Succession planning for produce managers
Being a vice president or director of a retail produce operation is an extremely satisfying job. When all your hard work and planning come to fruition, you get a kind of adrenaline rush – especially when all your team’s efforts result in reaching targeted sales and profits. All the while, you delight the consumer with fresh, quality fruits and vegetables.
But a great plan won’t hit your goals without execution at store level. I had a boss once who used to tell me, “Nothing is real until it happens in the store.” To have great execution you need great produce managers.
This doesn’t just happen. The world has changed. Execution at store level is tougher today than it was in the past. Produce retailing is more complicated than ever thanks to more variety, increased and stricter regulations, and an educated, more demanding consumer.
Many operators have taken the approach of dumbing down their departments because of a lack of talent. That’s one approach, if you want robots instead of empowered merchants.
We should always try to be more efficient, but if you believe in the power of people, there is a better way.
We are currently going through a generational shift as our veteran produce managers are retiring. Retirement provides opportunity for the next generation of great produce managers. But how do you replace the decades of knowledge? Building a bench of produce managers of the future doesn’t just happen. It takes career planning.
Running a top tier produce department is a team sport. It’s not about the individual. It’s about a team of merchants and retail operators working together toward a common goal.
One of the most important members of the team is the produce manager. Keeping an eye to the future and building a team of great produce managers is essential in your quest to be the best.
Here are my tips on succession planning for produce managers of the future.
Manpower planning
Have a manpower planning team made up of produce merchandisers, produce buyers and retail operations. This team will meet periodically and take a deep dive look at your talent. Identify your top produce managers and the skills and attributes that make them great. Add to that the skills and attributes needed for the produce manager of the future.
You now have a list of the skills and attributes necessary for successful future produce managers. In theory, all assistant produce managers should have these attributes.
If they don’t, you don’t want them as assistant produce managers because they are clogging up the pipeline.
Identify your top assistant produce managers and rank them in terms of region and readiness to move to the next level. What help do they need to take that next step?
Assistant produce manager training
It’s important to not only identify future talent but develop that talent. That means a thoughtfully planned produce manager development program to educate and develop the potential of your assistant produce managers.
The program will consist of educational materials. These training materials will include produce handling and merchandising guidelines, fruit and vegetable seasonality, leadership skills, customer service, and the many operational skills needed to run an effective produce department, such as order writing, merchandising and taking inventory.
Involve your produce team
In your manpower planning process, you have identified your top produce managers. These are ideal candidates to involve in building your training program.
The assistant produce manager training program that you and your team have developed provides a great tool to help in training the produce managers of the future.
Involve your suppliers
It takes years to learn the seasonality, quality specs and handling requirements for the vast variety of produce now offered to the consumer. Who better to help teach and build a produce training guide than your suppliers? Many of them already have training videos, handling guides and websites that will assist you.
Identifying talent
Where do you find future produce managers? You have identified the attributes that you want for a great produce manager, so who are the people that you want for the incredible future that you have envisioned?
They are out there; you just must look for them. The obvious first place is your produce departments. But don’t stop there: look at the entire store.
The part-time checker working his way through college may be someone who is looking for a career after graduation and would make a great produce manager. To recruit him, you will have to be willing to provide a full-time job upon graduation. You should consider an internship program so these kinds of candidates can get exposure to and experience in the department while they are still in school.
Great produce managers are critical to the success of an excellent produce operation, so focus on having great produce managers.
Celebrate them. Acknowledge their greatness.
Great produce managers will help you hit your sales and profit targets. Great produce managers also make great buyers, store managers and vice presidents.
Mike O’Brien, president of O’Brien Innovations, has more than 30 years of retail leadership experience, including 15 years as a vice president of produce. He received the Produce Retailer of the Year award in 2004. His new consulting practice covers retail merchandising and business development, among other areas. You can reach Mike at MikeOB725@sbcglobal.net.
