Lead Store Advisor to Associate Store Lead
The progression to an Associate Store Lead marks a significant leap in your professional journey within our stores.
You'll transition from merely overseeing tasks to strategically planning, implementing, and optimizing overall store operations and performance.
The Associate Store Lead role is about transformation – for you as a leader and for the store – leveraging your capabilities to expand influence, lead with purpose, and achieve new heights of success and customer experience. It's a challenging, rewarding journey central to the store's growth.
Mind-shifting
Questions
— What do you see as the key differences
between the Lead Store Advisor role
and the Associate Store Leader role?
— How do you anticipate your daily
responsibilities would change?
— Beyond your current section, what
other areas of the store do you feel
you need to understand more deeply?— How could you contribute to the overall
store strategy and not just your specific
area?
— What does "holistic positive store
culture" mean to you, and how would
you foster it?
— How would you influence team members
across different departments or
sections?
— What data or metrics would you be
looking at that are different?— How would your approach to coaching
and developing others need to evolve?
— What new skills do you believe you
would need to develop to be successful
as an Associate Store Leader?
— How would you empower other team
members to take ownership?
— How would you handle conflict or
challenges that arise outside of your
direct team?— What does "proactively driving
strategic initiatives" look like to
you?
— How would you identify opportunities
for continuous improvement across the
entire store?
— What would be your vision for how the
store can improve in the next 6-12months?
— How would you champion new ideas
and change within the store?— What would you be most excited about
in this new role?
— What would you be most apprehensive
about, and how could the Store Leader
support you?
— What kind of legacy would you want
to leave as an Associate Store Leader?
The position challenges you to
01. See the bigger picture
Understand and influence overall financial performance, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction by analyzing trends and addressing challenges.
02. Drive overall store success
Develop and execute strategies to enhance profitability, customer loyalty, and streamline operations, achieving sales targets and managing inventory.
03. Develop everyone around you
Coach, inspire, and empower the entire team, fostering continuous learning and helping members reach their full potential.
04. Become a visionary
Translate strategic goals into actionable plans, anticipating future needs, adapting to market changes, and innovating to guide the team.
Generally, we see a mindset shift from leading a section to leading the entire store and influencing strategies.
Ask yourself…
— Partners with the Store Lead to create
the store’s training calendar.
— Coordinates training activities, including
assigning specific training topics to Lead
Advisors based on their expertise.
— Observes training sessions and provides
constructive feedback to Lead Advisors
to help them become more effective
trainers.
General Tip: Move away from "telling" and toward "facilitating." Instead of giving someone the answer, ask: "Based on the training we did last week, how would you approach this situation?" This encourages critical thinking and long-term skill retention.
— Identify a consistent pain point in store
performance, such as low sign-up rates
for the loyalty program or a lack of
technical knowledge in a specific shoe
category.
— Create a 4-week Skill-Drill calendar
featuring one 5-minute training topic per
week to be delivered during huddles.
— Develop a simple knowledge check (like
a 3-question quiz or a role-play scenario)
to verify that the information was actually
retained by the team.
— Identify Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
within the Advisor team – for example,
someone who is an expert at apparel
styling or another who is a pro at the POS
system.
— Create a Mentorship Match where you
pair these experts with newer team
members for targeted 30-minute shadow
sessions.
— Oversee these sessions and provide
feedback to the mentors on their
teaching style, demonstrating your ability
to "train the trainer."
— Review the current onboarding checklist
and shadow a new hire for a few hours to
see where they feel most confused or
overwhelmed.
— Identify one area where the training
materials are outdated or unclear and
draft a supplemental training guide (e.g.,
a "Who to call" sheet or a "Common
customer questions" FAQ).
— Present these improvements to your
Store Leader as a way to decrease the
time-to- productivity for future new
hires.
— Pick a specific metric, such as Items per
Order (IPO), and deliver a targeted
training session to a small group of
advisors on how to cross-sell.
— Monitor the IPO performance of those
specific advisors for the following two
weeks.
— Create a brief report for the leadership
team showing the correlation between
your training session and the improved
sales data, proving the value of your
developmental work.
— your effectiveness in leading training
facilitation
— your ability to train on a variety of
operational topics
— the impact of your coaching
— the accuracy of your training needs
assessments
— the overall effectiveness of the training
you deliver in achieving its goals
— deliver training on a wide range of
operational topics
— provide valuable coaching to their team
— accurately assess training needs
— implement methods to evaluate the
impact of their training programs
In-store Training
— Trains and coaches the team on
clienteling best practices, such as how to
effectively follow up with customers.
