Brainstorms

Forget Stretch Goals — Set Targets Your Staff Can Only Reach by Redefining How They Work

The idea is to have them totally rethink the way they do things.

Published

2 years ago

December 15, 2021

INSTORE Staff Instore January 2022 Issue

Forget Stretch Goals — Set Targets Your Staff Can Only Reach by Redefining How They Work

2022 is here, and with it, normalcy. We hope. That means setting targets for a fairly regular year and then hoping your staff can just beat them. Or giving your people “5 percent stretch goals” and seeing if, through extra hard work and efficiency, they can attain them. But what if you told them to improve their performance in a certain area by 30 percent? Then no longer will the same old approach, no matter how much harder they work, be effective. They would have to totally rethink how they go about hitting their numbers. And that’s the idea: To kickstart innovative thinking, you have to first destroy the old ways of doing things.

When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”