

                                                               

Lastly, Sean was an interesting volunteer to bring to speed on the ReStore. He preferred to carry giant items on his own strength. I had a minor conversation with him on safety standards and that our tools within the ReStore such as dollies, hand carts and palette jacks were readily available for volunteer usage should an item be way too heavy to carry. After a while, he adapted to the usage of these items and we went from there. Employee efficiency could be increased by just simple knowledge of how their tools and technology works. As he and I carried around an iron cast bathtub, I told him it wasn't going to work out, thus bringing out hand carts to ease our work load. 

APPLIED

How did the component answer your EQ? Please include specific examples on how it helped?

This component was very pivotal in answering the EQ due to the effectiveness of having proper preparation. On a much larger scale, the store manager has to train hundreds, maybe even thousands of employees who walk into those doors, depending on what type of store is owned. I realized that as the day went forward, Louie and Shelly were both informed at what needed to be done and didn't need me to come back to give them orders on what to do. Sean knew that the tools were available for his usage of heavy items and unloading merchandise off the truck became faster after that small change. We had a clear system and it worked. When the store starts to become overcrowded with customers and the problems start to arise, a store manager doesn't need to break a sweat due to his confidence in both his training process and his hardy employees. This lesson teaches myself that a manager must always have a hand in the training process because that's where the most information is to be learned, the first day. 

Monthly Blog: March

March has been a slower month around the ReStore, so there isn't too much to cover relating to new management skills that are possible to record/have evidence of. Example, it's hard for myself to take a picture relating to the topics of customer service and daily maintenance goals that fall under the line of taking calls and answering emails. However, I wanted to go back to the staff meeting that I had in January and build up on the notes I've taken and the tactics I've picked up when communicating with both staff members and volunteers. Having a time during the week where people discuss the status of the store is very beneficial to both productivity and figuring out which tasks have priority in terms of completion. The status of the store meetings is where you also get to see the creative side of employees and tips on what they believe can help improve the overall functionality of your store.

To explain the paper above, it's quite simple. First, the manager opens the meeting up, usually starting with a heartfelt good morning or in some cases, a prayer (Habitat for Humanity has Christian roots). This eases people into the meeting before the main meat of the discussion/ideas to improve gets started. Next up we have daily/weekly objectives in which we need to complete. Example, I had to help the staff members move out a giant grill within the backroom all the way out to the front store floor. Additionally, I was on sweeping and vacuum duty an hour before we closed. All-in-all, a checklist that kept people on task so everyone knew what was expected of them.

On the next bullet point, employees had a chance to voice what they felt was wrong with the store and what they could do to improve. Example, one of our staff members, Imelda, who works the register, brought new merchandise found in the back last week to the managers attention. The items found was a nice, polished, Victorian-esque tea set. Of course, our manager, Andrew Johnson, was happy to know we had lucrative, yet unaccounted for product hidden within the back. Employee feedback is very critical and useful to lend an ear to as a manager, which is why I found this staff meeting to be very insightful on listening to fellow workers and subordinates. You never know what kind of good nuggets of wisdom they could bring to your attention.