# Feedback Advice



## CTL (May 20, 2021)

I am wondering if anyone has any tips for talking to ETLs or SD about culture issues. There seems to be a trend at my store if TMs not feeling like ETLs or our SD are treating them very well. Just as an example: an ETL literally yelling at another TM in front of other TMs and guests.
Additionally, does anyone think there could be a correlation between how TMs are viewing the culture and their attendance? We are having a lot of attendance issues lately, and following up doesn’t really do what they want it to do. My opinion is that they are calling in because they do not feel valued and they feel overwhelmed, especially those that are in school.
I really just want to try nipping this in the bud sooner rather than later, and I know no one else at my store will do anything about it. Any advice is welcome for how I should approach my ETLs and SD about these issues.


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## Planosss enraged (May 20, 2021)

First of all, Thank you for being a decent human. You have feelings man , you feel for people. You are absorbent (lol, but seriously)  and cognizant  of the negative affects of the culture you described. Of course such culture drains morale, and without morale ,intelligent , capable people become lackluster and demotivated.
Unfortunately you can’t “nip this in the bud”. As you said its a cultural issue, with authority involved. Target has procedures, timelines and legalities to follow. All of this takes time.
Is being alleged rude, too harsh, perhaps demeaning wrong and very negative? Yes.
Are these behaviors that will get a superior coached, where they might improve?Yes. Will this lead to an immediate change in culture?  No...
Here is how you start though.
Place , time and event, by this I mean document events.  Encourage TMs affected to go to Hr . If you over hear/see Ben getting treated bad/ verbally abused albeit miro-aggressively . Encourage Ben to report it to HR. Offer to sit in with him and Hr. You can corroborate place , time and event.
It is the TMs that are subject of behavior that need to go to Hr.
It takes time, but you are 100% right in wanting to take the initiative. Let TBR know if we can be of help!


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## Bufferine (May 20, 2021)

When our new SD came last year I was it utter shock With how he was acting. He even came from a target store. He was using phases like.....You can’t be that stupid, you are RETARTED (yep) I need to hire people with brains, we don’t need to hire anymore fat people....those are one’s I witnessed. Hardcore TL were coming out of his office crying from verbal abuse. One was called a bitch and called the hotline. He got couched apparently and we all kinda like him now. His first week wewere on the line one day and he snuck in early and jumped in and it was going to fast. He said stop but no one heard. He walked over to the guy in the truck who just grabbed a box of spaghetti sauce and SD with his hand slammed the box out of the guys hands. It fell with force and went everywhere.None of us reported it though. Things may get better if someone stands up for everyone. It took about 8 months for anyone to report anything because of being scare. Good luck.


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## Hardlinesmaster (May 20, 2021)

Document all events on your stuff only.


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## Yetive (May 20, 2021)

Attendance absolutely has a lot to do with morale at a store. High absent percentage is a red flag.

Ask for a time to meet with SD, ETL, HR, whichever combination of people you feel like. (These metrics belong to HR, so you may get the most support there). Make it closed door so you can say everything you need to.  Gather a few reports (attendance, turnover, desired vs scheduled hours) and Care, Grow, Win Together pamphlet. My HR prints these for us every month. Ask yours to if he doesn't already.

Start with your concerns about your store culture. Reference turnover and attendance as indicators of what people are experiencing. You could also reference the desired hours if it looks like a problem for your store. I think it is fine to talk in general terms about how the store feels. I would avoid too many stories from team members about specific incidents--you are looking to fix this, not lay blame. You will probably be asked to provide examples--be upfront that you are not going to provide names, because that is not why you are here. 

Bring up how difficult it is to hire right now, and that it is better to keep the current team. Other employers are jumping on the $15 bandwagon, and Target is counting on Culture to make us the employer of choice.
 At this point, you can talk about Care, Grow, Win Together. It spells out clearly that guests and team come first. Ask how you can help drive this. 

I think this is a good way to start. It gets the problem out there, and gives your leader team a wake up call. If things don't change after this, you can either start documenting events or directly address situations as they arise.


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## FlowTeamChick (May 20, 2021)

Barring a high case rate of covid or some other illness going around, I'd say that your high call-off percentage is directly tied to how TMs feel about their jobs.
Adding to what others have said, I'd tread gently because you don't want ETLs and SD to go on the defensive.  If you can approach it as something that everyone needs to recognize and work on together, you'll likely get more cooperation.
Which raises a question - does your store's leadership even see that there's a problem?  (I'm assuming that you're part of leadership - ?)  It sounds like there really is one from the examples you provide, but if leadership is fine with leading badly .... maybe it's time to put in for a transfer.


