Friday, September 17, 2010

You Own Your Own Development

In response to some of the comments posted, I have some follow up answers. I began my journey with Target in the summer of 2007 with an internship at a store in Pittsburgh. The internship was essentially a 12 week long interview which turned out really well and led to an advanced internship during the fall of 2008. During my last semester at Pitt I did another internship at a different store in Pittsburgh and also acted as the Campus Liason for Target and Pitt and participated in many recruitent activities. Upon graduation in December I started my 6 week "business college" training and asked about any potential opportunties in the Lehigh Valley where Matt and my families were. I spent about a year at Stroudsburg as the ETL-Guest Experience, and was then transferred to Quakertown this past April.

You own your own development. That's a phrase you will commonly hear at Target. If you have the ambition and drive to get to the next level, Target will help get you there. It's most common to stay within your own store when moving from a team member to specialist to team lead position. When moving from a team lead to a salaried executive position it's usually best to move to a near store. The great thing about Target is the that there are so many stores in the district you have many opportunties for development and promotion without having to move to a new state. There are so many tools and resources to help you own your own development. Every month you re-evaluate your accomplishments from the month before and address your areas of opportunties. You choose new challenges to work on problem areas in your workcenter, the store, or your team and choose activities that will address these problems and continue to develop your leadership by focusing on your own personal strengths and opportunities.

I am excited that I am working on my own development while addressing challenges at the Quakertown store. I am also stretching my leadership by assuming new captainships and responsibilities like inventory captain and recruiting captain. I hope to have my own store by this time next year!

3 comments:

Bryan said...

Great piece! Your last sentence really capped off your blog with a spark. By having the goal of owning your own store next year, you show what the end benefit can be by "owning your own development."

Target has made themselves known around campus the past couple years by continually recruiting and promoting their theory of advancement within their company. At least with myself, it really builds my confidence when not only do I push myself to move up in a certain company, but that the company is working with me and building my skillset so that both parties have a potential gain.

And feel free to disagree with me, but I feel that one of the most important steps Target takes, according to your description, are the monthly evaluations. This can help even the highest ranking executives become a stronger asset to their company. Honest feedback, both positive and negative, is a valuable tool that I feel more companies should be using.

Zachary Kubat said...

Congratulations on your wedding, ironicaly I was there (Working that is) and I remember the wedding which was absolutely beautiful. As for the raw chicken I am glad to say I have nothing to with that, and it is a bit surprising because the head chef is very good. (everybody makes a mistake I guess) As far as the golf course your husband will not be disappointed, its fabulous at a maintanece cost of over a million a year.

Gary Bankston said...

I wish more companies had the mentality that you are the single biggest determinant in where you make it in life/career. Unfortunately in most companies the education you enter with determines the few positions that are applicable to you. From there, if you want to move up or even laterally someone has to leave. This sit and wait approach keeps people stalled within themselves.

To explain further, if your only way to move is to wait on someone's misfortune, then the water cooler chat turns to each bad step they make in hopes this is the decision that will get them fired. As they are walked out the door, you earn your reward. A bit predatory... However, if companies, like Target encourage movement by skill/progress then instead of hoping for someone's exit, I'd focus on improving myself and helping others. Surely Target has changed the employees self mindset.

In a side note, Target would now enter my scope of a company I had never considered before simply because of the management and promotion idea of owning your own development. I had the opportunity to work in a company where during the course of the interview, one of the executives met with me and said "it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission", and with that in mind, what ideas did I think I could bring to the table. The opportunity to truly explore problem solving at work would be on par with the number of vacation days and pay when considering a future employment offer.