Leading one location is about the people in front of you. Leading dozens is about building a system that works when you're not in the room. I've done both, first in wireless retail and now across ALPA Insurance's Texas offices.
1. Show up in person
Reports tell you what happened. Visits tell you why. When I visit an office, I watch how customers are greeted, how long they wait, whether the team has what it needs, and how the manager talks to their people. Ten minutes on the floor often explains a number I couldn't understand from a dashboard.
2. Measure at every level
I look at performance at the office, district, and region level, because each level answers a different question:
- Office: Is this team executing the basics? Response time, close rate, customer satisfaction.
- District: Is this manager developing their offices? Consistency across locations matters more than one star store.
- Region: Are we growing in the right places? Where do we need more staff, training, or new locations?
Pick a few metrics that matter and use them every week. Too many numbers and nobody acts on any of them.
3. Build structure with your managers, not for them
The best office structures I've set up were designed together with district managers. They know their markets. When they help build the plan, they own it.
4. Coach the coaches
At scale, your biggest lever is the managers who lead everyone else. I spend time helping district and office managers diagnose problems, run better one-on-ones, and develop their own people. When they get better, every office gets better.
5. Partner closely with HR
Hiring, onboarding, and employee relations can make or break a location. Working closely with HR on staffing plans and new-hire training keeps offices from falling behind when someone leaves.
6. Make the customer the tie-breaker
When priorities conflict, ask what's better for the customer. It's the simplest way to keep many locations pointed in the same direction.
The habits behind all of this started on the store floor. I wrote about that in Grit over shortcuts.