— Helps the Store Lead plan targeted
outreach campaigns to different
customer segments.
General Tip: Look for the long-term connection. Instead of a one-time sale, ask: "How can we make this person or group a permanent part of our store's ecosystem?" This shift from "transactional" to "relational" is the hallmark of the leadership role.
— Identify a local group (e.g., a run club, a
yoga studio, or a sustainability non-
profit) that aligns with the brand’s values
but hasn't partnered with the store yet.
— Develop a mini-activation plan – such as
a post-run recovery session or a “product
tech” talk – including the goals, the
required resources, and a timeline.
— Execute the event and present a
summary to your Store Leader,
highlighting the number of new
customers reached and how the event
strengthened the brand's local footprint.
— Audit the upcoming local calendar for the
next 90 days to identify key community
moments (e.g., local marathons, charity
walks, or neighborhood festivals).
— Create a centralized Community
Calendar for the store that lists these
dates and proposes one specific way the
team can engage with each.
— Take ownership of updating this calendar
weekly, ensuring the team is briefed
during huddles so they can speak
knowledgeably about local events to
customers
— Spend one hour a week specifically
chatting with regulars and community
partners to gather feedback on what the
local community feels is missing from the
store’s current offerings.
— Synthesize this qualitative data into a
brief monthly report, noting trends in
customer expectations or community
interests.
— Present these insights to the leadership
team with 1–2 actionable
recommendations on how the store can
better serve the local athlete population.
— your effectiveness in leading community
engagement tasks
— the clarity and impact of your strategy
— the strength of your stakeholder
relationships
— your ability to leverage resources
effectively
— plan and execute community initiatives
— build relationships with stakeholders
— find innovative ways to maximize impact
with available resources
Community & Customer Engagement
— Looks ahead at the VM calendar to
proactively plan the staffing, tools, and
workload needed for upcoming floor sets
and campaign launches.
— Coordinates the team to ensure new VM
directives are implemented efficiently,
accurately, and on schedule.
— Trains the team on the methods and
standards required for perfect VM
execution, ensuring they are prepared for
future updates.
General Tip: When working on VM, always ask: "Is this layout making it easier or harder for the customer to shop?" Focus on removing friction from the customer journey through smart, visual cues.
— Partner with the current VM Lead or
Store Leader to review the upcoming
global VM guidelines and map them toyour specific store’s layout.
— Lead a small team of advisors to execute
a specific zone transition (e.g., the front
Hero wall or a new footwear launch),
ensuring all styling is exact.
— Conduct a walk-through with your
manager after completion to explain how
you adapted the global guidelines to fit
your local store's physical constraints.
— Analyze your store’s weekly Heat Map or
sales-by-category report to identify a
high-traffic area that is underperforming
in sales.
— Propose and execute a merchandising
shift – such as adding a cross-
merchandised accessory (e.g., socks)
next to a best-selling shoe – to increase
the Average Transaction Value (ATV).
— Track the sales of those items for one
week after the move and report the
before and after results to your Store
Leader.
— Take full ownership of the store's
mannequins for one month, ensuring they
are styled according to the current
storytelling directive and are changed
weekly.
— Select outfits based on a specific athlete
persona (e.g., the urban commuter or the
trail runner) and brief the team on the
"why" behind the outfit to help them with
their sales pitches.
— Audit the inventory levels of the pieces
featured on the mannequins daily to
ensure that every styled item is actually
available for purchase in a full range of
sizes.
— Create a simple, visual "gold standard"
guide for your specific store (e.g., photos
of a perfectly steamed and hung apparel
rack or a correctly spaced footwear wall).
— Lead a 10-minute training session for new
hires on how to recover as you go,
teaching them the specific finger-
spacing or folding techniques the brand
requires.
— Set a VM Challenge during a shift,
recognizing and rewarding the teammate
who does the best job of maintaining the
visual standards during a high-traffic
peak.
— your effectiveness in leading visual
merchandising tasks
— the clarity and impact of your cross-
functional communication
— the consistency of your efforts to
maintain visual standards
— the effectiveness of your training and
education of the team
— communicate stock and merchandising
topics
— maintain visual standards throughout the
day
— educate and inspire the team to achieve
high visual merchandising performance
Visual Merchandising
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— Helps the Store Lead plan and organize
major stock activities, such as seasonal
deliveries and full-store inventory
counts.
— Possesses a broad understanding of all
On verticals.
— Analyzes stock discrepancy reports to
find patterns and suggests ways to
improve accuracy.
— Uses stock reports to find the root cause
of inventory errors and suggest data-
backed solutions to the Store Lead.
