Associate Store Lead
to Store Lead
Stepping up to be a Store Leader is
a powerful journey of growth and impact.
You'll move from managing daily tasks to truly shaping your store's future, driving its financial success, and building a thriving culture.
This next step calls for a deeper commitment, a wider view of our business, and the exciting challenge
of leading your entire store as one dynamic team.
Core Mindset Shifts for
a Store Leader
These questions are designed to help an Assistant Store Leader think about the bigger picture, the important decisions, and the leadership skills needed for the Store Leader role.
01. From Tactical Execution to Strategic Visionary
Moving beyond implementing plans to defining the overarching vision, purpose, and long-term strategy for the store.
02. From Managing Operations to Driving Business Performance
Expanding focus from efficient daily operations to understanding and influencing key financial metrics, market trends, and profitability.
03. From Developing Individuals to Cultivating Store Culture
Shifting from coaching specific team members to actively shaping an inclusive, empowering, and high-performing culture for the entire store.
04. From Problem-Solving to Risk Mitigation and Innovation
Proactively identifying and removing systemic roadblocks and fostering a culture of continuous improvement and creative solutions for the whole store.
05. From Collaboration to Cross-Functional Leadership and Stakeholder Management
Building and leveraging relationships across all levels and external partners to achieve store-wide goals.
Mind-shifting
Questions
— How do you currently see the main goal
and purpose of this specific store
evolving over the next 1-3 years, and
what role do you envision yourself
playing in shaping that direction?
— What are the top three biggest
challenges our store is currently
navigating, and what initial thoughts
do you have on how you, as a developing
leader, could contribute to tackling
them?
— How might you translate overarching
company objectives into compelling,
actionable plans for our store, inspiring
and aligning the team along the way?
— Beyond just sales figures, what other
financial metrics do you believe are
crucial for assessing the long-term
profitability and health of the store,
and how would you begin to monitor
them?
— What shifts do you observe in the local
market that might impact our store in the
coming year, and how could we
proactively adapt our operations or
offerings in response?
— As you consider taking on more
responsibility, what major risks
(operational, market, or team-related)
do you see as falling under a
Store Leader's purview, and what are
your initial thoughts on mitigating them?— How can you actively contribute to
fostering an even stronger culture where
every team member feels safe to speak
up, and comfortable sharing ideas and
concerns, regardless of their role?
— Beyond existing training, what innovative
approaches could you implement to
support the continuous learning and
professional growth of all team members
in the store?
— What methods might you use to gauge
and enhance team engagement and
satisfaction, and how would you
approach addressing a decline if you
observed one?
— How would you identify and nurture
emerging leaders within the store,
ensuring a pipeline of talent ready to
step into greater responsibilities?
— In what ways can a Store Leader
effectively celebrate successes and
acknowledge the contributions of all
departments, fostering a collective
sense of achievement?— What does "full and complete
responsibility" for the store's
performance mean to you, encompassing
financial results, team morale,
and customer experience, and are you
prepared for that level of ownership?
— When unexpected challenges or
setbacks arise, how would you
demonstrate strong accountability
and guide the team towards effective
solutions?
— How would you help every team member
understand the significance of their role
to the store's overall success, instilling
a personal sense of responsibility for
their contributions?
— Reflect on a time when you had to
navigate a difficult decision that
impacted various individuals. What was
your approach, and what key insights did
you gain from that experience?— Beyond our current initiatives,
how could you deepen our store's
engagement with the local community,
striving to become a truly valued
community partner?
— What proactive steps would you take
to establish and maintain strong
relationships with key external
stakeholders, such as local businesses,
community leaders, and regional
managers?
— How might you leverage insights
gained from community engagement
to enhance the store's offerings or
elevate the customer experience?— Considering the demands of a Store
Leader role, which new leadership skillsdo you believe are most critical for your
development, and what is your plan to
actively acquire them?
— How will you prioritize your well-beingand maintain resilience amidst the
increased pressures and responsibilities
of the Store Leader position?
— What kind of lasting impact do you
aspire to make as the Store Leader
of this location?
— How will you consistently embody thebrand's values and mission, serving as
an exemplary role model for every team
member and customer interaction?
— Describe your approach to activelyseeking and incorporating feedback
on your own performance as theStore Leader, ensuring continuous
personal and professional growth.
— Owns the store's complete training
strategy, identifying skill gaps and
creating a plan to build a highly
knowledgeable team.
— Develops the store's trainers by
identifying team members with training
potential (like LSAs) and coaching them
to lead sessions effectively.
— Measures the success of training by
tracking its impact on store KPIs (e.g.,
sales, NPS).
General Tip: Move from delivering training to building a learning culture. You are responsible for the long-term intellectual capital of the team.
— Audit the store's performance metrics to
identify where a lack of knowledge is
costing sales (e.g., low apparel UPT).
— Implement a targeted training
intervention and track the specific KPI
movement over the following 60 days.
— Share the success story with the Area
Lead to demonstrate how targeted
training drives measurable business
results.
— Identify operational silos where certain
team members are experts in one area
(e.g., stockroom or visual merchandising)
but lack confidence in others (e.g.,
technical footwear fitting or premium
hospitality).
— Design a structured rotation schedule
where subject matter experts from each
department lead peer-to-peer workshops
for members of other departments.