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## CTL (May 21, 2021)

FlowTeamChick said:


> Barring a high case rate of covid or some other illness going around, I'd say that your high call-off percentage is directly tied to how TMs feel about their jobs.
> Adding to what others have said, I'd tread gently because you don't want ETLs and SD to go on the defensive.  If you can approach it as something that everyone needs to recognize and work on together, you'll likely get more cooperation.
> Which raises a question - does your store's leadership even see that there's a problem?  (I'm assuming that you're part of leadership - ?)  It sounds like there really is one from the examples you provide, but if leadership is fine with leading badly .... maybe it's time to put in for a transfer.


Yes I am part of leadership. And I know for a fact that they do not see it as an issue. I even made a comment about it when I was talking to two of the ETLs about attendance and they said that the team members just don’t want to be there since they do not see any real consequences to calling in. They literally have no pulse on how team members feel because they never even talk to team members. The only people that do are the team leads.


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## badtmxoxo (May 27, 2021)

CTL said:


> I am wondering if anyone has any tips for talking to ETLs or SD about culture issues. There seems to be a trend at my store if TMs not feeling like ETLs or our SD are treating them very well. Just as an example: an ETL literally yelling at another TM in front of other TMs and guests.
> Additionally, does anyone think there could be a correlation between how TMs are viewing the culture and their attendance? We are having a lot of attendance issues lately, and following up doesn’t really do what they want it to do. My opinion is that they are calling in because they do not feel valued and they feel overwhelmed, especially those that are in school.
> I really just want to try nipping this in the bud sooner rather than later, and I know no one else at my store will do anything about it. Any advice is welcome for how I should approach my ETLs and SD about these issues.


Had a similar problem and it was all correlated to an ETL. Took it to HR and set up a meeting that turned out to be very long and ended with the ETL crying. Changes have definitely been made since that discussion. The best thing to do is to openly communicate.


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## ION the Prize (May 28, 2021)

badtmxoxo said:


> Had a similar problem and it was all correlated to an ETL. Took it to HR and set up a meeting that turned out to be very long and ended with the ETL crying. Changes have definitely been made since that discussion. The best thing to do is to openly communicate.


It's great that open and honest communication worked at your store.

But ...


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## FlowTeamChick (May 28, 2021)

ION the Prize said:


> It's great that open and honest communication worked at your store.
> 
> But ...


Yep.  Happened with a certain TL at my store a few years ago.  He was an awful TL if you weren't one of his favorites and several of us requested a meeting with the SD.  (Don't think we had an HR TL at the time.)  It was a disaster.  The SD made a show of listening, but we were all on the receiving end of retaliation from that TL over a period of a few months.  Morale was in the toilet before and worse after.
Things changed, but not as a result of that meeting.  I'll never make that mistake again.


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## FlowTeamChick (May 28, 2021)

CTL said:


> Yes I am part of leadership. And I know for a fact that they do not see it as an issue. I even made a comment about it when I was talking to two of the ETLs about attendance and they said that the team members just don’t want to be there since they do not see any real consequences to calling in. They literally have no pulse on how team members feel because they never even talk to team members. The only people that do are the team leads.


Then can the TLs take the issue to the ETLs?  Not as a TL vs. ETL thing,or ganging up, but as a united front all saying the same thing?
"We're noticing these things going on and think it's something that needs to be fixed.  And we have a couple of ideas for what all of us can do, together as a leadership team."  Can't remember where I heard or read it, but it's always a good thing to present a solution or two when presenting a problem.


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## badtmxoxo (May 29, 2021)

FlowTeamChick said:


> Yep.  Happened with a certain TL at my store a few years ago.  He was an awful TL if you weren't one of his favorites and several of us requested a meeting with the SD.  (Don't think we had an HR TL at the time.)  It was a disaster.  The SD made a show of listening, but we were all on the receiving end of retaliation from that TL over a period of a few months.  Morale was in the toilet before and worse after.
> Things changed, but not as a result of that meeting.  I'll never make that mistake again.


Target is supposed to have a “no retaliation” policy so that’s a bummer that your TL was still awful. It took two meetings with our ETL and HR before actual changes were made.


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## StyleStar (May 29, 2021)

Your ETL should be having your quarter 1 check in, if they haven't already done so. Thst woulf be a great time to discuss concerns/feedback ( my etl asked for feedback during our sitdown). If not best team survey or "team voice annual" starts 6/7 your team can always share their concerns there.  Your ETL HR should also be walkingbthe floor and having chat sessions/random check ins with various team members in every work center, hopefully the team will voice/share concerns.


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