Emerging Retail Leaders:

A Foundational Program for Category Managers and Region Directors

Abstract

A major convenience store chain sought to develop a short, experiential capstone experience for its emerging leader program, tailored for both Region Directors and Category Managers. Insight Experience created an immersive eight-hour virtual experience where leaders engage in a business simulation focused on managing an electric vehicle charging company. The program continually receives rave reviews from participants and is run annually as part of the year-long emerging leader program.

Challenge

A prominent convenience store franchise was eager to develop a hands-on capstone experience for their emerging leader program, which includes both Category Managers and Region Directors. The experience needed to be delivered virtually within a condensed timeframe of only eight hours. The program needed to focus on people development and needed to include opportunities for practice conversations.

Solution

To meet this need, Insight Experience adapted their Developing New Leaders offering. The Insight Experience team created a custom iteration of the experience, the Emerging Retail Leaders program, placing leaders in a simulated environment resembling a convenience store and electric vehicle charging court. This metaphor was chosen to closely reflect the operational dynamics of a combined convenience store and gas station, providing participants with a relevant and immersive learning experience.

Learning Objectives

As a result of the Emerging Retail Leaders program, participants develop and learn skills to:

• Think strategically across the region to create priorities.
• Adapt their leadership style and communicate strategically to drive performance.
• Develop talent to meet the current and future needs of people and the business.
• Lead change effectively through a diverse team.

Design Highlights

The fictional company in this experience, Recharger, was designed specifically for convenience store retailers. Through the simulation, participants are projected into the future, where they manage an electric vehicle charging court integrated with a retail and service station, aimed at offering solutions for weary travelers to recharge. Drawing parallels to conventional gas stations and convenience stores, this setup enables participants to make leadership decisions that resonate with real-world scenarios they encounter in their roles.

In addition to the simulation framework, this experience assigns participants the pivotal role of the Region Leadership team. This entails making decisions across various domains, such as Operations, Marketing, Charging, Human Resources, and Finance. In this role, participants primarily focus on managing a team consisting of five members: three District Managers and two Category Managers. Each team member possesses distinct strengths and weaknesses, requiring participants to employ coaching strategies and engage in live coaching conversations throughout the simulation.

Agenda

The condensed experience is dynamic and fast-paced, with all content taught during simulation debrief discussions. This approach helps participants solidify connections between theoretical content and its application in real-world decision-making scenarios. Despite the rapid pace, teams engage in three full rounds of simulation decision-making, followed by three simulation debriefs. Additionally, the program includes modules on coaching conversations, simulation team process reflection, and a session for simulation team feedback.

Challenge Application

The Emerging Retail Leaders program includes a round of coaching conversation practice. Participants read an overview, select one person for the conversation to represent the Region Leadership Team, and then discuss their conversation approach as a team. During the conversation, team members who observe make notes about both positive aspects and constructive feedback. The conversation is followed by a debrief about what went well and what could have been improved.

Simulation Overview

The simulation experience is set in the future at a time when the transportation sector has advanced and electric vehicles are widely used. Recharger, the fictional company in the simulation, offers customers a charging court for electric vehicles and wireless devices, as well as a retail/service outlet for food, merchandise, and energy products. Recharger has identified four key customer segments, and participants make the decisions of the Region Leadership Team. Their objectives are to:

• Develop people to drive results.
• Think strategically across the region.
• Deliver results in the region.

Participants are measured throughout the simulation experience on these three leadership competencies. All participants start with the same leadership profile. The outcomes participants drive are based on the decisions they make as the Region Leadership Team of Recharger. Each region’s business performance is reported on a high-level Profit & Loss Statement with key performance indicators.

History and Results 

The Emerging Retail Leaders program has a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 83. All recent participants (100% of respondents) agreed that the program content and simulation experience enhanced their understanding of the connection between their leadership and business results. They also unanimously found the scenarios in the business simulation realistic and believe that key learnings can be applied to their jobs.

Here is what some participants have said about this program:

• “I really enjoyed this session, it showed me all decisions have a direct impact on the business.”
• “Great Time! I learned a lot about myself!”
• “Not having an operational or category management background I REALLY learned a lot about the decision making that goes on in the background and how quickly it can impact the business.”