— Develop a multi-skilled certification
board in the team room to visually track
the progress of team members as they
master new functional areas.
— Analyze the impact on store agility by
measuring the team's ability to maintain
high service standards during staffing
shortages or unexpected stock surges.
— Identify a high-priority product launch or a
complex technical category (e.g., the
specific biomechanics of the Cloudtec
Phase) where the team’s current pitch is
inconsistent.
— Design a gold standard certification rubric
that outlines the three non-negotiable
points every advisor must cover to provide a
premium brand experience.
— Empower your lead store advisors to act as
certifiers, tasking them with observing and
signing off on peers who demonstrate
mastery of the narrative during live
customer interactions.
— Track the correlation between certified
team members and the sales growth of that
specific product category over a 30-day
period.
— your coaching skills
— how you schedule and structure your
training programs
— the quality and “height” of the gold
standard you define
— Cultivate and reward curiosity
— Stress test the team’s knowledge and
assess bench strength
— Iterate based on results
In-store Training
— Empowers and motivates the team to
build and maintain their own client
relationships.
General Tip: Transition from running events to building a brand ecosystem. You should be the most connected brand figure in your local fitness community.
— Identify the top five local influencers,
clubs, and businesses that define the
local fitness scene.
— Develop a 12-month engagement
strategy that positions your store as the
hub for these groups (e.g., hosting their
monthly meetings or athlete talks).
— Measure the growth in new customer
data captures attributed to these
specific community partnerships.
— Design an event series that directly
funnels attendees into a personalized
shopping experience (e.g., a "VIP Launch
Night" for run club leaders).
— Analyze the conversion rate of event
attendees versus walk-in traffic.
— Refine the event strategy based on which
partnerships drive the highest Lifetime
Value (LTV) customers.
— Identify high-value community pillars –
such as local coaches, physiotherapists,
or run leaders – who naturally influence
the purchasing decisions of their
networks.
— Create a formal referral and advocacy
framework that provides these partners
with exclusive access to product trials,
technical workshops, or store facilities.
— Train your team on relationship
management techniques to ensure these
partners feel like true extensions of the
brand rather than just one-time event
guests.
— Audit the program's success by tracking
referred sales and the growth of the
store's "client book" over a six-month
period.
— how effectively you sell the "value-add"
of the brand to potential community
partners
— how you empower the team to build their
client relationships
— maintain long-term alliances
— uphold brand standards when receiving
conflicting community requests
— anticipate developments in the local
fitness landscape
Community & Customer Engagement
— Develops a forward-looking plan for all
VM activities in the store, ensuring the
right resources (people, time, supplies)
are always available.
— Is fully responsible for ensuring all
corporate VM guidelines – both current
and future – are implemented to the
highest standard.
— Provides constructive, forward-looking
feedback to the corporate VM team on
potential challenges with upcoming
directives.
General Tip: Move from visual maintenance to visual strategy. Your store should look like a brand flagship while selling like a high-intensity retail hub.
— Identify a cold zone in the store with high
dwell time but low conversion.
— Partner with the VM team to design a
hot-spot display using high-margin
accessory items or new technical
innovations.
— Track the sales lift in that specific zone
for 30 days and share the findings with
the regional VM lead as a potential best
practice.
— Review upcoming global VM directives
60 days in advance.
— Plan adaptations that account for your
store's unique architecture and local
climate (e.g., heavier emphasis on
waterproof gear for a rainy city).
— Direct the leadership team in the
execution of the floor-set, ensuring every
visual choice is tied to a specific
commercial goal.
— Conduct a 6-month retrospective of
previous floor-sets to determine the
exact labor hours and supply costs
required for a flawless execution.
— Create a forward-looking VM calendar
that schedules prep-work, night shifts,
and training sessions 4–6 weeks ahead
of major launches.
— Identify potential physical or logistical
constraints within the store’s
architecture that may conflict with future
corporate directives, and draft a formalfeedback report for the corporate VM
team that proposes proactive solutions
for these constraints.
— your commercial intuition
— the clarity and impact of your instruction
— your resource management
— advocate to / collaborate with corporate
on any VM challenges
— balance brand vs. business
— audit for longevity and relevance for
customers
Visual Merchandising
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— Is fully responsible for their store's
inventory accuracy and shrinkage
results, developing plans to meet
company targets.
— Oversees inventory management, to
ensure optimized stock levels and
seamless store operations.
— Manages the complete lifecycle of stock,
from receiving to sales, ensuring efficient
and accurate processes throughout.
— Analyzes inventory data (e.g., sell-
through, stock turn) to make smart
decisions and provide feedback on
product assortment to regional partners.
General Tip: Transition from inventory accuracy to inventory strategy. You should be influencing what product enters your store based on local market demand.
— Analyze your store's sales data to identify
categories where local demand exceeds
global allocation (e.g., specific trail
running gear for a mountainous region).
— Draft a formal proposal for Planning
teams with data-backed evidence for
why your store needs a custom stock
profile.
— Monitor the sell-through of the new
allocation to prove the ROI of localized
inventory management.
— Conduct a root-cause analysis of
inventory loss over the last two cycles.
— Develop a multi-departmental plan that
involves training, physical security
changes, and process audits to reduce
shrink by a specific percentage.
— Report the recovered profit to the team
at the end of the quarter to show how
inventory accuracy affects the store’s
bonus potential.