General Tip: Always connect your stock tasks back to the customer experience. For example, when you organize the stockroom, explain it as "reducing the time a customer has to wait while an advisor looks for a size," rather than just "cleaning up."
— Request access to a recent Best Sellers
or Sell-Through report and identify three
top-performing items that are currently
low in stock.
— Coordinate with the Store Leader to
check the delivery schedule and plan a
priority replenishment strategy for those
specific items to maximize sales
potential.
— Present a Stock Spotlight in the morning
huddle, informing the team which high-
stock items they should prioritize selling
to clear floor space for incoming
inventory.
— Volunteer to lead the next scheduled
cycle count for a specific category (e.g.,
performance socks or trail running
shoes).
— Instead of just recording the numbers,
investigate any significant discrepancies
by checking recent shipments, RTVs
(Returns to Vendor), or point-of-sale
errors.
— Report your findings to the leadership
team along with a recommendation on
how to prevent those specific inventory
leaks in the future.
— Map out the current path a product takes
from the delivery truck to the sales floor.
— Identify one bottleneck – such as a
cramped sensor-tagging station or a
confusing labeling system – and redesign
that workstation to improve speed and
ergonomics.
— Train two peers on this new process and
track if the time-to-floor for new
deliveries improves over a one-week
period.
— Take responsibility for the weekly
processing of Damaged or Defective
goods, ensuring every item is correctly
scanned and boxed according to brand
standards.
— Coordinate the Return to Vendor (RTV) or
End of Season transfer process,
managing the logistics of packing and
shipping the stock back to the
warehouse.
— Audit the documentation for these
transfers to ensure 100% accuracy,
demonstrating that you can handle the
high-stakes administrative side of stock
management.
— your effectiveness in leading stock
management
— the clarity and timeliness of your
communication
— the accuracy of your stock management
based on forecasts
— the success of your efforts to ensure
accuracy and reduce shrink
— manage stock
— communicate issues
— interpret and align with business
forecasts
— implement measures to ensure accuracy
and reduce shrink
Stock Management
— Manages shifts with a clear focus on
achieving the store's daily commercial
goals and KPI's (e.g., strong sales, great
conversion).
— Assists the Store Lead by reviewing KPIs
to identify opportunities to improve the
store's performance.
— Plans staff schedules that are designed
to meet business needs and maximize
selling opportunities and productivity
during peak traffic hour, whilst adhering
to local scheduling regulations (e.g
working hours, breaks, time off).
General Tip: The hallmark of an Associate Store Lead in Daily Operations is proactivity. Instead of waiting for a task list, you should be the person identifying the task and delegating it to keep the store running smoothly.
— Perform a 15-minute walkthrough at the
start of your shift, using a checklist to
audit lighting, replenishment levels, and
tidiness.
— Identify one operational "friction point" –
such as a disorganized backstock area or
a slow sensor-tagging process – that is
currently slowing the team down.
— Present a brief solution to your Store
Leader that outlines how fixing this
operational gap will improve the
customer journey or team efficiency.
— Request to shadow a leader through the
full administrative opening or closing
process, including cash handling, key-
holder security protocols, and daily
reporting.
— Take the lead on the Daily Operations
Checklist for one week, ensuring all tasks
are delegated and completed by the
team rather than doing them all yourself.
— Draft the End-of-Day report for your
leader's review, focusing on summarizing
operational wins and any maintenance or
safety issues that need escalation.
— Identify an area of the BOH that is
unorganized or doesn't follow the current
best practice (e.g., shoe sizing flow or
apparel processing).
— Plan and execute a reorganization of that
space, coordinating with 1–2 peers to
complete the work without disrupting
the sales floor.
— Measure the results by timing how long it
takes a teammate to find a product
before and after your changes,
presenting the time saved as a leadership
win.
— Research the current Health & Safety
standards for the store, including fire exit
protocols and proper lifting techniques
for heavy shipments.
— Create a "Safety Minute" to present
during a team huddle, highlighting one
specific operational risk and how the
team can mitigate it.
— Conduct a weekly "Compliance Sweep"
of the store to ensure no exits are
blocked and all equipment is in good
working order, documenting your
findings for the leadership team.
— your effectiveness in leading daily
operations
— the clarity and impact of your training
— the feasibility and effectiveness of your
process improvement ideas
— your success in supporting the team
through change and contributing to
results
— independently lead operations
— effectively train others
— identify and implement process
improvements
— guide their team through change
— make decisions that contribute to the
store's financial success
Daily Operations
Service Excellence
— Equips the team with the training, tools,
and feedback necessary to consistently
deliver a premium customer journey.
