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.

Blog 18: Fourth Interview Preparation

The Fourth Interview Questions for Marvin Negrete (Current Hotel Supervisor for Sheraton Hotel/Former Cheesecake Factory Warehouse Manager; three locations)

1. You’ve had the experience of dealing with customers and you know what the busiest times of the day are for any establishment. What would you say are the busiest hours of the day for any type of store/business/service? Please specify further if needed
2. Is there any particular type of customer that you find almost impossible to accommodate/please?
3. What strategies do you use in order to keep track of employee performance?
4. Are you a type of manager that likes to micro-manage or macro-manage when supervising employee? Give examples if necessary.
5. Aside from communication, leadership, and organization, could you explain what other important ideals you need in order to survive in the management world?
6. How do you, as a manager, keep morale high within your workforce?
7. In your experience of being a manager, have you had to step into the employee’s shoes to pick-up the slack and get tasks completed? Provide examples please.
8. In your opinion, what defines a winning team? Example: you’re a manager and you have your team of employees. What do you feel defines the traits of having a successful team?
9. On the note of teams, what kind of standards do you set for your employees?
10. Are there ever times as a manager when you just solely work alone? (Aside from managing performance from team members of course
11. When the busiest hours of the day are just an hour away, do you do anything to prepare for the oncoming, non-stop work?
12. How do you keep your team calm during the particularly busiest work hours of the day?
13. What’s the most detrimental setback that could happen during management? How do you solve those problems?
14. Do you have any particular time and employee management strategies you would like to share?
15. How do you measure success as a manager?
16. How do you delegate tasks as a manager?
17. How do you manage employees with a negative attitude?
18. Describe your approach to making decisions and solving problems. Why do you do it this way?
19. How much leeway do you give your employees to make decisions? How do you still maintain control?
20. How far in advance do you typically plan activities for yourself and your employees?

Blog 17: Third Answer

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

Answer #3: Ensure that you, as a qualified manager, make an exceedingly positive presence within your store to both employees and customers

Reasoning:

1. Your employees must always be aware where they could locate you during a time of crisis or concern. The more time your employees spend trying to find you for a problem, the less productive they are and the more they could possibly panic. Example: if an employee gets injured on the job and another employee rushes to report it, they must be able to locate you to ensure that you know about the incident.
2. Your customers must see a manager who is actively working and confident about his mission, style of management, and goals. The more positive traits and attributes that a customer actively notices, the more that they are engaged to whatever service that said leadership provides. 
3. Just the very act of employees noticing a manager get his daily tasks done on the store floor is huge. Sometimes the manager is depicting as "not really doing anything," however, that couldn't be further than the trust. Sometimes also, a manager must present himself and what he does to ensure that employees know exactly what the manager is contributing to the store.

Research/Sources

1. 49G - Branson, Richard. "Mirror Mirror." The Virgin Way: Everything I Know about Leadership. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 2014. 53-71. Print.
2. 43K - Patterson, Kerry. "Mastering Crucial Conversations, The Power of Dialogue." Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002. 19-31. Print.
3. 21E - Lutz, Robert A. "Georges-Andre Chevallaz." Icons and Idiots: Straight Talk on Leadership. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 2013. 5-13. Print.

Concluding Sentence

Managerial presence has an astounding effect on both morale and sustainability on part of both your employees and your customers. 

Monthly Blog: February

Within the month, my mentor, Andrew Johnson, has been telling me the importance of managing money towards the end of the day within a store. Obviously within an organization of any kind, money is the lifeblood. For store management, my mentor went further into depth and talked to me about how he would every month find what certain types of merchandise was sold and tried to find more of it, teaching me the importance of supply and demand. He told me that when he found that an item was selling really well, that he would do all in his power to showcase it closer to the store entrance to get people intrigued. It was extremely informational because I always knew the concept of "sell what's hot," but I never knew how people in retail figured out "what's hot."

The receipt above is a daily receipt that shows all sales of all department items. Example, all of the home furniture we sold pulled in a cool $445.00, which tells us that lots of people are eager to buy our furniture aside from other goods. Based on that knowledge, all of our deliveries on the truck which contain furniture gets priority on being taken out to the store floor. Additionally, this receipt gives the store a general rough estimate on what kind of money that comes in on a daily, which is essential to managing money over time. Keeping track of what you sell and collecting data on what sells the most is extremely vital in the retail management world, for making money is the name of the game.

The above is a spreadsheet on how much real estate (store space) that each department takes up. Getting your products out and making more space for newer goods to come in is essential. Out with the old and in with the new. If something takes up too much square footage in your store, then you have to sell it at a reduced rate to remedy the problem of product build up.

Blog 16: Answer #2

1.  What is your EQ?

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

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

Answer #1: The most effective way to manage a store during the busiest hours of the day is by practicing efficient prioritization.