— Evaluate the current speed and accuracy
of the end-to-end stock journey, from the
moment a delivery truck arrives to the
moment a product is sold or returned.
— Identify operational bottlenecks where
stock sits stagnant (e.g., delayed sensor-
tagging or slow floor replenishment) and
implement a new, lean processing
workflow.
— Analyze stock turn and sell-through data
to identify zombie stock that is
consuming shelf space without
generating revenue; design a transfer
plan to exit these units.
— Collaborate with regional partners to
refine the store's future assortment
based on these performance insights,
ensuring the inventory mix remains high-
velocity and commercially healthy.
— your logic and root-cause analysis
— the design of your operational workflows
— navigate high-stakes inventory issues
— challenge the assortment received
— connect stock to profit
Stock Management
— Drives the store's overall commercial
performance and KPI's, creating and
executing plans to maximize selling
opportunities and grow the business.
— Responsibly manages the store's key
resources – the team, the schedule, and
the inventory – to create the best
possible business outcomes.
— Analyzes performance data to
understand what is driving the store's
success and where there are
opportunities to improve.
General Tip: Move from overseeing operations to maximizing profitability. Every operational decision you make should be filtered through a P&L (Profit & Loss) lens.
— Review the store’s Profit & Loss
statement to identify the three largest
controllable expenses (e.g., supplies,
shrink, or overtime).
— Draft a cost-savings plan that reduces
these expenses by 5% without impacting
the customer experience.
— Present the results of this efficiency drive
to your Store Lead, demonstrating your
ability to manage a profitable business
unit.
— Map out the store's most complex
operational processes.
— Identify every manual touchpoint that
could be automated or streamlined to
save labor hours.
— Implement a new workflow that
reallocates the saved labor hours directly
back onto the sales floor during peak
traffic times.
— Analyze 12 months of historical foot
traffic data against labor spend to
identify dead zones where payroll
exceeds conversion potential.
— Create a seasonal resource roadmap that
identifies exactly when to scale up
seasonal hiring and when to prioritize
inventory processing over floor
coverage.
— Develop a robust emergency
contingency plan for high-stakes
scenarios (e.g., total POS failure, critical
staffing shortages, or logistics delays)
that protects store revenue, and present
this to your Store Lead.— Analyze 12 months of historical foot traffic
data against labor spend to identify dead
zones where payroll exceeds conversion
potential.
— Create a seasonal resource roadmap that
identifies exactly when to scale up seasonal
hiring and when to prioritize inventory
processing over floor coverage.
— Develop a robust emergency contingency
plan for high-stakes scenarios (e.g., total
POS failure, critical staffing shortages, or
logistics delays) that protects store
revenue, and present this to your Store
Lead.
— your financial literacy
— how your prioritize strategically between
long-term projects and short-term needs
— the speed of your decision-making
— manage upward communication
— anticipate and mitigate risk
— delegate to develop team members
Daily Operations
Service Excellence
— Drives the vision for a premium customer
journey within the store, ensuring all
team members are aligned with On’s
standard of service.
— Analyzes customer feedback and
performance metrics to continuously
refine and improve the store experience.
— Monitors after-sales metrics; partners
with stakeholders to inform and help
resolve key trends and themes.
General Tip: Transition from coaching service to architecting a service ecosystem. You must use data to predict customer needs before they arise.
— Aggregate three months of customer
feedback, mystery shop scores, and NPS
data to identify the "one big thing"
holding back a perfect score.
— Design a comprehensive service re-
launch that targets this specific area
(e.g., technical storytelling or speed of
checkout).
— Measure the financial impact of improved
service scores by correlating them with
conversion rate increases over the
following quarter.
— Appoint a small group of high-performing
advisors to act as a "service board" for
the store.
— Task them with identifying friction points
in the customer journey and proposing
independent solutions.
— Grant them the autonomy and budget to
implement one WOW moment per week
(e.g., surprise-and-delight gifts for loyal
athletes).
— Analyze after-sales metrics and return
data over a 90-day period to identify the
primary reasons for product
dissatisfaction or buyer's remorse.
— Design a proactive follow-up system
where the leadership team audits high-
value transactions and ensures a
personalized "thank you" or technical
care guide is sent to the athlete.
— Partner with corporate or regional
stakeholders to share local trends
regarding product performance, acting
as the bridge between the customer's
voice and brand development.
— Evaluate the success of the framework
by tracking the repeat customer rate and
the reduction in warranty claims over the
following six months.
— the clarity of your service strategy
— your data analysis and interpretation
— how you empower team members to
work autonomously
— navigate stakeholder relationships
— predict service surges
— balance Premium vs. speed
— Owns a premium in-store culture aligned
with On's global vision.
— Recognises the importance of culture as
a driver of performance.
— Serves as the ultimate ambassador for
our culture within the broader Oniverse
and brings it to life within Store.
— Has a strong awareness of store morale
and engagement levels, knows when
action is required and can build robust
engagement action plans, driven by our
spirits.
General Tip: Move from managing culture to defining the legacy. You are now the primary guardian of the store's atmosphere, responsible for creating a place where people don't just work, but belong.
— Evaluate the current team's strengths
and cultural gaps over the last six
months.
— Draft a "store manifesto" that outlines
specific behavioral expectations that go
beyond global brand standards to fit your
local team’s personality.
