How Wilson Sporting Goods puts Culture First, with Director of Retail Erin Pelton

Damon Klotz:

Hi everyone. It's Damon Klotz, host of The Culture First Podcast. Before we start with today's episode, I wanted to let you know that tickets are now on sale for Culture First Americas. I am very biased, but the lineup is fantastic. There will be main stage keynotes that will challenge and inspire you, as well as our breakout sessions and workshops that are gonna be all about actionable tips that you can take to put culture first. But please don't take my word for it. If you head to the link in the episode summary, wherever you're listening to this show, you can see all of those speakers and much, much more. All right, let's get started.

Erin Pelton:

I wanted to create that for, for Wilson. I wanted to create that for our retail stores. I think that it's critical that retail stores mirror the community they're in. So looking at the population, the diversity, if, if you don't see that mirrored when you walk in the store, something's wrong, just is

Damon Klotz:

I'm Damon Klotz, and this is Culture First. Welcome to part three of my series where I've had the chance to learn more about how Wilson Sporting Goods puts culture. First, before I tell you about my next guest, I'm gonna give you a quick recap of Parts one and two, but if you haven't had to listen, I highly encourage you to go listen to those two episodes in full.

In part one, I spoke with Wilson's CEO and chairman, Joe Dudy. Joe shared the company's history, his rise from an entry level accountant to ceo, and how the leadership team thinks about putting culture first across the organization. In part two, I spoke with Wilson's Global VP of HR, Geoff Watts. Jeff spoke about how they bring their values to life, the power of employee storytelling, and what they're learning about employee experience through their feedback strategy. In this episode, we're gonna wrap up our three part series with my next guest, Aaron Pelton. Aaron has over 20 years of experience managing partnerships and driving revenue in high growth retail organizations. Erin has recently joined Wilson as their director of North American retail stores. She's a big advocate for retail as a career that you can build, and not an interim job that you start before you start your actual career.

She will share of us how she got to Wilson, why she knew it was her dream job, and how they're focusing on creating a diverse and inclusive experience for all of their retail stores as they expand worldwide. We end this episode with Erin sharing the very real story of one retail employee and how this job has impacted not only their career, but their entire life. All right, let's get started with my conversation with Erin. So today on the Culture First podcast, I'm speaking with Erin Pelton. Erin is the Director of Retail at Wilson's Sporting Goods. Erin, firstly, thank you so much for joining me today on the show.

Erin Pelton:

Thanks for having me, Damon. I'm excited to be here.

Damon Klotz:

So, let's go to the very start of your career and your career in retail. I'd love to maybe hear, you know, what was the first retail job that you ever had? What was that experience like? Um, I know for me, I've had some really formative experiences. Some of my first jobs are still things that I think about to this day in terms of how they've shaped how I think about the world and the world of work. So what was your first retail experience, and how was that for you?

Erin Pelton:

Sure. So my actual, I like to say I'm a lifelong retailer because my very first real on the books legal job when I was 15 was at The Limited. Um, but then also, so I worked retail through high school and college, just sort of part-time jobs. And then my first real job full-time was at the clinic counter at Dillard's, um, working full-time. So from there, I spent about 10 years in beauty and cosmetics, uh, at retail counters. And I worked my way up with skills, you know, getting better, working to more prestigious brands, more prestigious companies up until I worked for Sax Fifth Avenue for, um, close to six years. And at that time I'd worked for Lions like Chanel and Trish McEvoy, Crem de Lame. And what was really cool about those first 10 years in professional retail is I had the ability to increase my skills, and through that I increased my pay.

You know, I worked, I made more money at, at a certain point, I, um, was full time, had good money, you know, had two kids and a husband, and was able to have paid time off and, and all of those things, and have a pretty good life that retail had afforded me at that time. But one of the things that occurred is I came to a point where I really wanted growth. I had spent 10 years in retail and I had really still been a sales associate, which there's nothing wrong with, it absolutely is a career that you can, can create and have for life. A lot of the folks I worked with at sacs, they retired from their jobs there. Um, but I wanted to grow board. It wasn't really available to me at the time. So I had the opportunity to go work for this company that I had never heard of.

It was called Lululemon. Uh, I was definitely one of those folks that mispronounced the name at first. I, I'm pretty sure I called it Lulu Mon. Um, it was around like 2009, so it'd only been in the States for about 10 years. There was a very small retail footprint in Florida where I was living at the time. So I went for an interview there, and, um, I just knew I needed to go work for this company. It was really exciting. The culture was really electric. They were growing at an exponential rate, and I just had this feeling that if I went there, um, everything was gonna happen. Now the downside was it was going to be a 50% pay cut from what I was currently making at sac, and I had two small children, um, nine month old and a two year old, uh, a marriage that was totally on the rocks.

