Retail Onboarding: Why the best retailers love to teach

This blog post is guest written by Ron Thurston, a highly accomplished retail leadership executive, Board Advisor, and Amazon #1 Bestselling Author of Retail Pride. Ron has extensive experience leading retail operations for America’s most prominent brands, is the host of the RETAIL IN AMERICA podcast and was featured on the 2021/2022 RETHINK Retail 100 Most Influential People list.

As hiring managers, we have all done this! We meet a candidate that we know has incredible potential to take on the world- they are confident, enthusiastic, and ready to go. 

Then we do precisely what we know is wrong, but we take the risk anyway… we skip the training program and put them right to work engaging with customers. 

And then we are surprised when they aren't successful! 

No matter how highly we think of a candidate or perceive them as a ‘quick learner’, you can't afford to undervalue the importance of training. Every company needs to find ways to attract and retain team members with the training and investment they deserve. 

Here's the great news... in the retail environment, we love to teach! We love to teach because knowledge and education are the basis of everything we have accomplished in our often accidental careers. And as we teach others, we inspire, support, and mentor, taking the chance to discover and share some of the best parts of ourselves.

Here are just a handful of the reasons we love to teach:

• We positively influence how others think about the retail industry. 
• Training is fun! Exposure to different skills from your peers can help you want more from yourself, engaging everybody in a game of acquiring knowledge.
• We can inspire others to build self-esteem and learn new skills, no matter their background or abilities. A well-trained team is a confident team that will likely deliver the best possible experiences to customers.
• We can explore a diverse world when our team members come from various backgrounds and cultures. This keeps us grounded and helps us develop empathy for all.
• As we continually develop our own skills to teach others, we become lifelong learners. Sharing knowledge pushes us to get better at what we do.
• We can encourage everyone to dream, leading to big ideas, business solutions, and innovations. A great teacher can inspire a student to think beyond their comfort zone and reach their full potential.
• Investment in training creates a workplace where teams gain access to ideas they wouldn't otherwise have discovered. Through these training opportunities, they will feel appreciated and challenged, develop high job satisfaction, and become more successful.

Any successful team, big or small, has one thing at its core: effective collaboration rooted in excellent training. Celebrate your love of teaching and make an impact on someone today!

Want to discover how to create training that effectively engages, motivates and upskills your frontline teams in 5 actionable steps? Download the eBook!