— Present this vision to your leadership
team and co-create a rollout plan to
embed these values into every huddle
and 1-on-1.
— Identify high-potential talent across all
levels of the store and map out their
potential career paths within the next 12–
18 months.
— Schedule "stay interviews" with key team
members to understand their motivations
and what keeps them engaged with the
brand.
— Create a structured mentorship program
that pairs emerging leaders with
seasoned pros, ensuring a "bench" of
talent is ready for future store needs.
— Analyze your store’s most recent
engagement survey data or feedback to
identify one specific cultural outlier (e.g., a
dip in Work-Life Balance or Growth
Opportunities).
— Facilitate a series of anonymous focus
groups or listening circles with advisors
from different shifts to uncover the root
causes behind these scores.
— Develop a 90-day Engagement Action Plan
that includes 2–3 measurable initiatives
(e.g., a new peer-to-peer feedback tool or a
monthly "technical mastery" workshop).
— At the end of the quarter, measure how
your cultural interventions impacted team
performance metrics like IPO or
conversion.
— the clarity of the vision you lay out for the
team
— your ability to handle uncomfortable
cultural conversations
— your emotional intelligence (EQ)
— protect the brand externally
— navigate conflict and resolve
disagreements at the leadership level
— balance commerciality with humanity
Brand & Culture
Key competencies to develop
— Acts as a proactive self-starter,
identifying and taking on new challenges
or opportunities.
— Tackles complex challenges with grit,
staying motivated and focused through
significant adversity.
— Holds both themself and their peers
accountable for achieving shared goals
and commitments.
General Tip: Shift from watching the dashboard to driving the P&L. You are the CEO of your store.
— Break down the annual store budget into
quarterly and monthly commercial
themes.
— Align every huddle, training, and event to
these specific financial milestones.
— Conduct a monthly business review with
the leadership team, treating the store as
a standalone business and holding every
lead accountable for their pillar.
— Analyze the store’s conversion funnel
over a 30-day period to identify exactly
where potential revenue is being lost
(e.g., high fitting room occupancy but low
transaction volume).
— Identify three marginal gain
opportunities – such as reducing
checkout wait times by 30 seconds or
increasing the footwear-to-apparel
attach rate by 2%.
— Assign each Lead Store Advisor one
specific gain to own and provide them
with a behavioral framework to coach the
team during their shifts.
— Document the cumulative impact of
these small shifts on the total store
revenue, proving that you can drive
significant results through disciplined,
incremental improvements.
— Select one product category or KPI that
has consistently sat below the regional
average for the last two quarters (e.g.,
low technical accessory sales).
— Conduct a deep-dive assessment that
considers all variables: visual placement,
team knowledge, inventory levels, and
local community appetite.
— Design and lead a 60-day commercial
sprint that includes a visual refresh, a
targeted training session, and a specific
incentive or recognition program for the
team.
— Present the before and after results to
your Store Lead.
— the effectiveness of your style in holding
team members accountable
— your grit and composure when targets
are missed
— the effectiveness of your decisions
around resource trade-offs
— switch between high-level strategy and
being “in the weeds” with the team
— navigate difficult stakeholders
— incentivize and recognize collective
success
Results Focus
— Analyzes complex information to identify
the root cause of a well-defined problem.
— Connects information from different
sources to ensure a problem is well-
defined before solving.
— Involves relevant stakeholders to gather
diverse perspectives and challenge
assumptions.
General Tip: Transition from solving problems to strategic risk mitigation. You should be solving the problems of 12 months from now, today.
— Before a major launch or event, gather
the leadership team to imagine that the
event has failed.
— Identify all the reasons why it failed (e.g.,
tech outage, shipment delay, staff
burnout).
— Create mitigation plans for each
identified risk, ensuring the store is
prepared for any scenario.
— Identify a high-level business problem
that involves multiple area (e.g., a
a consistent gap between foot traffic and
footwear conversion).
— Gather stakeholders from different pillars
– such as a footwear specialist, a visual
merchandiser, and an operations lead –
to map out the problem using a logic tree.
— Break the main problem down into
smaller, actionable branches (e.g.,
"product availability," "team technical
knowledge," or "bench seating
capacity") to isolate the true bottleneck.
— Coordinate a 14-day sprint where each
stakeholder implements one specific fix
on their branch, then aggregate the data
to measure the total impact on the
primary KPI.
— Select a recurring pain point that has
impacted the store for over six months (e.g.,
high apparel return rates or consistent
morning-shift operational delays).
— Utilize a "five whys" analysis or a fishbone
diagram with a cross-area group of advisors
to move past symptoms and identify the
systemic failure.
— Design a multi-layered solution that
includes a process update, a training
intervention, and a new physical tool or
visual cue.
— Monitor the data for 90 days to verify that
the problem has been eradicated at the
source.
— your emotional regulation during pivots
— how you identify and define strategic
problems versus operational hiccups
— your bias awareness
— model humility and learning from the top
— identify emerging problems and address
them before they become major crises.
— involve stakeholders strategically
Problem Solving
Learning Agility
— Understands their own capabilities and
how their style and emotions impact
others.
— Proactively seeks out diverse knowledge
and skills, even outside their area of
expertise.
— Proactively seeks out candid feedback
from a wide range of sources to find blind
spots.
General Tip: Move from personal agility to organizational agility. Your store should be able to pivot in response to market shifts.