— Owns and maintains the service
standards on the floor across varying
traffic rates and proactively addresses
and fills any gaps in the customer
experience.
— Has expert knowledge and stays up to
date on best practices and evolving
customer expectations.
— Has an awareness of after-sales trends
and themes, communicates these
upwards.
General Tip: Ensure your activities focus on personalization. Leadership isn't just about speed; it's about ensuring every team member knows how to make the customer feel like an "athlete," not just a transaction.
— Observe a peer during a complex
customer interaction, such as a technical
footwear fitting or a multi-item purchase.
— Conduct a 5-minute "micro-coaching"
session afterward, highlighting one thing
they did exceptionally well and one
opportunity for a more personalized
touch.
— Keep a monthly log of these interactions
to share with your Store Leader,
demonstrating your ability to influence
the broader team.
— Step in proactively when you see a
teammate struggling with a difficult
return, a stock discrepancy, or a
frustrated customer.
— Instead of just "fixing" the problem,
narrate your thought process to the
teammate afterward so they understand
the brand's logic for the resolution.
— Propose a "Service FAQ" or a cheat sheet
for the team based on the top three most
common customer friction points you’ve
resolved over the last month.
— Review the store’s recent customer
feedback (NPS or mystery shopper
reports) and identify one recurring theme
(e.g., "slow greeting" or "lack of technical
knowledge").
— Design one specific "Service Challenge"
for the week that addresses this theme –
for example, a challenge to share one
"athlete- to-athlete" tip with every
customer.
— Present the results of this challenge
during a team huddle, showing how
targeted team behavior directly improved
the store's service metrics.
— Research three external retail trends
each month – such as new sustainable
materials, competitor loyalty programs,
or digital integration in physical stores.
— Summarize these findings into a one-
page "Market Watch" document that
explains how these external factors
influence our customers' expectations.
— Present a "Future of Retail" segment
during a store meeting, facilitating a
discussion on how the team can adapt
their service style to stay ahead of these
evolving expectations.
— your approach to managing complex
cases
— your accuracy in anticipating customer
needs
— the effectiveness of your strategies for
resolving customer complaints
— manage complex customer requests
— anticipate needs
— resolve complaints at a strategic level
— Acts as a role model for our brand and
culture and is able to translate and
communicate the Store's vision to the
broader team.
— Plans and arranges team meetings and
events to drive store engagement &
culture.
General Tip: Shift from being a follower of brand rules to a protector of their "why," especially during high-pressure moments. Instead of reacting to stress, reframe challenges through the lens of company values to keep team morale and the brand narrative intact. For example, "It’s a tough shift, but let’s look at this as an opportunity to test our 'Explorer Spirit' – how can we solve this problem creatively together?"
— Meet with your Store Leader to identify
one specific store goal for the month,
such as increasing footwear conversion.
— Design a 10-minute huddle that connects
this goal to an On Spirit, showing how
the Spirit helps solve a current friction
point on the sales floor.
— Lead the huddle and ensure every team
member walks away with one clear,
actionable task to implement
immediately.
— Propose a theme for a team-building
event or meeting that directly addresses
a current store need or morale gap.
— Create a project plan that outlines the
budget, logistics, and a timed agenda for
the session.
— Execute the event and use a Feedback
Survey afterward to measure the impact
on team engagement.
— Identify a specific On spirit that a peer is
struggling with or that a new hire needs
to master.
— Conduct brief, consistent check-ins with
that individual to provide constructive
feedback and share your brand expertise.
— Document the individual's growth and
present these observations to your Store
Leader.
— your ability to translate the company
vision for the store team
— how you reframe during stressful
moments
— your neutrality and mediation skills
— the inclusion and psychological safety
you create
— navigate brand gray areas
— Address culture-killing behaviors early
— manage upward sentiment when
advocating for the team
— model vulnerability by admitting a
mistake or sharing a learning opportunity
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: Always connect effort to outcome. Instead of telling the team to "work faster," explain how "faster stock processing increases our floor availability, which helps us capture that extra 5% in sales we need to hit our daily target."
— Review the previous day's Store
Dashboard and identify one specific KPI
that underperformed (e.g., Average
Order Value or Items Per Order).
— Spend 30 minutes observing the floor
specifically to identify the behavior
causing the dip (e.g., the team isn't
suggesting socks at the footwear bench).
— Lead a mini-training or booster session
that gives the team a specific phrase or
technique to improve that metric, then
track the results for the remainder of your
shift.
— Check the store's progress against the
daily sales target at the halfway point of
your shift.