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

Answer #2: Ensure that your employees are always engaged in their work and trust them to where you can let them properly utilize their own skills.

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

1. Answer #1 deals with the activities needed to actually run a store. Example, you, as a manager, must learn where you need to position your employees/your attention. You must be able to use your discretion as to what kind of objectives you need to accomplish within the store at the right time. Ask yourself: are my customers satisfied? Are the aisles full of merchandise clear and presentable? Should I go do this, or go and do that?
2. Answer #2 makes sure that employees aren't getting bored and feeling like they are working for no personal purpose. Employees like to feel like they are doing a helpful amount of work for whatever cause/store/organization. Employee engagement can be extremely tricky, but based off of research from a sizable amount of authors within the field of leadership, a manager must trust their employees to a point where they could work independently on their own without a manager having to come every 30 minutes to check up on them. Employees that are self-sufficient and don't need a manager to micromanage them makes running a store so much easier. (Manager could tend to other things, such as admin objectives)
3. For Answer #1, a simple, real world scenario could pan out like this. Say within your store, you have a box of glass fall and shatter into a million pieces within a certain store aisle, and all of your employees are either tending to customers, on a lunch break, or unloading supply trucks. At this point, you, as a manager, must make a choice. Where do I reassign my employees? What's the most logical choice in my situation?
4. For Answer #2, a real world scenario could play out like this. Your employees are working, albeit either very slowly or in a mood where they just appear to be unhappy. If your employees are unhappy and customers physically see that, then it can make the customer uncomfortable, especially if that certain employee is lending a hand and answering questions. 

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

The following printed sources (all are books) best represents my answer(s): 

1. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Leadership Fast-Track
2. The Virgin Way by Mr. Richard Branson (CEO/Founder of the Virgin Company)
3. Straight Talk on Leadership Icons and Idiots by Former Vice Chairman of General Motors, Bob Lutz

6.  What other source supports your answer? 

1. Managing People & Performance: Fast Track to Success by David Ross

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.

Managing a store and servicing your customers is a lot of work to carry out, especially when your store is having a busy day. Your employees are your most valuable resources. Treat them well, respect them, let them know their skills are appreciated, and give them the trust and independence to do work the way they want to do it.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

1. Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 Hours?

My Independent Component 2 will revolve around the topics of both employee training and teamwork. As a store manager, it is critical to teach your employees how to do tasks around the workplace step-by-step so that way both boss and worker are on the same page, and there's no confusion when it comes to how to do work around the workplace. Teamwork is also definitely an important aspect of store management, due to the work of two being better than the work of one. You have to be able to efficiently utilize your manpower and manipulate it to meet the store's needs.

When working at my mentorship, we have new people come in to volunteer occasionally who pretty much have no familiarity with the mechanics of our ReStore. During the summer, I had a time where teenagers used to come in and do work for volunteer hours, and I would be the main man to train them, ensuring they new about store policy and methods. I find sometimes that even adults come into the store not knowing what to do, and they kind of shadow me in a way in order to get a feel for the store. After the training, teamwork can then be truly utilized because workers and volunteers are on the same page, tying into how important it is for a manager and an employee to have the same viewpoint.

2. Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

The 30 hours of evidence would be shown by mostly photographs, as rarely do I ever get the time window to film activities due to our state of the store (always have to be working.) Photographs with both team members and people who are volunteering or are staff members would be taken and I would explain them on my blog more in depth, both covering what type of training I did with the employee or teamwork. I feel both photographs and video are the most logical because there is no true "test," "essay." or "transcript" when it comes to store management.

3. Explain how this component will help you explore your topic more in depth.

This Independent Component helps to explore my topic more in depth by showing that the manager has to train his employees for full effectiveness and quality of work around the store. Additionally, it lessens confusion because the employee has been hands on trained by the manager. The employee doesn't need to ask questions to the manager because they would already know, thus eliminating the need of the manager stopping his work to answer other questions. During a busy store day, it's paramount that employees know every task and is prepared to answer every question whilst following the daily agenda given by the manager. The whole idea is to make sure no confusion is in the air when the store's lines are full and customers are constantly asking questions.

4. Post a log in your Senior Project Hours Link and label it "Independent Component 2" log. 

Done.