— Identify a recent store-level experiment
or project that did not achieve its
intended outcome (e.g., a community
event with low turnout or a pilot
replenishment process that caused
delays).
— Facilitate a no-blame debrief with the
relevant leads to dissect the data,
assumptions, and execution gaps that
led to the result.
— Synthesize these insights into a brief
learning memo shared with the team
room to ensure the same mistakes are
not repeated.
— Evaluate the team's agility by tracking
how quickly they apply these specific
lessons to the next major project or
launch.
— Create a simple, anonymous feedback
form for advisors, leads, and peers that
asks for one thing you should "start, stop,
and continue" doing as a leader.
— Analyze the responses to identify themes
where your self-perception differs from
the team’s experience (e.g., you believe
you are "clear," but the team feels
"rushed").
— Host a huddle where you share one key
takeaway from the feedback with the
team and outline the specific steps you
will take to improve.
— Schedule a follow-up check-in 30 days
later with a mentor to evaluate if your
behavioral shifts have positively
impacted team morale or store
performance.
— how proactively you seek different
perspectives from others
— Self-awareness and impact during high-
pressure moments
— model learning from setbacks from the
top
— process knowledge from diverse
sources, e.g., other industries
— seek to learn about their blind spots
through feedback
— Cultivates a broad, cross-functional
network (eg- other Store Leads and
corporate partners).
— Fosters a "one team" culture and
proactively connects individuals across
teams (eg- pillars), breaking down silos.
— Creates opportunities for open
knowledge exchange across teams (eg-
best practices on sales and service).
General Tip: Transition from "local collaboration" to "regional influence." You should be a key contributor to the success of the entire district.
— Reach out to other Store Leads in your
region to identify a common challenge
(e.g., staffing or stock flow).
— Facilitate a virtual or in-person workshop
where stores share their successful
solutions.
— Create a shared playbook that other
stores can use, establishing yourself as a
leader among your peers.
— Audit the communication gaps between
your store’s internal pillars (e.g., how the community team’s event schedule is
communicated to the operations and
stock teams).
— Design a unified pillar master-calendar and a weekly sync-meeting structure
that forces leads to discuss how their
specific goals can support one another.
— Monitor the reduction in operational
friction during events, such as improved
stock readiness or optimized staffing
levels, and present these efficiency gains
to your Store Lead.
— Document the process into a
collaboration toolkit that can be used to
onboard new leads into a multi-
functional leadership mindset.
— Identify a high-performing lead in a
different functional area or a neighboring
store who excels in a skill you wish to
sharpen.
— Arrange a reciprocal shadow day where
you observe their leadership style and
they observe your store’s specific
strengths.
— Synthesize the observations into a best
practice report that highlights three
specific changes your store will
implement based on the visit.
— Facilitate a team-wide huddle to roll out
these new practices, demonstrating your
ability to import excellence from the
broader network into your own team.
— your effectiveness in breaking down silos
— how you influence without authority
— the clarity and relevance of the learnings
you share
— advocate for the store’s needs while
navigating corporate partnerships
— manage lateral relationships (e.g., with
other Store Leads)
— foster psychological safety
Collaboration
— Makes decisions with a good
understanding of their team's impact on
the wider business.
— Makes decisions for their team that
balance short-term needs with long-term
sustainability.
— Consistently acts with integrity and
holds their team to the same high ethical
standards.
General Tip: Shift your focus from The Shift to The Season. You should be solving the problems of three months from now, today.
— Review the last three years of store
performance data to identify seasonal
trends and peaks.
— Draft a comprehensive plan for the
upcoming quarter that includes hiring
needs, training focuses, and community
event tie-ins.
— Present this plan to your Store Lead and
Area Lead to demonstrate your ability to
look beyond the daily "to-do list" and
manage a business cycle.
— Analyze your store's turnover trends and
peak season requirements for the next 12
months.
— Create a rolling recruitment strategy
where you are interviewing and
networking even when you don't have an
immediate opening.
— Establish relationships with local
universities or fitness communities to
ensure a steady stream of brand-aligned
talent is available when you need to scale
up.
— Audit the store's operational habits (e.g.,
waste management, energy use, or supply
ordering) against the brand’s long-term
global sustainability and ethical goals.
— Identify one process that prioritizes
short- term convenience over long-term
integrity and redesign it to be more
sustainable (e.g., transitioning from
single-use plastics in the team room to
permanent solutions).
— Facilitate a huddle on the total cost of
business decisions, teaching the team
how small, ethical choices today protect
the brand’s reputation and profitability
for years to come.
— Measure the long-term impact of these
changes by tracking waste reduction or
cost savings over a six-month period,
presenting the data as a business case
for ethical efficiency.
— your strategic foresight
— your decision-making ability when under
pressure
— how consistently you model integrity
— navigate seasonal transitions
— prioritize "slow" (non-urgent but high-
impact) work
— respond to corporate strategy shifts
Long Term Thinking
— Inspires a higher standard of excellence
and performance across their entire
team.
— Leads cross-functional process or
system redesigns that result in
significant productivity gains.
— Optimizes resource deployment across
teams to deliver on complex, strategic
goals.
General Tip: Move from checking for errors to designing for perfection. Use data and post-mortems to identify why excellence fluctuates and create systems to keep it consistent.