— If the store is behind, develop a "recovery
plan" that reallocates team members to
high-impact areas (e.g., moving a stock
person to the floor to increase
engagement) or introduces a short-term
team incentive.
— Present your pivot strategy to the Store
Leader, explaining the "why" behind your
resource move and the projected impact
on the EOD (End of Day) numbers.
— Choose one underperforming category
(e.g., Apparel or Accessories) and set a 2-
week growth target for the store.
— Create a simple category tracker for the
backroom that visualizes the team's
progress toward the goal and highlights
daily wins.
— Provide feedback to the Store Leader on
how VM changes or product knowledge
gaps might be affecting that category’s
performance, demonstrating an end-to-
end focus on results.
— After a major commercial event (like a
new product launch), lead a debrief
focusing on the commercial highlights.
— Identify three specific actions the team
took that led to sales wins and one area
where a missed opportunity resulted in
lost revenue.
— Draft a playbook for next time that
summarizes these findings, ensuring the
team is better equipped to drive results
during the next high-stakes period.
— how you hold others accountable
— your resilience under pressure
— your persistence in tackling complex
problems
— how proactively you take ownership of
initiatives
— maintain energy and focus
— make tactical pivots
— bridge effort and data
— command accountability while
maintaining morale
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: Move away from asking for permission and toward proposing solutions. Instead of saying, "This is broken, what should I do?", try: "This is broken; I've analyzed why, and I recommend we do X to fix it and Y to prevent it from happening again. Do I have your go-ahead?"
— Pick a frequent store hiccup, such as a
specific sensor frequently going off or a
consistent error in the end-of-day cash
count.
— Use the "5 Whys" technique – asking
"why" five times until you reach the
underlying process failure – and
document your findings.
— Present a process change to your Store
Leader that addresses the root cause,
demonstrating you can solve problems at
a systemic level.
— When a team member brings a problem
to you, resist the urge to fix it
immediately; instead, ask them to
propose two potential solutions based
on brand values.
— Facilitate a "brain-trust" huddle where
the team brainstorms ways to handle a
current obstacle, such as a high volume
of returns or a broken fixture.
— Select the most viable solution, oversee
its implementation, and report back to
the leadership team on the effectiveness
of the team-led fix.
— Volunteer to lead a shift zone during a
moment of high pressure, such as an
understaffed lunch hour or a
simultaneous delivery and floor-set.
— Practice triage by prioritizing tasks based
on their impact on the customer
experience and reallocating team
members in real-time to solve
bottlenecks.
— Post-shift, summarize how you
redistributed resources to maintain
service standards, proving you can keep
the store operational under stress.
— Identify a task or scenario that currently
lacks clear instructions, leading to
confusion or inconsistent results among
the advisors.
— Create a simple, step-by-step "how-to"
guide or checklist that empowers any
team member to solve that specific issue
independently.
— Test the guide with a new hire, refine it
based on their feedback, and submit it to
the leadership team as a permanent
addition to the store’s training library.
— your effectiveness in leading problem-
solving tasks
— the depth of your analysis of complex
information
— the quality of your questioning
— the clarity of your systemic thinking
— your success in navigating unexpected
changes
— analyze complex situations
— ask insightful questions
— think systemically
— effectively respond to unexpected
changes
Problem Solving
Learning Agility
— Understands their own capabilities and is
developing an understanding of how
their style and emotions impact others.
— Is naturally curious and takes ownership
of learning new skills to improve at their
job.
— Actively seeks feedback from their
manager, peers, and direct reports, and
uses it to improve.
General Tip: Embrace vulnerability. An Associate Store Lead isn't the person who knows everything instantly; they are the person who is most comfortable saying, "I don't know the answer yet, but I'm going to figure out a process for us to find it."
— Request to be the Store Champion for
the next software update, new POS
feature, or digital tool implementation.
— Document the common hurdles you
faced during your first few days of using
the new tool and create a "quick start"
guide for your peers.
— Present a "tips and tricks" segment
during a huddle, showing the team how
to troubleshoot the new system before
they even have to ask.
— Following a high-pressure moment (like a
peak holiday weekend or a major launch),
lead a 10-minute "After-Action Review"
with a small group of peers.
— Facilitate the discussion around three
questions: What did we expect to
happen? What actually happened? What
will we do differently next time?
— Summarize these takeaways and present
them to the Store Leader as a proposed
adjustment to the store’s standard
operating procedures for future events.
— Spend a full week focusing on a
department or task you typically avoid or
find challenging (e.g., if you are great at
sales, spend the week mastering
complex inventory returns).
