Treat Employees in Terms of Career Goals

Different staff members have different agendas for their careers. Treat all your employees equitably with respect, concern, and empathy, but also treat them as individuals. Research at the University of Southern California identified four sorts of orientations to career goals that retail employees have:
     Onwards & upwards. This employee wants power and achievement. They'd like to learn not just supervisory skills, but also managerial skills. If your retail business is large, you might have a place for this employee when they're ready to move up. In the small retail business, you might end up training the employee to move on to another job. But if you meet their needs for power and achievement, they'll give you their best while they're with you.
     World's foremost expert. This employee wants to continue to learn more about their current job, not move up or on. You win their motivated efforts by giving them the tools to master their trade well. They can be extremely valuable long-term contributors at their current level. Some are good at training new hires, but others of them don't know how to share their abundant knowledge.
     Surprise me. If they're working in sales, they've one eye on what the bookkeeper does. If they're preparing the advertising circular, they're wondering what it would take to succeed on the sales floor. Because they'll know how the different areas function, they can become excellent senior retail managers.
     Don't tie me down. Variety and independence drive this employee. The motto for some of them is, "It's just a job." Others see your store as a chance to learn before moving on or returning to school. If they're not performing well, give them feedback, but you'll probably find yourself guiding them towards the door and out of the job they hold in your store.