Removing one’s ceilings and reaching for the stars.(Grit & Glamour: Epi.3)

Even when the rollercoaster scares you, stay on board!

Previously:

In a meeting with the company president, the protagonist is asked, “Are you having fun?” and realizes she is not enjoying her managerial role and is inspired by the advice to “get along with difficult staff members. The president also tells her, “You don’t have to be stylish to succeed in the apparel business,” teaching the importance of leveraging other’s knowledge.

The narrative also explores how the protagonist entered the apparel industry. Initially feeling out of place during an interview with a casually dressed interviewer, she recalls a strange synchronicity: six months earlier, she had clipped an article about the very store she would end up working at.

1.8 First Day at the Boutique

July 1, 2002. I found myself inside the store that had been featured in that magazine. “Today is the first day of the sale. Our sales target is…” the manager said. To my surprise, my first day at work coincided with the first day of the sale?! This was unheard of in my previous job. For a “trainee” to be thrust into the spotlight on day one, and on the first day of a sale no less?! It was at that moment that I understood why I had been hired: to create a management system. So, while learning the ropes of customer service, I started drafting a manual for new employees. Leveraging my previous experience, I checked the store’s QSC (Quality, Service, Cleanliness) and gathered feedback from staff about the store’s issues. Just over two weeks after joining, I submitted a report to the president.

While observing the store, the noise from the air conditioning caught my attention the most. When I asked the staff, they all said, “We’ve reported it to the building manager, but they haven’t fixed it.” However, upon closer inspection, I noticed dust accumulating and suggested to the manager, “If you vacuum the filter, the noise should stop.” That night, the manager cleaned the filter with a vacuum and reported back to me, “The noise from the filter is gone.” I felt like I had already become a part of the team.

Then, two months after switching to the apparel industry, I was appointed as the store manager when the previous manager moved to a new location. My salary suddenly increased by 100,000 yen a month as a manager’s allowance! When I asked the president why I had been made the manager, he laughed and said, “You said you wanted to be a manager in your interview, right?” Dreams do come true when you put them into words.

And so, I started my new career in the apparel industry.

Chapter 2: Struggles in a New Environment

2.1 Unexpected Transfer

A year and two months after joining the apparel industry, I was transferred to the Shibuya store. Being from East Tokyo, working in Shibuya was another unexpected and amusing twist in my destiny. But it turned out to be no laughing matter.

In Ginza, I held the title of store manager, and I assumed I would be the manager in Shibuya too. However, the president said, “You decide among yourselves who will be the manager.” I wasn’t disappointed, accepting it as a given due to my lack of ability. But I did wonder about working as a sales staff after being hired as a management candidate. Was this the president’s plan?

The Shibuya store had half the number of staff compared to the Ginza store, with ten people working there. The previous manager’s management skills were lacking, and the staff seemed unmotivated. “The Shibuya store doesn’t attract regular customers,” everyone said in unison. Thoughts become reality. I saw the potential in this struggling store and felt it was an opportunity.

Shortly after transferring to Shibuya, I attended a manager’s meeting at the headquarters in Kobe with the assistant manager and the buyer. The store manager was to be chosen from among the three of us. On the return trip by bullet train, an older male colleague told me, “I think you should be the store manager.” I thought so too and informed the president that I would take on the role.

I had a meeting with the president for the first time in a while. The Shibuya store, like the Ginza store, had a glass facade and was located at the entrance of a building, designed to look like a stylish street-level store with a high ceiling. It used to house a famous international cosmetics store. The location was directly connected to Shibuya Station, making it the gateway to Shibuya. There was even a DJ booth inside, and CDs were also curated and sold there. The meeting with the president took place in a corner of this store.

Pointing to the ceiling, the president said, “It cost XX yen (an astounding amount!) to remove the ceiling here. I think a lot of people would want to be the store manager of this Shibuya store,” he said with a grin. All I could do was smile wryly and reply, “Yes.” Then, the president said, “You can run it as you like.” “A store worth being a manager of, and I can run it as I like?” Winning this lucky draw gave me a strange mix of joy and confusion.

After I left, the Ginza store was managed by the president himself until a new store manager was found. Therefore, the president rarely came to the Shibuya store, and although I was told I could run it as I liked, I felt I still needed approval and direction from my superior. So, I did my best with what I could do. However, the store’s sales remained flat, showing no change from the previous year. Despite my efforts, there were no visible changes for a while.

2.2 Searching for a Store Manager Manual

Feeling that I didn’t understand the role of a store manager in the apparel industry and that sales weren’t increasing as a result, I started looking for various business books at bookstores. At my previous job, there were comprehensive manuals where I learned concepts like “Leadership Definition = Respect × Trust” and the “Four Steps of Training: Preparation, Presentation, Execution, Evaluation.” Practicing these concepts on the job, I could see their effectiveness. There were also thorough employee training programs, including five-day training sessions at the head office for each promotion stage. However, this apparel company didn’t have such resources.

So, I visited bookstores daily, looking for books on how to motivate subordinates using psychology, VMD (Visual Merchandising) for increasing sales, apparel inventory management, Excel usage, and more. I tried to implement the content of these books, but improving my Excel skills didn’t necessarily lead to increased sales. I also began to doubt the idea of managing subordinates with psychology.

Still, I decided to continue doing what I could each day, focusing on my strengths like cleaning and organizing the store and creating fair shift schedules for the staff.

I also noticed the noise from the store’s air conditioning. One day, a well-known female apparel entrepreneur from Shibuya 109 visited the store and commented, “This air conditioning is noisy.” The ceiling was much higher than in the Ginza store, making it difficult for me to manage. However, this feedback prompted me to ask the tenant for action.

I decided to leverage my network from my previous job. I asked Mr.K, a former maintenance part-timer, to clean the high windows. I also sought help from Mr.S, a maintenance worker who had helped at the Ginza store, with various repairs. I don’t recall paying them any part-time wages, so I believe they kindly assisted me. I am truly grateful.

As a result, the maintenance of the Shibuya store was sorted out, and the store’s foundation became solid. Additionally, we hired new staff members who were diligent and hardworking. Thanks to this, peaceful days continued at the Shibuya store. However, I had been postponing a conversation with a less motivated staff member, which my superior had pointed out. This was because I wanted to confirm things with my own eyes before taking action.

2.3 Request for Resignation

When I first became a store manager, this staff member had been slightly motivated by my proactive approach. However, he still showed little enthusiasm for customer service, not even greeting customers, and other staff members seemed to have given up on him.

If there was a reason to let him go, this would be it. Should I spend time trying to motivate him, or should I let him go? Should I focus on the problem or the potential? After much deliberation, I decided to talk to him during lunch when we had the same break time.

I’ve had many meetings over lunch with the CEO, but this time, it was my turn to talk to a subordinate as the store manager. And I had to ask him to resign.

“A, you have experience as a DJ and are also know a lot about music. So, wouldn’t it be more enjoyable for you to work in a field directly related to music rather than in customer sales? As an apparel shop, we aim to increase sales, so we all need to share the same goals.”

When I said this, A quickly replied, “I understand.” Coincidentally, we discovered that we share the same birthday. “It’s strange to be saying this to someone who has the same birthday as me,” I remarked, and he laughed.

I felt relieved that I could accomplish something previous managers hadn’t been able to do, and my superior recognized my efforts. Even after Mr.A resigned, he would casually visit the store, making it an amicable departure.

Just having one unmotivated person leave changed the dynamics of the staff. This is also a part of management. I was able to leverage my experience from my previous job.