Independent Component #1 - The Receiving Dock Clean-Up

• LITERAL
• (a.) I, Diego Luna, affirm that I have completed my independent component which requires 32 hours of work.
• (b.) The book, Retail in Detail, helped to perform my independent component due to the following points that were brought up in the book: logistics and organization of product.
• My mentor, Andrew Johnson, had let me use his store and take pictures in order to document progress of organizing the receiving dock.
• (c.) Please reference my updated Senior Project Hours log for a glimpse of work performed.
• (d.) I, Diego Luna, have performed over a 3 month period tasks that are beneficial to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in terms of organizing product and making sure that newer products can come in with minimal clutter in the way. More exacting tasks and detail shall be explained further below.
• INTERPRETIVE

Going down to the meat of the potato in terms of introduction here, store management is quite challenging to do in practice, juggling many everyday tasks at once and prioritizing them to fit your current circumstance and situation. As a store manager, you must stay on top of your employees, ensuring they are being productive without being too overbearing on them. Additionally, you must be alert and at the ready in case a customer wishes to speak with you whether it would be voicing a complaint or asking something about your organization/establishment that only you can solely answer. Those two tasks are extremely paramount and the bare basics of management. Customer service AND leadership (making sure your employees are working at a satisfactory level) are the most frequently prioritized aspects of store management. However, there are some behind the scenes work that needs to be done which ties into the two following words: logistics and organization. Now, above states that both customer service AND leadership are generally more refined than organization and logistics. Judging by books I've read and articles published, the authors put a greater emphasis on the former rather than the latter. As a disclaimer, however, the authors don't at all consider logistics and organization as "unimportant tasks."

With the intro being out of the way, I sought out for my independent component to do something both helpful and informational (for myself) for the Habitat for Humanity PV ReStore. It all actually started in the summer when there was one day where our products just couldn't be moved out of the receiving room because it was just a tornado of product and you couldn't safely get things out of there using one person. Just imagine this: you're an employee in a store. You have customers going around and asking for assistance and questions about merchandise your store has for sale. Immediately you go help the customers only to find out that now your truck delivery of new product comes in and now you have to backtrack to clean the receiving room in order to unload that truck and fill up the receiving room yet again! Keep in mind that the truck driver is also now behind on his deliveries because he can't unload his truck of delivered goods. Now your supply line is backed up. After hours of work, you get the problem fixed, but now you think to yourself, "wow, how can we prevent something like that from happening again?"

Below is an example of our old receiving room and what I had previously planned to organize and clean out for my independent component. As you can see and observe it's quite a mess towards the back of the doorway. You couldn't even walk inside. Keep in mind this was during the summer when I took a snapshot of it. Now to the left is our receiving room improved a little bit. There was a time we had another volunteer other than myself over the summer and we both got things cleaned out of the walkway for the most part. Same room, just I was able to walk through and take pictures. Of course, it definitely isn't perfect, but there was a walkway and it wasn't bad for only two volunteers working on it. The summer tended to strike our store down with the disease of "under-staff."

 

Our receiving room changed to a different spot and upon hearing of the "Independent Component," I felt ambitious to clean our new receiving room and do it for a project. It was quite easy to document and it was something I knew how to do quite well (judging by the summer work.) Pictures below will detail the process of how clean we- both the staff and myself- made the new receiving room.

This was the receiving room on Day 1 (1-7-15) when we started to switch from the old one that we had. It was in the corner of the store and it just felt easier to unload products off of the trucks there. Of course, this is also where we stored lots of product that couldn't be loaded into the old backroom, thus gathering dust and taking up important real-estate space. It was quite a mess and would be a significant challenge to clean up, but the management staff were determined to set a goal for the volunteers and staff members to get that space tidied up. So we answered the call of duty and got started.

This was the receiving room on Day 2 (1-8-15) with a tiny bit of progress made. Not extremely evident at first, but we did get some stuff out and on top of that we had more stuff coming in throughout the week. Some of the stuff we moved out into a more secure place involves a giant, wooden, dining table set and plywood along with a large stack of sinks that were formerly plastic wrapped. All of these items were priced and put out in a presentable manner on the store floor. As you can see in the back, as I snapped this shot, a staff member was moving the leftover cardboard boxes to recycling, clearing trash, while my job was to price items and place them on the store floor.

Now, on Day 3 (1-9-15), the staff members and I had cleaned it up till this point where the day was wrapping up for myself. We had a steady walkway flowing and more products just kept coming in on the truck. As you can see in the back, the truck was emptied out by myself and others, thus causing more products to come in. My mentor said I couldn't take pictures until I was completely done unloading all of the items so this is AFTER our pick-up came. Still, making great progress.

In the interest of saving loads of time and explanation of the same cycle happening over and over in teams of cleaning the receiving area, our back room got cluttered yet again when I came back to work on the 14th of January. It really never got cleaner than the above until the very last day of the Independent Component #1 phase. This is primarily due to management putting a large priority on customers and cleanliness of the store floor during the days that we were busy. Lots of staff members and myself had to do things such as organizing the aisles of our store, assembling set pieces of dining room tables together, and sorting through the assortment of church pews we received.

    

This is ties in with store management and organization, despite the minor setback on my main project. Customers enjoy uniformity, organization, and aisles were various items are extremely easy to find. Plus, a lot of these items were priced after cleaning out the receiving area.