— Walk the store through the eyes of a first-
time customer and document every
friction point (e.g., a messy fitting room, a
slow checkout, or confusing signage).
— Partner with your Leads to brainstorm
systemic fixes for these points rather
than simply cleaning them up in the
moment.
— Implement one experience innovation per
month based on these findings and track
its impact on customer satisfaction
scores.
— Identify a KPI that is consistently below
target (e.g., IPO or conversion).
— Use the "5 whys" method to dig past the
symptoms until you find the process or
training failure at the root.
— Develop a new Standard Operating
Procedure (SOP) to address the root
cause and train the entire team on the
"why" behind the change to ensure buy-
in.
— Develop a peer review system where
team members spend 5 minutes at the
end of their shift auditing another
person's zone and leaving a Shout-out or
Step-up note.
— Act as the moderator for this system,
ensuring feedback is constructive,
brand-aligned, and focused on elevating
the collective standard.
— Report to the Store Leader on how this
peer-accountability has reduced the
amount of recovery time needed at the
end of the day.
— Identify the most technical or complex
product in the store and create a 3-tier
“Expert Certification” (e.g., Bronze,
Silver, Gold levels of knowledge).
— Lead weekly knowledge sprints where
you train peers on the specific
biomechanics or material science behind
the products.
— Measure the excellence of this initiative
by tracking the increase in sales of those
specific technical items among the team
members you’ve trained.
— Analyze the store’s productivity data to
identify the specific hours and zones
where the highest volume of complex
tasks (e.g., technical fittings and high-
heat launches) occurs simultaneously.
— Design a dynamic deployment map that
reallocates labor based on these
strategic peaks, moving away from a
static schedule to one that over-indexes
talent in the store's high-impact zones.
— Implement a readiness checklist for
these peak windows to ensure all
physical and digital tools are 100%
functional before the surge begins.
— Measure the gain in productivity by
comparing sales-per-hour and task-
completion rates against the previous
model, presenting the results as a
blueprint for excellence to your
leadership team.
— the impact of your innovation initiatives
— the clarity and effectiveness of your new
SOPs
— how inspirational you are in raising the
bar for the team
— notice details and address them
systemically
— champion "the better way" versus "the
way we’ve always done it"
— maintain poise under pressure
Driving Excellence
Developing Talent
— Skillfully initiates and navigates crucial
conversations that address core
performance or behavioral issues.
— Proactively identifies and mentors high-
potential talent.
— Provides tailored coaching and stretch
assignments that accelerate an
individual's development.
General Tip: Shift from coaching tasks to building careers. Your primary product as a Store Lead is not sales – it is the next generation of leaders.
— List every Lead Store Advisor role in the
store and identify at least two "ready
now" or "ready soon" successors for
each.
— Schedule monthly career pathing 1-on-1s
with these individuals that focus strictly
on leadership behaviors rather than
operational tasks.
— Assign these "successors" a month-long
project that mirrors a responsibility of the
role they are targeting.
— Identify your Lead Store Advisors who
are strong technically but struggle with
delivering feedback.
— Shadow their coaching sessions with
Advisors and provide them with live
feedback on their delivery and impact.
— Create a monthly forum where your
Leads can discuss difficult coaching
scenarios and share best practices for
developing others.
— Identify a recurring behavioral or
performance friction point within the
store that the leadership team has been
hesitant to address directly.
— Model the behavior by leading a high-
stakes performance conversation with a
team member, then debriefing the "how"
and "why" of your approach with a junior
leader.
— Design a role-play workshop for your
Lead Store Advisors where they practice
delivering difficult feedback using a
structured framework (e.g., CORE:
context- observation-result-evolution).
— Monitor the performance ripple effect by
tracking the behavioral improvement of
the teams led by the Leads you mentored
in these conversations.
— your impact on crucial conversations
— the depth of your mentorship
— how well you tailor your coaching
— identify "hidden" talent
— coach solid performers to keep them
engaged and challenged
— support upward development for ASLs
— Proactively recruits and develops talent,
building a diverse team to meet future
functional needs.
— Builds psychological safety by skillfully
navigating disagreements, ensuring
everyone feels valued.
— Uses delegation as an intentional tool to
stretch team members and grow their
capabilities.
General Tip: Move from fixing team issues to architecting team culture. You are successful when the team holds each other accountable to the Gold Standard without your intervention.
— Observe your current shift handovers
and identify where information or
standards typically slip.
— Create a Standard of Excellence
checklist that must be signed off by both
the incoming and outgoing shift leads.
— Facilitate a workshop where the team
defines their own Team Agreements for
behavior and performance, ensuring they
have ownership over the rules they live
by.
— Audit your current store environment to
ensure all team members see their
backgrounds reflected in the store's
rhythm.
— Work with the team to identify key
cultural moments or local community
events that the store should celebrate.
— Delegate the planning of these
celebrations to different team members
(a mix of team members for whom the
cultural moment is meaningful and team
members who are interested in
supporting and learning more),
empowering them to lead the store's
cultural engagement.
— Identify a complex store-wide project that
falls outside the normal daily routine (e.g., a
community pop-up, a back-of-house
reorganization, or a new hire onboarding
week).
— Select 2-3 emerging leaders and delegate
specific pillars of the project to them,
intentionally choosing tasks that stretch
their current capabilities (e.g., giving a
visual lead responsibility for the labor
budget of a floor-set).
