NRHA Hosts Inaugural Session of Retail Management Certification Program

While this time of year marks the official back-to-school season for students of all ages, a group of up-and-coming retail managers and mid-level executives from across the United States and Canada visited NRHA’s Indianapolis headquarters July 16-19 to take part in the inaugural class of the North American Retail Hardware Association’s (NRHA) Retail Management Certification Program. This new program provides business owners in the retail home improvement industry with a comprehensive, six-month, college-level educational program to develop the leadership and management capabilities of high-potential employees.

The 17 students participating in the pilot program attended two full days of class sessions as well as networking receptions and dinners in the first of three visits they will make to NRHA’s headquarters over the course of the program.

This first visit focused on the theme “Achieving a High-Performance Business,” with sessions devoted to topics such as leadership and decision-making, becoming the boss and strategies on growing businesses. In these sessions, course instructors from NRHA and Butler University’s Graduate School of Business led students through both lectures and case studies designed to get students not only thinking about, but also openly discussing, issues independent home improvement retailers face every day in their businesses.

For example, one of the opening sessions was titled “A Case Study in Successful Business—What Would You Do if You Were the Boss?” In this exercise, students played the role of a new owner/executive and asked themselves how they would respond to a series of challenges in a growing business, such as how to manage people they don’t see every day, decipher and capitalize on strategic trends in the marketplace and use time productively.

One of the sessions on the second day, titled “High-Performance Retail Operations: How to Be the Best of the Best,” looked at a business process model specifically designed for independent home improvement retailers. It highlighted best practices of actual home improvement retailers across a wide range of topics, from scheduling employees and store operations to product procurement and inventory management. In this session, students also submitted best practices from their own retail operations and experiences to present to the class.

Part of the learning strategy for the NRHA Retail Management Certification Program is to have students share actual experiences, including both successes and failures from their own career experiences. This way, the entire class learns from each other’s experiences, both positive and negative, throughout the course.

In addition, there are three different avenues for students to learn during the course of study: in their individual preparation before the class, in the individual business coaching provided by Butler University faculty that occurs between visits to Indianapolis and in the class discussion itself, where students learn both from the instruction and from the class discussion that ensues.

“In addition to the leadership and retail hardware-specific curriculum the course offers, the networking opportunities built into the program are an important part of what students will take away from this course,” says Scott Wright, NRHA’s vice president of member services. “By sharing their own unique ideas and experiences, students will develop networking relationships with others in the class that will last throughout their careers.”

Future Visits

When students return to Indianapolis for the next two visits, they will learn about issues pertaining to the theme of “Building Markets and Customers,” which will include topics such as customer relationship management, marketing and merchandising, optimizing profitability and the use of retail technology. For the third and final visit, the learning theme will be “Managing for Success,” where students will dive into handling finances, human capital management and measuring personal success.

The third visit in November is when students will also turn in and present business plans they develop throughout the course.

“As part of the program, each student will develop an actual business plan on a topic that specifically pertains to their own business,” Wright says. “So sponsors get the maximum benefit from sending students to this course, each student will work with their sponsors to develop a business plan that addresses one of the challenges or opportunities the business is currently facing.”

Topics students choose for their business plan projects can range from developing a strategy for adding branch locations to developing a new business process that will streamline operations.

“Whatever idea each student chooses, it has to be approved by their business sponsor (generally the business owner) who will see the direct benefit from implementing the plan when it is finished,” Wright says. “This is designed to provide a direct return on the owner’s investment in the student’s education.”

In addition, before students graduate from the course, candidates must demonstrate (with their sponsor’s approval) the implementation of three “quick wins” from their business plan before they receive their NRHA/Butler University Business Administration Certificate.

Overall, the first visit set the stage for the remainder of the program, and the feedback from students was extremely positive, Wright says.

“The energy and enthusiasm displayed by students during these first two days was inspiring,” he adds. “Whenever you get a group of enthusiastic, high-potential retailers like this together to discuss the best practices of retailing and share their ideas on topics such as retail management and leadership, the learning and camaraderie that takes place is something each student will benefit from his or her entire career.”

Future Course Dates Set for NRHA Retail Management Certification Program

For retailers interested in enrolling students in the Retail Management Certification Program, NRHA has scheduled two sessions in 2014.

Spring 2014 Session: 

Visit #1: “Achieving a High-Performance Business”
Feb. 4-7, 2014

Visit #2: “Building Markets and Customers”
April 1-4, 2014

Visit #3: “Managing for Success”
June 3-6, 2014

Summer 2014 Session: 

Visit #1: “Achieving a High Performance Business”
July 15-18, 2014

Visit #2: “Building Markets and Customers”
Sept. 16-19, 2014

Visit #3: “Managing for Success”
Nov. 11-14, 2014

For more information on attending either of these two sessions, please contact NRHA Vice President of Member Services Scott Wright at 317-275-9417 or swright@nrha.org.