Now, fast forwarding to the two last days of my Independent Component #1 work. On January 27th, the receiving room was still cluttered and receiving items which is regular stuff that happens at the ReStore. (Note: the woman in the red shirt is my mentor, Sara Timberlake.) From the left we can see there are couches, pieces of wood, carts of other items in buckets, which are mostly materials such as nails, PVC piping, and smaller items along those lines. To the right is the picture of the same receiving room at the end of the day when other staff members and I cleaned it all up considerably. After an extremely lengthy process, the receiving room finally had a bit more room to maneuver and store items.

• APPLIED

This Independent Component #1 helped to understand the necessity of having days where you have your employees make sure that all of the behind the scenes tasks and aspects of the store are dealt with. When managing a store during the busiest hours of the day, you really can't afford to have a time where the main receiving area of your store is not navigable. Your supply lines of product needs to be clear so that your store can have a better flow of goods, thus generating healthier profits.

At one of the days I was at my mentorship, we had a time within the store where the back was so congested that the delivery truck has thrown behind almost an hour back because the staff members had no room to unload the products. It was an extreme mess trying to sort it all out, especially when you're carrying items like washing machines, refrigerators, and dining room table sets out of there, but luckily the job was done close to the end of the day. We haven't had a bad day like that in a while so it makes life easier when everything on your receiving area is running smoothly and people can properly do their regular jobs instead of having to run to the back and get tasks done in a pinch.

Clearly, the best time of the day to work on store maintenance needs such as this would be during slower hours of store-time. Even when there aren't customers to service or sell merchandise to, there's always something employees could be doing. Remember that the store will never stop for you.

  

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

I am most proud in my Lesson 2 Presentation that I had tons of info to go into in terms of management. I successfully made time and I knew that I had a lot more info to cover, so I had to cut out a lot of content out of my presentation to prevent from going over time. Additionally, I took the presentation stage confidently and I felt my presence and info was extremely strong and insightful.

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation? (self-assessment)

I believe I deserve a P on this Lesson 2 Presentation due to the fact that I had a powerful stage presence and lots of info to give on my topic, citing exact examples from my mentorship. Additionally, I felt that people actually listened to what I had to say because I wasn't boring them to death by talking monotone, therefore, I did the opposite.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

My information, time, and public speaking skills worked very effectively in my Lesson 2.

4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

Making the topic of store management a bit more creative. Granted, it's hard to make something along the lines of management creative when there's too much to it. Example, managers manage people, the students don't really enjoy being managed. So again, I would probably put more thought into my activity by making it both creative and teaching a valuable lesson in the process.

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

To answer my EQ, What is the most effective way to manage a store during the busiest hours of the day? My second answer would be "the proper micro-management of employees." The second answer basically means that a manager needs to make sure that his employees are working and make sure that they are motivated to work.

Blog 12: Mentorship 10 Hours

1. Where are you doing your mentorship?

Pomona Valley Habitat for Humanity Restore, 4609 Holt Blvd. Montclair, CA.

2. Who is your contact?

Andrew Johnson, General Manager of the Pomona Valley Habitat for Humanity Restore. He's been given all information regarding contacting the senior team.

3. How many total hours have you done? (Total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)

All in all, I've done 12.25 hours (not counting the 10 hours from the summer)

4. Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

For the 10 hours of work, I've cleaned up around the store, making sure that the aisles are clear, old products are disposed of, and that the loading dock is clear for more pickups. I've also learned that managers should know the items they sell extensively to answer any questions about them and also to provide customers with quality information. Also, I've been trained on how to take inventory and how to price them to make decent profit.

Blog 11: Holiday Project Update

1. It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or when we are in school. What did you do over the break for your senior project? 

Over the break I've managed to ask my mentor about what staff meetings are like and what type of problems/concerns get brought up by staff members in said meetings. My mentor responded with him asking me if I was free any Tuesday and that he would like me to actually sit in on the meeting if possible. I plan on doing that one Tuesday around the month in order to gain insight on what goes on during "status of the store" meetings.

2. What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why? What was the source of what you learned.

I learned of a definite day from within the week staff members meet to discuss the state of the store and how both the employees and manager plan to improve the operations as a whole. Before I was actually unaware how often people would meet to keep a sizable operation like that going.

3. If you were going to do a ten-question interview on questions related to answers from your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

Without a doubt, aside from one of my mentors, I would talk to a general manager at the Sheraton Hotel (Near the LA Fairplex), Mr. Marvin Negrete. He's a family friend who oversees the operations and works extensively during the daytime to manage his employees, check stock, and lend an ear towards customers who bring up issues, concerns, or questions. He's also had very hands on experience with running three restaurants, one of which is the well known Cheesecake Factory. With that type of experience of operations management, it would be wise to ask important and key questions.