The ‘Leading Others & Teams’ module is currently the second step in the Pathway journey to becoming a Specsavers Joint Venture Partner. Gabriella Pezzuto sums up her personal takeaways from the module and reflects on her journey to partnership.
The ‘Leading Others & Teams’ Pathway module taught us how to effectively performance manage a team, and made me realise the importance of listening when leading.
What resonated with me the most was the Sustainable Engagement Model, which helped me understand the importance of engaging, enabling and energising the team to improve performance. Despite initial costs to the business, I now recognise that energising the team is as an investment that will lead to positive business outcomes. Coaching and providing feedback are two other skills I took away from the module that I will practise in store to help develop my team and boost performance.
Although I am currently a full-time fly-in, fly-out optometrist employed by Specsavers Recruitment Services, I started my Pathway journey with Specsavers Robina West in Queensland. After completing Pathway Module Two, I applied what I had learned to influence my team. I used rewards, incentives and recognition for a job well done to create a more positive environment and encouraged more feedback to be provided to the team through daily huddles. The team became more engaged, volunteering ideas to improve processes in the store and monitoring their own performance. I feel I generally made a positive impact in the store, which I believe had flow-on benefits for the store’s business objectives.
From the very start of my Pathway journey, I was excited to begin, and had a lot of ideas for the in-store project that we undertake as part of the program. After discussion with the Specsavers Robina West store directors and the Pathway faculty, I decided to focus my in-store project on increasing average order value by improving store processes and increasing training. Within the first four to six weeks of the project, I saw a dramatic change in the team’s attitudes and there was a great sense of team work. The store saw a significant growth in sales, and today continues to maintain top position as the Specsavers store with the highest customer service ratings in Queensland.
It could be hard to stay focussed on the project at times because it was easy to be distracted by other aspects of the business, however, the support provided by the Pathway faculty helped me to stay on track between the program modules and also helped me with time management.
The Pathway journey can be challenging as it encourages you to analyse yourself as a leader, and recognising your own faults can be tough on your confidence. Despite these challenges, noticing positive changes within yourself is rewarding and I feel I am steadily developing into a great leader.