And my husband was not on board with this. It was, like I said, 2009. So the middle of the great recession and the housing crisis. But I just knew that I needed to take the job. And so I took a big leap and went to go work for them. And I spent close to the next 10 years at Lululemon growing. And exactly what I anticipated to be true was I went from an educator, frontline sales associate. And when I finished my 10 years there, I was a regional manager of multiple regions managing around 40 million in retail portfolio. So that was probably the most pivotal point in my retail career up until then.

Damon Klotz:

There's a beautiful true line with your story and your journey and what Joe and I spoke about in the, in part one of this series, which was knowing, uh, when is the right time to be focusing on learning and when it's the right time to be focusing on earning. You know, I think sometimes we can be chasing sort of, you know, money or titles, but sometimes our skills don't sort of, uh, have the chance to develop at the same rate. And, uh, there's other times where it's like, this is an amazing learning opportunity. This is a, a chance for me to go in and, and get those skills. And I remember before I joined Culture Amp, like I was in a pretty senior level role at a global company, but like I was in the most, I had reached the peak of what I was gonna do at that company within a few years.

And I, um, you know, that they were in the healthcare sector and I was like, They're not gonna let me do surgery on anyone or run a hospital anytime soon, . So I even need to be okay with continuing to do a little bit of incremental learning and change a little thing, or I need to go make a big leap. And I went from 35,000 employees to like 10 people at Cold Tramp. And for me, I went through that same process, whereas like, this is what I need to go learn. And that's amazing. And I think what we'll we'll touch on is as well is like, you know, building an amazing career in developing people through retail, and it, it, it really, um, shows that you are able to experience that.

Erin Pelton:

Yeah. Well the interesting thing with retail is that you actually get to see the next job. So often I think in jobs that involve offices or closed doors, you don't actually know what your next job perhaps really looks like or what your boss or leader is doing for retail. On the sales floor, you are seeing it in action. You have the ability to shadow, you have the ability to ask questions, get coaching, try a new role on, And I've been successful in my career because someone has always at some point tapped me on the the shoulder and said, They see more for me even when I maybe didn't see it for myself. And so, and they have pulled me along and I obviously did the work myself too, but I am very aware of the importance in that. And so that is part of my purpose at work is to ensure that I'm always looking for that next opportunity for my team. I'm telling folks what I see as possible for them. They don't have to want it. Right. It's more important what you actually want to do, and it's important for you to know what I see possible mm-hmm. , because until someone tells you, sometimes you don't, don't believe it. And I think retail just has this incredible ability to do that at work.

Damon Klotz:

I love that. Yeah. We need to be able to see what's possible sometimes in order for us to imagine it for ourself, which I think is, uh, a powerful takeaway. Before we get into your role at Wilson, um, you know, after Lululemon you did spend some time in a different industry in a, in a, in a tech company. What was it like for anyone who's maybe listening to this and spent a lot of time in one career and never thought about changing industries or doing something very different, What was that like to go spend time in a, in a different type of company before joining Wilson?

Erin Pelton:

Yeah, so what's interesting is that moment that I had at sac when I knew it was time to try something new, I had the same feeling at Lou Lemon. I loved my time there and I'd reached a point similar to what you said, where there wasn't much further I was going to be able to go at the time. And I also knew I wanted to diversify my experience. So I had the opportunity to go work for a startup that was a mobile retail tech company, which essentially meant we had experts out in the field that were bringing personal electronics to folks homes, teaching them how to use it, you know, smartphones, tablets, smart watches, and, uh, be able to upsell them as well. So this was gonna be a really unique challenge for me. I'd never worked in a startup. Technology is not my thing.

If you know me, you know that my iPhone is simply a tool. is not something that I get excited about. And, um, but I was excited for what I could learn and where I could grow. So, um, I made the move to go work for Enjoy technology and I really told myself I was gonna put two solid years in cuz I, I knew I may not be as thrilled with the product, but I had a lot to offer and I had so much to learn. So I spent those two years there and really did learn a ton about startup and working in ambiguity, which was something I didn't always love to do. I love context and being set up. And so this was intentionally a challenge for my own leadership development. I needed to learn with no script and create the script for a company.

So I got a lot out of that time. And again, when it was time to go look for something else, I did my two years and was like, I'm going to start looking elsewhere. And through a former colleague, I learned that Wilson was going to be opening retail stores and that was really enticing and exciting, exciting for me. The thought of going back to brick and mortar retail, going back to, um, athletic wear and sportswear, athletics, all of that was really exciting. So I aggressively pursued this role. My poor friend who, uh, was working at the company, I think I texted her every month and was like, Has the role been posted? Has it posted yet? This went on for months. And I think once it did finally get posted, I probably was the first person that applied for the role. I was really excited, um, and thrilled that I had the opportunity to come to Wilson. And what I would say is most exciting, not just the, the fun of coming back to sportswear and that kind of, um, environment was actually the ability to just create something new retail. Mm-hmm. has never existed at Wilson ever. And so I wanted to take all of the experience I had for different companies and different stores and create something new and decide what I wanted to bring with me, what I wanted to leave behind, create the experience that perhaps I had experienced or always wanted. And so it was really a unique opportunity.