— Observe the different rhythms of that
area and identify one successful
technique used there that could be
applied to your usual area of expertise.
— Share this cross-pollinated idea with the
leadership team to show how you’ve
connected dots across the broader
business.
— Identify a younger team member or a new
hire who has a different perspective on
social media, fashion trends, or tech
usage.
— Set up a reverse-mentoring session
where they teach you about a new trend,
and you brainstorm together how to
translate that into a brand-aligned
service strategy.
— Propose a micro-experiment on the sales
floor based on this new knowledge (e.g.,
a new way to style an outfit or a different
approach to social-media-driven
customers) and track its success.
— your emotional ripple effect
— your receptiveness to feedback
— the depth of your explanations while
instructing
— your vulnerability and openness
— navigate the "mess"
— synthesize perspectives
— self-correct
— frame change
— Actively identifies and engages with
partners in other parts of the company
(eg- Supply Chain, Marketing, or
Merchandising) to solve shared
challenges.
— Facilitates communication between
team members to resolve
misunderstandings or conflicting
priorities.
— Establishes clear ways for different
teams to share knowledge and progress,
reducing "information gaps."
General Tip: To lead collaboration, focus on transparency. Ensure everyone knows not just what the goal is, but how their specific role is vital to the rest of the team's success.
— Identify a recurring point of tension
between team members, such as a
disagreement over floor coverage or
stockroom responsibilities.
— Facilitate a neutral reset conversation
between the parties, focusing on shared
goals and brand values rather than
personal grievances.
— Propose a new team agreement or
“workflow pact” to the Store Leader that
addresses the root cause of the friction
to prevent future occurrences.
— Partner with the lead of a different area
(e.g., if you are FOH-focused, partner
with the Stock Lead) to identify one way
the two teams can support each other
better.
— Plan and execute a swap-shadow day
where team members spend 30 minutes
learning a task from the "other side" to
build empathy and smoother hand-offs.
— Create a feedback loop where both
departments can share wins and
blockers weekly, fostering collaboration
across the broader team.
— Choose a specific store challenge, such
as improving the fitting room experience,
and host a 15-minute "brain-trust"
session.
— Use a "Yes, and..." facilitation technique
to encourage quieter team members to
contribute, ensuring the final solution is a
product of collective team input.
— Implement the top idea generated by the
group and publicly credit the team during
the next huddle, reinforcing a culture of
shared ownership.
— Volunteer to own the Communication
Log for a week, ensuring that insights
from the morning leadership huddle are
accurately and enthusiastically
translated to mid-day and evening shifts.
— Check in with individual team members
to ensure they feel in the loop on store
changes, acting as the primary point of
contact for their questions or concerns.
— Summarize the team’s collective
sentiment regarding new initiatives and
present it to the Store Leader, serving as
a professional advocate for the broader
team perspective.
— your effectiveness in leading
collaborative tasks
— the quality of your feedback seeking and
providing
— the clarity of your mutual solution
discussions
— your success in setting and achieving
ambitious collaborative goals
— proactively seek and provide feedback
— effectively engage in discussions to
develop mutual solutions
— consistently set and achieve ambitious
collaborative goals
Collaboration
— Understands how their team contributes
to the business but lacks broader
commercial awareness.
— Acknowledges long-term goals but
consistently favors short-term fixes or
easy wins.
— Generally acts with integrity but may
hesitate to speak up about a values-
conflict.
General Tip: Start asking "What happens after this?" Whenever you solve a problem or complete a project, evaluate its durability. An Associate Leader doesn't just want a win today; they want to build a foundation that makes winning easier for the team six months from now.
— Request a meeting with your Store
Leader to review the upcoming 90-day
launch calendar and community event
schedule.
— Create a prep-ahead document that
identifies potential pressure points, such
as a major marathon weekend that will
require extra stock and a specialized
floor layout.
— Present a proposal on how the team can
begin pre-seeding technical knowledge
or community buzz four weeks before a
launch, rather than waiting for the
product to arrive.
— Identify 2-3 high potential Senior
Advisors who demonstrate the traits of a
Lead Advisor.
— Design a 4-week Lead-in-Training
syllabus that covers the specific
technical and cultural pillars you
currently manage.
— Actively delegate one of your primary
responsibilities to them (e.g., managing
the morning huddle) while you provide
long-term coaching, ensuring the store’s
leadership pipeline is robust.
— Analyze a recurring operational process –
like how shipment is processed or how
the backroom is organized – and look for
inefficiencies that compound over
months.
— Propose a more sustainable
organizational system (e.g., a one-touch
stocking system) that might take more
time to set up initially but saves the team
5 hours of labor every week in the long
run.