— Establish a psychological safety net by
scheduling weekly check-ins where the
focus is on problem-solving and learning
rather than just status updates.
— Facilitate a project post-mortem with the
participants to help them reflect on their
growth, then present the project’s
commercial and cultural outcomes to
your store lead.
— the clarity of the goals and tasks you
delegated to others
— how you build psychological safety
— the quality of your candidate evaluations
after interviews
— moderate high-tension meetings in a way
that preserves the relationship and the
brand spirit.
— recruit for culture add
— step back to let others lead
Building High Performing Teams
— Articulates a clear and motivating vision
for their team that aligns with company
goals.
— Creates a simple, actionable strategy for
the team by translating company goals
into clear initiatives.
— Sets clear, measurable goals and makes
decisive trade-offs to protect key
priorities.
General Tip: Move from giving instructions to providing the North Star. Your role is to simplify complex company goals into a vision that inspires the team to act independently.
— Review the latest global brand directives
and identify the three most important
goals for your specific location.
— Create a visual Mission Board in the team
room that translates these corporate
goals into "what it means for us."
— Use every morning huddle to connect the
day's tasks back to this overarching story
so the team understands the "why"
behind the "what."
— Identify an operational or sales area that
needs improvement (e.g., the stockroom
flow).
— Instead of telling the Lead exactly how to
fix it, define the desired outcome (e.g.,
"reduce processing time by 20%").
— Give the Lead the authority and
resources to design the solution
themselves, providing guidance only
when they veer away from the store's
strategic direction.
— Review a week where the store has
multiple competing priorities (e.g., a
major floor-set, a community run, and
high-volume deliveries).
— Lead a session with your Lead Store
Advisors to rank these priorities based
on their impact on the store's North Star
goals, identifying which tasks can be
delayed or simplified to protect the non-
negotiables.
— Create a priority filter tool – a simple set
of three questions the team should ask
themselves before pivoting their focus
during a busy shift.
— Audit the success of these trade-offs by
measuring the quality of the protected
priorities at the end of the week,
demonstrating your ability to maintain
focus amidst noise.
— how well your store vision resonates
— your decisiveness on tough calls with
trade-offs
— how well you simplified strategically and
kept clarity
— filter out corporate “noise” to shield the
team
— maintain the long view during crises
— inspire through the "why"
Setting Direction
— Drives the vision for a premium customer
journey within the store, ensuring all
team members are aligned with On’s
standard of service.
— Analyzes customer feedback and
performance metrics to continuously
refine and improve the store experience.
— Monitors after-sales metrics; partners
with stakeholders to inform and help
resolve key trends and themes.
— Reflect on the vision for your store's
premium customer journey, and what it
looks like specifically for your store,
translating the core Cloud CX steps
(Create, Lead, Offer, Unlock, Deepen)
into concrete, observable behaviors that
resonate with your team and your store's
unique context. Share this with your
team.
— Lead regular coaching sessions using the
"Cloud CX Track & Feedback" model.
Commit to coaching and documenting at
least one Advisor and one Lead Advisor
monthly, utilizing "Feedback in the
Moment" for busy periods and "Ask, Tell,
Agree" (ATA) for slower times. Ensure all
team members understand their role in
driving these metrics and are aligned
with On's premium standard of service.
— Dedicate regular time during team
huddles or specific workshops to explain
the "why" behind each Cloud CX step,
linking it to business goals, customer
expectations, and evolving store
realities. Encourage open discussion and
secure team buy-in by highlighting how
these premium behaviors contribute to
both individual performance during peak
periods, showcasing the desired level of
care and expertise.
— Establish a consistent routine for
collecting, compiling, and reviewing both
quantitative data (e.g., NPS/MSP scores,
conversion rates, IPO) and qualitative
insights from customer comments,
online reviews, and direct observations.
Ensure your team actively encourages
customers to provide feedback through
the NPS survey and online review
systems, and educate them on why this
feedback is sought and how it helps
improve the store. Actively listen to
customer feedback on products and
ensure it's compiled for review with
management and merchandise teams.
— Based on your thorough feedback
analysis, convene regular, focused
workshops with your leadership team.
For example, if comments frequently
mention long waiting times at checkout,
brainstorm solutions to streamline POS
procedures. If product knowledge is a
recurring theme, discuss targeted
training interventions.
— Develop concrete action plans with clear
ownership and timelines, ensuring
diverse perspectives are considered,
relevant stakeholders (e.g., product
merchandising, retail operations) are
involved to challenge assumptions and
gather broad input, and performance
metrics are tracked to assess the impact
of these changes. Share successes and
ongoing challenges transparently with
your entire store team during huddles or
meetings.
— Designate a consistent method for
collecting, compiling, and analyzing all
after-sales data from various sources.
This includes returns and exchanges,
warranty claims, and recurring product
issues gleaned from customer feedback,
POS reports, and customer service logs.
Regularly analyze this data (e.g., weekly
or monthly) to identify recurring patterns,
product-specific issues, or common
service pain points.
— Based on the identified after-sales
trends, proactively schedule and lead
regular meetings or communicationchannels with relevant internal
stakeholders. These stakeholders might
include product merchandising, retail
operations, and customer
service/Happiness Delivery (HD). During
these sessions, present the consolidated
after-sales trends with objective data
and specific examples, clearly informing
them of the issues. Then, collaborate to
resolve these themes by discussing
potential root causes and co-creating
actionable solutions or preventative
measures.