Damon Klotz:

And it definitely sounds like sort of jumping into the unknown with the tech startup sort of now helped you kind of actually, you know, in many ways, uh, launching retail is a bit of a startup within Wilson and the fact that, you know, you're doing something brand new even though the company's been around for over 100 years. So I can't let you escape one question though, cuz everyone gets to, um, be asked this question. Um, but I feel like you've, you've done a pretty good job explaining some of the things that excited you about your role, but if you are on the retail floor at a Wilson store and someone comes up to you, let's say a very curious 10 year old, and they say, Excuse me, what do you do for work here? How do you answer?

Erin Pelton:

Well, I I would say on my best day, which would be, I'm on the retail floor, I get the opportunity to talk to people all day long and I have the unique opportunity to make someone's day at any moment. So that is my favorite part of my job. And the second part of my job that's really exciting is I have the opportunity to create great jobs for other people to live big lives. And that's actually what's most important to me. So I think that's what I would tell them.

Damon Klotz:

So you've been at, um, Wilson for about 18 months now, and like you said, you wanted to bring some of the previous experiences you had at different, um, places as well as some of the learnings, I guess with this, with this blank slate of creating something from scratch with a, a brand that many people know. What did you wanna bring to the table? What were some of the things that were really important to you in terms of actually building retail out at Wilson?

Erin Pelton:

The first thing that came top of mind for me was creating a team from scratch and having the ability to really start from a place of intentional diversity, equity, and inclusion. It was a part of the interviews that I had when I, I was interviewing at Wilson and I would have the opportunity to ask whoever was interviewing me, questions I would ask, you know, what is Wilson or your personal stance on diversity, equity, and inclusion at work? I mean, obviously we all went through 2020 together and put a new focus on the fact that there was lots of opportunity at work. And what I would say is the response I got from everyone during that time that I spoke with was that Wilson recognized it had an opportunity. I mean, if we're gonna speak plainly, a lot of the folks at hq, it's a lot of white men, you know, and if, and, and so there's definitely an opportunity to diversify and they were aware of it and so they were working on things.

But what I can, I know from experience, it's very hard to change that around when you have an existing workforce. You know, you have to bring new folks in. So I had the luxury of being able to start from scratch and I wanted to show them what was possible at Wilson. And that's definitely what I'm most proud of, I think right now, is that we have the most diverse branch of the company. . I like to say it's really not that hard to actually hire for diversity. The reality is you need to look at your pool and if you're only getting one sort of candidate, you, you need to get a bigger pool. So my experience at Wilson in posting roles for a store manager job, I think because we're a sporting goods company, inevitably 98% of the folks who apply for any of the jobs I post are men.

And I would, I would assume I would gather probably cisgender gendered, um, heterosexual men. Um, but across all, all spans of ethnicities and race, which at least we have that going for us. Um, so I knew, and so if that was the case, if 98% of my candidates are male, you would think that 98% of my team would be male. And that's not the case. I just worked harder to find more people. It's, it's, that's the extra work of actually going out recruiting, intentionally looking for the most diverse pool. So when I do make a decision on leadership, it is on the best leader from the widest group. So currently I have five store managers that report into me, and three of them are female and two are male. And then even across our assistant manager group, I actually added this up and I have five women and one male out of the six.

So I probably need to do a little reverse on that one and ensure that I, um, intentionally hire for some more male leadership as well. And across the board for race, ethnicity, you know, gender spectrum and sexuality and ability, we have a little bit of everything on our teams and on our leadership team. And so I wanted to create that for, for Wilson, I wanted to create that for our retail stores. I think that it's critical that retail stores mirror the community they're in. So looking at the population, the diversity, if, if you don't see that mirrored when you walk in the store, something's wrong just is mm-hmm. . So being able to create that from scratch was incredibly important. And what I'm also proud of is I know that our retail stores can be a feeder pool for roles at HQ at our headquarters. And so now we have a more diverse and wider pool of folks that will have had tenure at Wilson, um, experience in the retail stores and passion for the brand that can also fill the higher roles at the company. And that's usually, you know, the response you get for why leadership looks homogenous is that there's a pipeline problem. Well, we're addressing the pipeline problem. So I think that, um, there's a really bright future at Wilson and this is one of my favorite parts of my job.

Damon Klotz:

So many amazing takeaways there. And I think many, many consumers or products, especially with the kind of direct to consumer, you know, model that we've seen be successful for the past 10 years, You know, they buy a lot of products without necessarily ever having to interact with anyone who works at their company. So we don't necessarily always know the makeup of the types of brands and products that we buy from. I think the importance of retail here is the fact that you are physically making a store where you're inviting people in for the first time in Wilson's history to experience your brand. And you only get one chance at that kind of, that first experience when someone walks in and you want them to, you know, when you think about the marquee athletes that Wilson has, when you think about in the ma the amount of, you know, young people and especially young girls to look up to someone like Serena Williams, you know, they want to be able to know that also when they go into that store and, and, and they, you know, experience your product and your team that like, it's reflective of the experience that they've had with the product and, and, and with the aspirations that they have as well.

