A couple of blog posts ago I wrote about trying to assess your store's production per employee as a way to monitor and improve profitability.

But today, as I plan my day, it started me wondering how many of you are planning yours?And then the next thought that occurred to me is how well are you directing your employees on their day? Planning...now there's a key to employee productivity.

Now before you shoot, I'm not talking about trying to micro-manage everybody's time. Hopefully your key employees are good at doing that one their own. I'm talking more about communication of overall goals and precepts that you want to adhere to.

As part of the store studies we undertake, we interview as many employees as we can. We try to assess how well the communication of an organization filters down from the top to the bottom. Unfortunately, we find that there are actually some retail establishments that hire personnel, give them a week or two's training, and then assume that they will do quite well on auto-pilot. They won't. Repeated training and reinforcement is crucial to honing a sharp staff.

The argument that is leveled against this throught process is often "there just isn't time".No dout, if your staff is being properly utilized now, it may be difficult to arrange time. Afterall, in the ideal world, we want all of our people to be busy all of the time, but truthfully, between you and me, is that really the case?

I often hear, retailers lament that they don't think their staffs are as productive as they could be and then in interviews it becomes absolutely clear that the staff does not have clear sense of direction.

Parting shot: If you begin a journey, you consult a map and chart a course. Make sure that the vision you have for your store employees is clearly defined too or they may never find there way.