Failed as a leader

[littlelungs33]

Hey all. I was hoping to get some feedback on a situation I'm in. I've run retail stores for almost 12 years now, and for the first time I've finally failed and let my current store become "broken." No staff, backed up product deliveries, customer services scores in the toilet due to what little of a team I have left focusing on the tasks at hand.

Short backstory about the staffing issue. Many of my team members were poised to start looking for jobs in their respective feilds that they went to school for. Turns out, 5 of them all got jobs at once. One of them in a key position in my receiving department. I am also dealing with an assistant who is out on medical leave.

I was warned by my district manager that I should be ready to have them replaced within a week of them leaving, but I let that slip and I'm hurting for a new team.

My DM was in today to assess what shape the store is in and is basically taking the helm on staffing and coordinating with other stores to come pull my store out of the broken status that it's in. She made it very clear to me that all of this is my own doing. I am beyond aware of that fact as anything bad that happens falls on me, and any successes in the store are due to spot on execution by my team.

The team that I have left working with me is the only reason I'm able to function on many different levels. I'm at work more than I am home, only having one day off in two months and working 10 to 20 hour shifts, and they see that. They are all going above and beyond to support me, which I recognize and appreciate more than they can ever know.

The crux of all this is, now that I've admitted to myself that I've failed as a leader on a monumental scale, and once the help has come to fix things, what next? Do I tell the team who was here supporting me that I know I've failed them as a leader? Obviously, I plan to recognize their efforts. I know I've failed my DM who put me in my current role.

I'm just having a hard time prioritizing in the midst of all the chaos. I've never seen failure of my own doing in a professional environment before on this level, and I'm not sure how to pull myself out of this rut. I'm honestly not even sure if there's any advice or counsel to give, other than the obvious, "Don't let it happen again." If anyone has any feedback about this I'd be grateful to hear it.

Thank you.

Scott

[mynewunit]

I see how you failed. I think there is a difference between a leader having a failure and failing as a leader. You need a senior enlisted guy. In retail that is usually the floor manager or the operations manager. They are the person who knows the tasks and people under them. 5 new hires is about 2 months of work. You need to make time to get them on the team. You cannot replace that many with just yourself.

You need temp help. Check with a placement service. Check with other stores in your company. I might even call one or 2 of the employees that left. See if they could come by and lend a hand. You need to fix this before thanksgiving.

Once that is taken care of you should be able to start looking for the real fix which is cross training and redundancy. Get some team members to start becoming the experienced floater who can put out fires.

Play the long game. Tell your DM you need help. Ask what you can do. You also need to ask for help before you need it. That will come with experience and humility. This will be a great learning tool if you can use it to connect with leaders and follow their direction. Memory is short in retail. Getting back on track will lessen the jump in the road.