So I think, um, and then obviously from a pipeline of leadership, you know, getting people in earlier in their career, giving people those chances. Like you said, someone tapped you on the shoulder, someone gave you like, something encouragement early on in your career and it helped you push further on. And I've certainly had the same. So creating more environments where people can kind of enter at that, you know, more junior level. And even Joe's a part of that story, He's been at the companies since he being a, you know, a junior accountant all the way to ceo. So bringing people in, focusing on diversity, equity, inclusion at the start, I think it's so critical for the long term success of both the company but as well as the short term success of these retail stores. So for the audience to kind of know, I guess this journey that you've been on, how many stores are there currently? Uh, what are the future plans? You know, how big is this remit that you have in terms of, you know, bringing Wilson to the world?

Erin Pelton:

Well, our current status is we have four, Well, as a recording, four freestanding retail stores, we'll have five, um, within the next month. We also are working on, so those are retail stores where we have all four walls, but we also are working on different concepts like shop and shops in premier sporting retailers like Paragon Sports in New York. We are working on some clubhouse strategies where we can go into some of our specialty doors and essentially run the clubhouse, um, as a, as a retail store, as a shop and shop. So our goal is to continue to grow. Um, our goal by the end of 2023 is to have 20 points of distribution and then 40 by the end of 2024. So to put it in perspective, right now we have about six points of distribution. So we are also going to face rapid growth.

Uh, that's why you said yes, retail inside Wilson is a startup inside a 108 year old company. Wilson has spent over 100 years being best in the world at making sporting goods and selling them through a wholesale marketplace. And now we have this opportunity to, we added sportswear, which had never been part of the portfolio either, and retail stores. So it's been a big shift for the company. We're just a little, a tiny little drop in the large bucket right now. And we intend to be a much larger, I mean, direct to consumer is our largest growing piece of the company because it's brand new. So , it's, we, we see astronomical growth because we're new, it's kind of easy. And um, we expect to be a much larger part of the company. We know that we'll always be rooted in in wholesale. It's what we've, we've built our business on, our brand on. And this is a new way for us to access athletes and consumers in a different way and have them actually experience the Wilson brand in person through our own doors, um, in a really unique way.

Damon Klotz:

In terms of the actual, um, employees at the store, uh, you know, I think, uh, language matters, job titles matter, giving people that sense of, you know, trust and autonomy matters. Wilson, her has picked the term athlete advisor for your retail stores. What was it like to try come up with that terminology? Why does that matter? How does that, like, how does that language help your retail employees feel empowered to actually not just sell something but actually advise the consumers on their own own experience with the Wilson brand? Mm-hmm.

Erin Pelton:

, well you said it exactly right. Words create, So it really does matter when we decide this. So athlete advisor, we identified our consumer that comes in the door also as, um, as an athlete. So athletes are who come in through our door, athletes are who interact with Wilson and then our athlete advisors exactly that. They, they advise, they provide a great experience. So our intention for the retail stores is that, um, the athlete advisors experience comes first. What I know to be true is if you have happy, engaged, challenged employees, then they create an amazing experience. They're excited to come to work, they're excited to greet every athlete as they come through the door. They create an amazing experience and the output is sales. Mm-hmm. , we are not starting this equation looking for sales, we're starting this equation with creating amazing experiences. So that athlete advisor role is critical so that they are there to create that experience for every athlete.

Damon Klotz:

Obviously onboarding is so critical to helping employees, um, get up to speed, feel embedded, create that sense of belonging, but also give them the right skills that they need in order to be successful within that first 30, 60, 90 days. Obviously this is a brand new set of employees that you haven't really had to have an onboarding process for in the past. What has it been like to set up this onboarding process for your retail employees and yeah. Are there any learnings that you've had from the first 18 months of bringing this new type of employee into Wilson?

Erin Pelton:

My gosh, absolutely. So onboarding is a constantly evolving experience at the moment for our retail teams. I start the conversation early in the recruiting and hiring process with potential new team members. I think it's really important at work for folks to know what they're signing up for. Mm-hmm. , we all know that we work best in different environments. And so it's important to be clear. So really for the last year as I've been recruiting or hiring, especially leaders at the company, I want them to be really clear that we're not fully baked yet, right? We're still building a lot of those tools. This is not a company that currently has. I do not have educational learning designers, graphic designers and training managers at my fingertips. Um, it's really me. I'm it. And, uh, so the tools aren't all built. So what I like to share with potential team members is to find out how do they work best?

