Stifling your front-line managers could be hurting your business

If you own or operate a retail or food service business, you may be amongst the large percentage of companies unintentionally stifling the potential of your managers and, by extension, the performance of your front-line staff.

The Scope of the Issue

Over 50% of the global economy is driven by businesses with “distributed networks” of sites and employees. Retailers, including food service chains and retail banks, make up a major part of this group. However, many of these businesses are unintentionally limiting their success.
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According to McKinsey & Company, front-line managers—such as store, district, or area managers—are often burdened with heavy administrative work and lack the authority to make critical decisions that improve the customer experience.

Too Much Admin, Not Enough Impact

Rather than spending time where they can drive the most value—on the floor coaching staff and engaging with customers—front-line managers spend up to 60% of their time on administrative tasks.

This imbalance can have serious consequences, especially for service-based businesses. Research shows that customer-facing employee behavior is strongly linked to customers’ perceptions of service quality. If managers can’t influence and coach these employees, the customer experience suffers.

Why Great Managers Matter

It’s no surprise then that Gallup found that hiring great managers can result in a 27% increase in revenue per employee. Unfortunately, many companies still hire based on tenure rather than talent or leadership potential.

Natural leadership ability—the capacity to inspire, build strong relationships, drive outcomes, and make tough decisions—is essential not only for better performance, but also for higher employee engagement.

Related article: 3 Strategies for Helping Managers Improve Employee Engagement

The Engagement Connection

According to Gallup, naturally talented managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement. And engagement matters—a lot. Low employee engagement, according to Gallup’s 2012 data, costs U.S. companies between $450 billion and $550 billion annually.

Rethinking the Manager’s Role

Before reworking hiring practices, companies need to redefine what the role of a front-line manager should be. These individuals shouldn’t be treated as administrative cogs, but rather as drivers of store performance and employee success.

A Case Study: Empowered Managers Deliver Results

McKinsey reports a study in which store managers felt powerless over key performance metrics—such as category sales—and were overwhelmed by paperwork.

To change this, the company experimented with:

• Improved store layouts
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• Streamlined reporting
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• More floor time for managers
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As a result:

• Managers spent 60–70% of their time on the floor
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• They delivered high-quality coaching to staff
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• They used performance scorecards to focus teams on key actions like greeting customers and suggestive selling

The outcome? A 51% increase in productivity in one region and 65% in another when rolled out across the store network.

The Path Forward: Empower and Engage

To replicate this kind of success, businesses must:

• Hire managers with real leadership ability
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• Redesign systems to free managers from excessive admin
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• Empower them to coach, make decisions, and engage directly with staff and customers

Final Thought: Let Your Managers Lead

Empowered managers drive better performance. When they have the time, tools, and autonomy to coach their teams and connect with customers, everyone wins—from the front-line employee to the bottom line.

Ready to Motivate Your Front-Line?

Engage your managers and empower them to motivate your front-line for better results with Qarrot. Book a demo today!