— Once solutions are defined with
stakeholders, work with your store team
to implement necessary in-store
preventative measures or process
adjustments. For example, if a product
consistently has a specific defect, you
might refine product education during
the "Offer" stage or improve packaging
rituals at POS. Clearly communicate
these changes and their rationale to your
entire store team, explaining how they
address the identified trends. After
implementation, track relevant metrics to
monitor the impact of these solutions.
Finally, report back to stakeholders and
your team on the effectiveness of the
implemented solutions to close the
feedback loop.
Service Excellence
Mastering Your Role: Store Lead
Brand &
Culture
— Owns a premium in-store culture aligned
with On's global vision.
— Recognises the importance of culture as
a driver of performance.
— Serves as the ultimate ambassador for
our culture within the broader Oniverse
and brings it to life within Store.
— Has a strong awareness of store morale
and engagement levels, knows when
action is required and can build robust
engagement action plans, driven by our
spirits.
— Design a simple, high-visibility program
to consistently recognize team members
who exemplify On's five spirits (e.g., a
"Spirit of the Week" award, a dedicated
notice board, or a weekly shout-out
during huddles).
— Personally lead the recognition during
team meetings, sharing specific
examples of how the recognized team
member brought a spirit to life, fostering
mutual trust and open communication.
— Regularly review team morale through
informal conversations and observations.
Use this awareness to adjust the
program or identify additional actions to
build robust engagement plans.
— Schedule a recurring 15-minute culture
check-in during a weekly team meeting.
Introduce a topic related to one of On's
spirits or a current store challenge (e.g.,
how to embody the feedback culture, or
how resilience helps overcome daily
obstacles).
— Create a safe space for open discussion,
encouraging team members to share
their perspectives and experiences.
Actively listen to gauge morale and
engagement levels, understanding when
action is required to address concerns or
foster a more supportive environment.
— Synthesize key takeaways and
communicate any actionable steps to
continuously refine and bring the On
culture to life within your store.
— Regularly share insights from brand
updates or company communications
that articulate On's global vision and
mission. Translate these into tangible
examples of how your team's daily work
contributes to this larger purpose.
— During daily huddles, encourage team
members to share their own "why" – what
personally connects them to On's vision
and how they feel they serve as an
ambassador for the brand.
— Actively seek feedback on how well the
team understands and connects with the
brand narrative, adjusting your
communication strategy to ensure it
consistently resonates and drives
engagement
— Drives the store's overall commercial
performance and KPI's, creating and
executing plans to maximize selling
opportunities and grow the business.
— Responsibly manages the store's key
resources – the team, the schedule, and
the inventory – to create the best
possible business outcomes.
— Analyzes performance data to
understand what is driving the store's
success and where there are
opportunities to improve.
— At the start of your shift or during a daily
huddle, review the previous day's or
week's key performance indicators (KPIs)
such as conversion rate, average order
value (AOV), or items per order (IPO).
This aligns with your role in analyzing
performance data to understand success
drivers.
— Identify one specific KPI that presents
the biggest opportunity for improvement
for the day or week. Based on this,
collaboratively develop specific,
actionable strategies with your team to
positively impact this KPI. This
demonstrates creating and executing
plans to maximize selling opportunities.
— Ensure the team understands their
individual and collective roles in
executing the plan. During and after the
shift, track progress and debrief with
your team on the effectiveness of the
implemented strategies, similar to how
Lin Xiao uses data-driven decision-
making and rigorously executes plans to
achieve sales targets.
— Identify one existing operational process
in your store that is inefficient, resource-
intensive, or impacting customer
experience or KPIs. This could be related
to fitting room management, back-of-
house (BOH) flow, or cashier operations.
This addresses analyzing data to find
improvement opportunities.
— Engage your Associate Store Lead (ASL)
and key Lead Advisors (LAs) to gather
their input and perspectives on the
current process and potential
improvements. Work with them to
redesign the process to be more efficient
and effective, leveraging their direct
experience and Shan Wu's approach to
improving execution quality and
efficiency through rules and tools.
— Pilot the new process with a small team,
collect feedback, and measure its impact
on key metrics (e.g., reduced waiting
times, improved inventory accuracy,
increased team efficiency). This
showcases your ability to manage key
resources and improve business
outcomes.
— Anticipate an upcoming period of high
traffic, a major product launch, or a
planned store event. Based on historical
data and forecasts, develop a detailed
plan for responsibly managing your key
resources (team members, their
schedules, and specific inventory needs)
to ensure optimal coverage and
productivity. Alphonse Rispoli and
Vivienne Wang both optimized
scheduling based on forecasts and
managed staff efficiently for peak times.
— Identify potential challenges or
unexpected scenarios during this period
(e.g., unexpected staff absence, system
issues, higher-than-anticipated customer
flow) and develop a contingency plan.
This plan should outline alternative
resource deployments, communication
protocols, and decision-making
frameworks to effectively respond to
changes. Gabe Esparza's focus on
proactive decisions to mitigate risks
aligns with this.
— Communicate this plan clearly to your
leadership team and the broader store
team, ensuring everyone understands
their roles and the strategic rationale
behind the resource allocation. Conduct
a post-event review to assess the plan's
effectiveness and refine it for future use.