Are they okay with ambiguity? Are they okay with learning with little direction? Does that excite them? For some folks, that's incredible. They want to be a part of the process of building this because that's also the opportunity. If you want to create something, also create the experience you want, you have the potential to do that here. And vice versa. If you really are someone that likes to have the manual and you want the guide, this may not be the place for you right now. It will be in the next two years. And I also believe really strongly in communicating that clearly and hearing that from folks because maybe there's someone that's an incredible candidate and they know they don't work well in a situation like that. Great. I would rather that we agree on that and stay in touch because in two years when we do have the manuals and the guide and they will feel really set up, they might be an incredible team member.

And I also know we get the flip side where some folks that join us now who might be really excited about just this wide open space to put their own mark on it, when we do have, you know, more processes in place, they may wanna move on for something more exciting. And that's okay too. That's the whole point. We have the ability to create jobs and roles and experiences for people and empower them to choose what they know is best for them. So that's my caveat on the onboarding. And then what I will say is, what's critical for onboarding for the team that I do actually have set up is on day one, on everyone's first day of training, they get our people and culture. And so the focus is people and culture, which involves company history. Again, we're 108 years old. We've got an exciting history.

And being able to go through that with new team members, I think it really does instill brand love. They maybe were aware of Wilson and excited to come work here, but then when they really hear everything, we've been up to all of all everywhere we have to go still. It's very exciting. And then that second piece is our culture playbook. So we created a culture playbook at Wilson. I think it's, I believe it came out right before I started, so it's probably fairly new. Mm-hmm. . And it really is a cohesive guide to our culture, our values. Um, and it's not just a book right? Of here's our values. Read it. It's actually why, why should you care? Why is this important? Why do you wanna work at Wilson? Um, it's an opportunity to have a really meaningful conversation with new employees. So the culture playbook is designed like that where it's a conversation.

We can talk about why sports matter, how sports bring us together, how they shift your perspective and how we're rooted in sport at Wilson. And what I think is really incredible about the playbook, the way it's set up as well. Well, first off, I'll say for me, I lead all of those conversations with any of my direct reports. And then similarly, store managers responsible for leading that culture playbook conversation with any of their new hires. It should come for us from us, the ma the messenger matters. And um, what I think the playbook winds up being is it's an agreement. We essentially, I'm able to share with a, a new hire, what I've signed up for. I have signed up for these values for this culture. I am saying I'm here for it and I'm letting you know that if I don't show up that way, I need you to hold me accountable. And then likewise, when you come to work here, you are clear like you are signing up for this. It's not for everybody and it doesn't have to be, but you know, we, we all wanna say that we wanna be great. And it's, it's not always easy. Not everyone wakes up in the morning brimming with integrity, ready to do everything they said they were gonna do, always. Um, it's practice. And so I think that the culture playbook gives us an opportunity to be in the practice together.

Damon Klotz:

There's so many amazing things you can do with a, a brand like Wilson in the sports industry with that language. Like even just like using a playbook and using this idea of like, we don't expect a hundred percent performance every day. Like in the same way that an athlete, their body is not at optimal performance every single day. There is, there is rest, there's recuperation, there's training there, there's, you know, actual, um, you know, preparing for a tournament and things like that. And the, and the same thing. It's like we want to do all everything we can within this playbook to create an environment where you can come do great work. And we're also gonna acknowledge that there's a bunch of other things that can stop us on any given day from doing that. But rather than just pretend that that's not true, we'll have a conversation about it. We'll be able to create some language around it. So I'm sure, uh, playbook will not not be the only sports kind of metaphor that you can use in terms of creating an amazing employee experience.

Erin Pelton:

Oh, absolutely. Guess what we just rolled out? Um, one of the additional tools is a 60 day check in for our team members, which is our preseason review. Cause we recognize in your first 60 days, you're in your, your rookie environment, you're joining the team, learning the plays. And so at 60 days it gives us the opportunity to actually do a review. We can do a mini culture quiz, we check in on comp company history, see how that landed, do some walkthroughs and role playing. But the most important part of a preseason review is that every single team member gets a development plan. So now is a time for us actually to discuss performance so far, goals, what you wanna be up to. And so within those first 60 days, every employee at Wilson retail should walk away with a cohesive development plan that actually is moving them towards their personal goals.

It doesn't have to be, this is not a development plan is not created by their leader. It's really, um, employee led and it's how we can support. So that is fairly new. I will say any current employees listening to this, they might not have gotten that yet, so don't at me. It's coming . Um, and, and our, the goal is that going forward, every new employee gets that. So we are current, like constantly building on our onboarding and training. And it is really important that everyone feels cared for at work. Like that is what equity and inclusion actually looks like, is that you get what you need, how you need it, when you need it. So, uh, that is what we're building for.

Damon Klotz:

So you touched on feedback there and um, I think what's really special about having you on this podcast is that, you know, typically a lot of the people I speak to will be either like the heads of HR or the, you know, CEOs of a company or authors who are writing about this topic. So, you know, I think it's very different to be talking about things like engagement and performance and belonging with someone who's like the architect of the system. You know, you are looking after a particular business unit, I'm sure you are looking at some of these questions with a little bit of, of a different lens in terms of the, you know, how you use Culture Amp. So, um, my assumption would be things like, uh, measuring, you know, pride, uh, you know, what, what, what levels of pride do employees have? Uh, things like whether they feel connected to the company mission, you know, do they have access to the things that they need in order to succeed? But I would love to hear, you know, what else do you pay, um, attention to when it comes to the feedback that you're getting from employees at this very critical early stage? And what are some of the actions that you're taking mm-hmm.