— Calculate the time saved per year and
present it to the leadership team to
demonstrate your focus on long-term
ROI (Return on Investment).
— Dedicate 30 minutes a week to
researching emerging retail trends, such
as AI-driven personalization, circular
economy initiatives, or new fitness
technology.
— Create a "What’s Next" section in the
team room that connects these global
trends to your local store's strategy.
— Lead a discussion during a monthly
meeting about how the team can start
practicing future-proof skills now (e.g.,
mastering digital styling tools) to stay
relevant to the athlete of 2027 and
beyond.
— the long-term sustainability of your
solutions
— your predictive accuracy
— your integrity and courage to speak up
when short-term targets conflict with
brand values
— sacrifice the easy win
— manage the quieter months to prepare
for peak periods
— invest in the pipeline by coaching
successors
— analyze compounding trends to fix the
system, not the symptom
Long Term Thinking
— Sets and models high performance
standards, providing direct feedback to
ensure team quality.
— Leads the implementation of new
processes or systems to increase team
efficiency.
— Finds creative ways to achieve team
goals effectively with the available
resources.
General Tip: Move from corrective leadership to aspirational leadership. Instead of pointing out what is wrong, highlight the value of doing it right. Explain to the team that excellence isn't about being perfect – it's about respecting the brand and the "athlete" enough to provide a flawless experience every single time.
— Create a "perfect zone" checklist that
goes beyond standard cleaning to
include sensory details (e.g., lighting
angles, music volume, and garment
spacing).
— Choose one area of the store each week
to deep-audit against this checklist,
identifying minor imperfections that a
casual observer might miss.
— Present your findings to the Store Leader
with a plan on how you will coach the
team to maintain this "gold standard"
without constant supervision.
— Shadow a customer's entire journey –
from the moment they see the window to
the moment they exit – and document
every friction point (e.g., a heavy door, a
confusing sign, or a wait at the fitting
room).
— Facilitate a 15-minute brainstorming
session with the team to find one low-
cost, high-impact solution for each
friction point.
— Implement the best solution and track
customer feedback or time-in-store
metrics to prove that removing friction
drives excellence in service.
— 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.
Driving Excellence
Developing Talent
— Delivers timely, direct, and constructive
feedback to help team members improve
performance.
— Regularly coaches team members,
helping them develop new skills and
solve problems independently.
— Helps individuals identify growth areas
and connects them with relevant
development opportunities.
General Tip: To excel at developing talent, you must learn to delegate to grow, not to dump. An Associate Store Lead doesn't give away tasks just to clear their own plate; they delegate specific tasks because they recognize that the other person needs to learn that skill to reach the next level.
— Identify a newer team member and spend
15 minutes discussing their professional
goals within the store.
— Design a "Shadowing Schedule" where
they observe you performing a specific
leadership task (like a floor walk or a
stock audit) for three shifts.
— On the fourth shift, reverse the roles:
observe them leading the task and
provide structured, written feedback on
their performance to the Store Leader.
— With your leader’s permission, act as a
development coach for 1–2 advisors who
are looking to progress to Senior or Lead
Advisor.
— Meet with them bi-weekly to review one
specific competency they want to
improve (e.g., Technical Knowledge or
Visual Merchandising).
— Help them identify two on-the-job
activities they can perform that week to
practice that skill, acting as their primary
point of contact for questions.
— Identify a high-performing peer who has
mastered their current zone and propose
a stretch assignment to the Store Leader
(e.g., letting them lead the morning
huddle or manage a small markdown
project).
— Act as their on-call support during the
assignment, stepping in only if they hit a
roadblock.
— Conduct a debrief afterward to help them
reflect on what they learned, focusing on
building their confidence for future
leadership roles.
— Identify a recurring service challenge,
such as "handling a customer who wants
a competitor's product."
— Lead a 10-minute roleplay session during
a quiet period where you play the
customer and the advisor practices their
response.
— Provide micro-coaching in the moment,
pausing the roleplay to suggest a
different phrasing or a brand-aligned
pivot, then letting them try again until
they feel confident.
— the impact of your feedback
— the effectiveness of your coaching
— your accuracy in identifying growth gaps
— your mentorship adaptability
— deliver crucial conversations
— identify high-potential talent
— find and use teaching moments
— step back to help a learner build their
problem-solving muscle
— Builds a diverse team with
complementary skills to effectively meet
current objectives.
— Creates an inclusive environment where
team members feel safe to challenge
ideas respectfully.
— Effectively delegates with clear
ownership and empowers the team to
deliver agreed-upon outcomes.
