Today’s specialty brands face numerous challenges when it comes to achieving the goals of their seasonal business objectives, merchandising campaigns – insufficient reporting and data, poor execution of projects, and a complex landscape in the retail industry, to name a few.
These challenges especially increase during critical shopping seasons. Many specialty retailers struggle with driving customer traffic, offer their customers the right product, at the right price. The results of successful merchandising execution can influence everything from marketing budgets to supply chain scheduling, sales results and customer experience. In order to meet these merchandising challenges, a brand needs a strong team to implement and maintain the organizational goals.
Lane Bryant® is a United States leading women’s curvy specialty apparel retailer, providing stylish and high-quality fashion in sizes 14-28. The Lane Bryant collection includes a wide selection of career to casual apparel as well as accessories, hosiery and intimate apparel. Lane Bryant fashions are available nationwide at its more than 800 Lane Bryant stores, 115 Lane Bryant Outlet® stores, and at lanebryant.com. Lane Bryant is a leading brand within the Ascena Retail Group family.
The Lane Bryant® Merchandising & Design Team contacted Connect the Dots (CTD) to help them increase productivity by forming a team better aligned to its goals. They were struggling with a lack of role clarity. In addition, a significant shift with how product decisions were made within the core functions of leadership was needed in order to make the most impact.
A disconnect existed between the newly hired and existing team members that led to more confusion and wasted resources. CTD was asked to bring the leadership team together, quickly and build the structure, clarity and supportive relationships necessary in order to meet organizational goals.
CTD collected input from all team members to clearly understand the current state of the team. Then they developed a series of team sessions based on discovery outcomes. They provided a framework for team members to understand their own and their team member’s style and preferences, as well as begin to build relationships and what they needed from one another.
CTD facilitated structured working sessions that included:
Finally, a coaching plan was created that would provide unique support to the leader, guaranteeing long-term, workable solutions for the organization.
CTD’s coaching advanced the Lane Bryant® team from forming to a norming stage of team development. Team roles were clarified and the leader’s teams were able to effectively execute organizational goals. Each leader made personal commitments to contribute to the team’s success, which resulted in increased productivity and decreased downtime.
Finally, clarity regarding which function has decision or weigh-in rights for each component of the product cycle allowed each team member to focus on their role and execute their tasks quickly and without confusion.
Every organization has its challenges when it comes to retaining talent and attracting high quality candidates. CTD’s professional coaching and leadership development helped the Lane Bryant® Merchandising & Design Team become more consistent with its workflow and achieve the results required by a highly competitive marketplace.
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