Erin Pelton:

? Well, for us, you know, we had our first Culture Amp survey for the retail teams, um, where we finally had a, you know, a large enough group of folks to actually examine some of the results. And what was incredible is we actually did, we were the happiest group of the company. We had the, the highest results. And what I'll say is that's exciting. It means we're on the right track, but I also am a realist and I know it's actually very easy to get great initial results. Mm-hmm. , I think that the test will really be next year when we anniversary this, we have a larger team, we have more tenured folks. And to see how we are progressing, I think benchmarks are critical. Yeah. Um, but in the meantime, yes, what's really important to me, I mean obviously I care about the question of my manager cares for my wellbeing because it can mean so many different things to folks.

So it's not, when I look at that question or the response to it, it's not um, automatically a pat on the back or thinking things are great. What's actually important is to dig in deeper. The response to any question as it applies to engagement surveys is that it's directional. It gives you the opportunity to ask more questions of the team to say, Hey, we did really well in this area. What did it mean to you when you answered this question? Because if I just work on my own assumptions, I'm not actually learning anything. So from a standpoint of, you know, our survey, we, we had a hundred percent on that that our manager cares for wellbeing, which was incredible. And another really high one is that folks are are proud to work at Wilson in the retail stores. I think that that is a combination of things, again, asking the team.

It's because Wilson obviously is a premier brand, folks know the name. It's exciting to be part of something new. Um, and then also we've just had really incredible response from the athletes that come in our doors that builds pride in we're doing something right. So I think those are important. But another one that is really important, especially starting up a new business unit that is geographically further than our, our headquarters, is making sure that we're aligned with the greater company. Because what can be a real danger point is if you have a team that loves their team, loves their manager, loves their job, and is not on board with the company viewpoint, and perhaps they feel that's okay because they're removed from the company and their, their daily lives aren't impacted by that. And I actually think that that is um, can be really toxic and it can lead to a very clear us versus them mentality. So we are working to ensure that the teams feel like they have cross-functional partnerships, that the retail store teams have opportunities to work with employees at HQ or have HQ employees work within the stores. Um, even if they're partnering on a project. So that as much as folks are are happy and proud to work at Wilson, that they're also aligned on where we're going. They're aligned on what we want to be up to because we don't have to agree on everything and we have to be aligned. A healthy company is in alignment.

Damon Klotz:

I think there's some major takeaways there. One that is like, yes, the honeymoon phase exists. Uh, so like definitely some of those high scores and you know, and we see that across our, our data sets. You know, people who join new business units or people who just join new companies, you do get that honeymoon effect of short tenure does equal that kind of higher scores. But I think sometimes during that time you can get these overenthusiastic so engaged people who don't always prioritize their wellbeing. So they kind of go, you know, 110 miles an hour or 160 kilometers depending on where you are listening. Hopefully that math just made sense and they throw themselves in where it's like, actually like my manager hasn't checked in on my wellbeing, they're just letting me go so fast cause I'm so excited. And then you like, awesome high engagement, quick burnout, turnover.

And then, you know, you're kind of back at square one and you don't wanna get into one of those systems where uh, only you wanna get six to 12 months max out of people. Cause like, like you said, one of the, the largest strategies at play right now for Wilson is this idea that new talents coming in, diverse talents coming in and you wanna make sure that you can't just have them for this 12 months sprint of being an amazing athlete advisor and then they have to like go do something else. Cause like you said, there's amazing careers to be built in retail. So I think focusing on some of those things up front is so critical.

Erin Pelton:

Well, and I think it was, it's important that also a lot of the folks when they first started, I mean obviously they needed to be here for a certain amount of time to be considered in the survey, but they were able to benchmark and so, and then understand, you know, we had conversations on it, so it feels important. It doesn't feel like just a survey you did one time and it's done. And you're right. I mean at retail currently industry standard for turnover is around 60%. So 60% of staff turns over within 12 months rolling 12 months. And our current turnover within the stores is like under 8% right now. Um, Wow. Less than some of the stores. And my intention is to recruit, hire, and retain top talent. Like that's, that's the work I think that a lot of the just waste can be in retail is that high turnover, high burnout.