General Tip: To build a high-performing team, you must shift your mindset from "How can I do this best?" to "How can I make everyone else better than me?" An Associate Store Lead measures their success not by their own sales or tasks, but by the measurable improvement of the people they support.
— Observe your teammates to identify their
individual "superpowers" (e.g., one is a
technical expert, another is a high-energy
greeter, a third is a visual perfectionist).
— When leading a shift or a specific zone,
assign tasks based on these strengths
rather than just fairness or rotation.
— Explain the reasoning to the team: "I’m
putting you at the footwear bench
because your technical knowledge is the
highest and we need to drive conversion
there today."
— During a quiet period or a team meeting,
initiate a "Start, Stop, Continue" exercise
regarding a specific store process (e.g.,
the way the team handles curbside
pickups).
— Encourage peers to give you feedback on
your own support style first to model
vulnerability and openness.
— Summarize the collective feedback and
work with the Store Leader to implement
one change based on the team's
suggestions, showing you can turn
feedback into performance.
— Map out the key skills needed for the
store (e.g., POS troubleshooting,
mannequin styling, technical fitting,
shipment processing).
— Identify who is an Expert and who is a
Learner in each category and create a
simple visual chart in the backroom.
— Facilitate 15-minute exchanges where
the skilled team member trains a peer,
moving you into the role of a
developmental coordinator.
— Identify a team member who went above
and beyond in a way that directly
impacted a store KPI (e.g., a great upsell
that boosted IPO).
— Provide a performance-based shout-out
during a huddle that specifically
highlights the behavior that led to the
result.
— Create a "Win Wall" or a digital thread
where team members can publicly
recognize each other’s contributions to
the store's goals, fostering a culture of
mutual accountability.
— the clarity of your delegation
— the inclusivity of your leadership style
— your empowerment vs. control
— how you navigate conflict
— curate team chemistry to maximize shift
productivity
— foster psychological safety
— delegate stretch tasks for growth
— redirect praise toward the specific team
members involved
Building High Performing Teams
— Describes the vision as something
handed down from leadership, rather
than taking personal ownership of it.
— Can follow a provided strategy but
struggles to adapt it when
circumstances change.
— Sets basic, task-oriented goals but
struggles with trade-offs when priorities
conflict.
General Tip: Setting direction is about clarity and conviction. Avoid being vague. Instead of saying "Let's try to sell more," say "Our direction for the next two hours is to attach accessories to every footwear sale." A clear, narrow focus is easier for a team to follow and execute with excellence.
— Before your shift starts, review the
store’s sales targets, shipment volume,
and event schedule to identify the top 3
non-negotiables for the day.
— Present these priorities during the
morning huddle, not just as a to-do list,
but as a strategic focus (e.g., "Today’s
mission is Footwear Conversion; we will
prioritize the bench over the apparel
racks to capture every athlete's
interest").
— Periodically check in with team members
throughout the shift to ask, "What is our
primary focus right now?" to ensure the
direction remains clear despite
distractions.
— Identify a moment when the store is
facing an unexpected challenge – such
as a sudden staff shortage, a technical
system outage, or an overwhelming
customer surge.
— Formally pause the team for a 60-second
huddle to announce a change in
direction, clearly stating what tasks are
being deprioritized and where the
immediate energy must shift.
— Post-shift, debrief with your Store Leader
to explain the logic behind your pivot,
showing you can make executive
decisions that protect the store's core
objectives.
— Choose one area of the store (e.g., the
Fitting Rooms or the Performance
Running wall) and define a "Best-in-
Class" vision for that space for the week.
— Set 2-3 specific directional goals for the
team members working that zone, such
as "Every athlete in the fitting room is
offered a technical sock" or "The
footwear wall is recovered every 20
minutes."
— Review the results at the end of the
week, demonstrating how your clear
direction led to measurable
improvements in both visual standards
and sales metrics.
— Take a high-level brand initiative (e.g., a
new sustainability campaign) and host a
mini-workshop on how to talk about it on
the sales floor.
— Work with the team to map out how
sustainability talk leads to brand loyalty,
which leads to long-term store growth.
— By providing this bridge between a
corporate goal and a floor behavior, you
establish yourself as a leader who
provides meaning and direction rather
than just instructions.
— your ownership of the store's vision and
goals
— the clarity of priorities and non-
negotiables
— your decisiveness during pivots
— how you translate brand initiatives into
simple, actionable floor tasks
— filter out the noise for the team
— command presence and reset the team's
energy
— communicate the "why" to gain team
buy-in
— make strategic trade-offs
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.