And the reality is you hire folks that are in it for the long run. Not everyone's gonna stay in retail forever. Actually, to be clear, a large portion of our teams are part-time. They're maybe in school doing something else, they're working part-time cuz they have, you know, something else going on. But again, part of that, every employee getting a development plan is that they should be better for having worked at Wilson. They should be gaining transferable skills for whatever it is they want to do. Um, and they should have a compelling and engaging career while they're here. So even if those folks are part-time or students, we should maintain them for the duration of school, right? It's, it shouldn't be six months or a year. So that's really what it is as well. I ask myself every day, what does it take to keep these team members here longer? We talk about risk with our team members, right? Are they at risk? Are there schedule issues? Maybe we have someone on our team that's a parent and they struggle with getting to work and having their, their child taken care of. Great, let's have that conversation. Where can we support or adjust the schedule? I'm not looking deterred and burn and bring someone else on. Um, I want to invest in the folks we have.

Damon Klotz:

So I think a nice way to bring this conversation home is we speak about humanity at work, at Culture Amp and this idea that, you know, by really putting culture first you can increase humanity both in the workplace but also in the world. You know, so, so we can help create the world that we all wanna live in. Um, is there a particular story of an individual that you've been able to hire? You know, maybe someone who, like, I know for me, like I had my first job at 14 years old and like that has such a, like a huge impact on me and my own sense of self worth. Is there a particular story that you're really proud of about someone who's entered Wilson?

Erin Pelton:

Yes, absolutely. Um, I would actually say I have a lot of people that I've had the chance to hire and work with at Wilson. And if I wanna think of one specific example, especially through the lens of culture and everything we've discussed today, I think of Elijah. So Elijah is one of our athlete advisors in New York. He joined us, um, when he was 19 years old in our popup store in soho. So very much related to our conversation around first jobs and how they can have an impact on you. Although Wilson is definitely not Elijah's first job. We're we're one of his first. So what's so special about Elijah is he's just a hard worker. He's a culture generator. He's always a yes, he's comes to work with a smile on his face, ready to learn something new every day. And who he shows up at work every day makes it really easy for us to, you know, choose to invest additional skill training in him.

So we had a unique opportunity when we were opening our flagship store in Soho. We were gonna add additional skilled roles that included things like a racket stringer for tennis rackets, but also glove gurus who would customize baseball gloves. And we wanted to intentionally choose some folks on our internal team to upscale and train. So obviously Elijah was a really easy choice for that and we invested, uh, training for him. And I cannot overstate how big a deal this is. The folks on our internal baseball softball team at Wilson who do some things like this of customizing gloves. They are craftspeople, they have been doing this for years, honing a skill and we wanted to give Elijah the chance to learn this as well. And I remember when we reached a point in his training that, uh, Jeremy, one of the guys on the the baseball team shared that he would approve Elijah being able to do glove customization for customers and like this is a really big deal to, to give perspective our A two K baseball glove, which is our most beautiful professional glove.

The glove is made in Japan by craftspeople. It is of the highest grade leather, it's close to $400. So to have someone that is trained to be able to take that glove apart, release it, rewe it and give it to an athlete better than it came in is, is a big deal. So I was lucky enough to be able to be the one that got to share with Elijah that we were gonna approve him, being able to do that for customers. And I remember having this conversation with him in the back room of the Soho store and just how proud he was and how excited and what it meant to him that we actually had invested this in him. And so I would say that was definitely one of my most impactful moments at Wilson that was really exciting. And the reason why it's important is the outcome for Elijah as an employee, again, everything we've been talking about today is that that additional skill allowed him to move to full-time employment with us and all the wonderful trappings that come with being a full-time employee.

So health benefits and additional PTO accrual, um, with this skill, he got a bump in pay. And so now we're going from someone who started with us as a 19 year old part-time employee to this could be a career for him and that's what it can look like to invest in our team members. And then also what it means for us, you know, for any company, the recipe for success is choosing intentionally, culturally aligned team members investing in them and you create this robust pipeline of excited, engaged and educated employees that are gonna support future growth. What I would also say is investing this skilled training in Elijah or any employee can actually be a risk too because now we have created a skill in him that is really desirable. So he could go work for another company, he could specialize in this skill, he could decide to do business on his own.

And I think that that's actually great because that is what being generous looks like at work at Wilson. One of our values is potential as a superpower and this is definitely what that looks like in practice at work, Elijah is just the perfect example of potential as a superpower. And what I think is really important too is no matter how much you invest in your team members, if you choose the right ones, they will always give you back more than you gave them. And I, I really see that with Elijah. I'm just really grateful for all that he's given us at Wilson and I'm grateful for him.

Damon Klotz:

I love that investing in your team with the, um, knowledge that they might leave, but with the hope that you create the environment where they wanna stay and yeah, you know, just like our first jobs can have such a lasting impact on us. Like I think in many ways my actual first job was actually quite a, a toxic work culture and I think a lot of the work that I've gone on to end up doing and like, you know, working in in HR and now talking about work culture every day is because I kind of just witnessed like how much that can affect you and how like, how it was operating it in this environment of fear and like, I always felt like I was, you know, about to be reprimanded for like not knowing how to do something versus what you had just explained about someone getting this first opportunity, investing in their skills, giving them trust, telling 'em that that, that you know, that that they can do this and that we want them to do this.

And then like having someone approve of that work and now we're talking about it on a podcast like , you know, like we're having this conversation about this amazing human Elijah and for many other people it's like no one cares enough in those early roles to actually invest in someone outside of what task needs to be done versus how do we actually create an experience that can mean something to someone. And that's why it was so important to have someone like you on this show cuz it showcases that we're not just talking about tech startups and people who sit at a computer all day and how to optimize the perfect employee experience for people who are just sitting there as knowledge workers. You know, these are frontline employees, especially people who have, you know, obviously last few years has been incredibly hard on the, the retail industry and you're still investing in people. You know, you launched during one of the hardest times probably to launch a business and there's still these success stories and like you said, there's this blank canvas that you've had a chance to, to work with and that you're wanting to make sure that it's representative of the world that we want to be part of and the communities where Wilson operates. So, um, yeah, it's been an absolute pleasure having you on the show. Erin, is there anything else you wanted to leave the audience with?

Erin Pelton:

Gosh, I don't think so. I mean, I, I think the one thing I will say is that what is also really fun about starting the retail organization at Wilson is it also is our, our values at work. You know, one of our, our core values is that without risk there's no innovation. And so the reality is to your point, starting during a really tough time, a sportswear line and brick and mortar retail stores is a wild experiment. And we could have failed magnificently and had we that's okay because we actually are living our values. We actually tried something new, we really took a risk. And I mean, lucky for me and Wilson so far it's doing great, but I love, um, being able to really just live our values through work every day.

Damon Klotz:

Uh, I'm gonna be heading out to New York in a, in a a few days, so I'm gonna see if I can pop into one of the stores and if I uh, bump into Elijah, I might try grab a selfie with him and tell him that he's a about to be famous as one of the, uh, one of the latest guests on the Culture First podcast that he might not not know about. So, um, yeah, this is amazing. It's been such a pleasure to have the chance to sit down with you. Aaron, I just wanna thank you for sharing your story and the story of Retailer at Wilson with everyone.

Erin Pelton:

Thank you. I appreciate it. This was fun.

Damon Klotz:

A big thank you to Aaron for joining me on the Culture First podcast. Well everyone, that's it, our three part series where Boston Sporting Goods has come to a close, it's been really fascinating to be able to learn about one organization from three different angles. We heard from the highest role in the company to the architect behind the employee experience, and then to a relatively new employee who's been tasked with leading the company into this bright and exciting new future. I want to thank the Wilson team for firstly partnering with coltran, but then secondly for partnering with me and the rest of my team. As we discussed what life is like working at Wilson, they really opened themselves up in this series and I think you'd all agree that each guest was really honest and vulnerable about what's working and what's not.

As Joe said in the opening episode, you shouldn't be disappointed in what you hear. You should be disappointed though if you don't do anything about it. You see, when it comes to culture first there is no completion, there is no level 100, there is no medal. Being Culture first is an ongoing commitment to being intentional about your culture so that you can deliver performance in order to achieve a greater mission. I'm sure we're gonna get the chance to hear more from Wilson in the future as they continue to build a company with those intentions in mind.

So what's next for the Culture First podcast? Well over the coming months I'm gonna have some new data for you to discuss or if you're listening from somewhere else, maybe you are gonna be hearing me discuss some new data. Either way, some new data and data is definitely coming. Of course, I'm gonna be having some new authors on the show. So if you've been attending our Culture First virtual events over the past few months or any of the upcoming ones, depending on when you're listening to this episode, if you haven't signed up to those events, please make sure you do link us in the podcast description. But some of those authors are gonna be joining me on the show. It's one of the amazing parts of hosting culture first is that we had these events for our community and then I get a chance to continue that conversation with those speakers on this show.

So of course you'll be hearing from some of those keynote speakers, but then obviously after all that I'm gonna need some new organizations to go meet. So do you have some ideas? Maybe you are working at an organization and you're like, Hey, we want some storytelling help. We want someone to come in and learn about what we are doing. We, we, we have a story to share. So please, if that's you, I want to hear from you or maybe you nor of a company and you're like, more people need to learn from them, more people need to understand what they're doing. I think what we've seen over the last few months is, you know, there's some really famous examples of company culture, like things like Patagonia, their stories shared very wide. Is there another Patagonia out there? Is there a company doing things differently that you want to hear from?

If so, please let me know. You can email us the team here at Culture Amp just by saying, uh, podcast culture amp.com. I obviously don't say that, just email us with that. Or you can reach out to me on social media. I'm at Damon Klotz on all of the the main social media CH channels, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn. So feel free to reach out to me. I would love to hear from you. So that wraps up this episode. I wanna say a big thank you to everyone listening. If you have enjoyed this episode, it would mean the world to team. If you could go onto Apple and leave a review or if you're on Spotify, please make sure you give us a follow so you can get notified every time a new episode drops. And until next time, I've been your host, aim on clots and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day wherever you are in the world. Thanks so much.