General Manager

Indigo Books & Music

June 2006 - October 2012

As a General Manager I had full accountability for the branding, profitability and direction of the business, overseeing the following areas and ensuring their performance.

Business Leadership & People Development

– Create and implement effective strategies consistent with the business and competitive direction of the company.
– Lead people, processes and resources in the direction of change using formal authority where appropriate.
– Manage conflict within the team in a fair and efficient manner with appropriate documentation.
– Leverage business partners, peers and external contacts to drive store results.
– Exhibit problems solving and crisis resolution skills (in areas such as Customer Experience, LP, Staffing).
– Establish effective two-way communication with staff to solicit their views and ideas and provide ongoing feedback and communication to achieve goals.
– Build, orient and sustain a capable team of individuals who prioritize the customer experience appropriately.
– Provide appropriate context, tools and resources to the team to help deliver exceptional customer service.
– Partner with Regional Manager to develop talent of direct reports.

– Performance Management and Assessment
– Conduct effective, honest, inspiring and thorough performance reviews.
– Conduct ongoing objective talent assessments.
– Identify individual development needs, and works with employee to address them.

– Take timely and appropriate disciplinary action.

Merchandising and Branding

– Ensure store is merchandised consistent to visual standards and expectations.
– React appropriately to sell-downs and non-performance to drive sales and increase conversion.
– Analyze Market Specific Sales Reports, Sales Trends and any other relevant reports to drive category sales.

Operational Effectiveness and Profitability

– Demonstrate continuous improvement in the operational effectiveness of the store by:
– Maximizing profitability
– Increasing sales
– Optimizing expenses

Operations Manager

BritBound UK

October 2012 - September 2014

BritBound is a relocation and events company, sorting out all the logistical aspects (NIN, Bank Accounts and Visas) of relocating to the UK as well as job seeking assistance and creating engaging social events for our clients from countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

My Role:

• Primarily run the day-to-day tasks and priorities in the office while delegating to the team according to role and ability.
• Identify talent and develop skill set of team to bring the business forward by being more effective and sourcing new revenue potential to increase our profits and bottom-line.
• Manage costs and mitigate expenses to increase profitability to re-invest in the brands expenditure.
• Engage and prepare BritBounders with their ‘journey’ to the UK with pre-arrival calls and welcome session once in London.
• Assess and provide guidance with regards to searching viable careers opportunities in London and the rest of the UK.
• Offer paid-for services, such as one-on-one consultations to prepare candidates for the job market in the UK.
• Forward CVs to contacts and follow up with agencies to ensure high level of service with our BritBounders.
• Manage spreadsheets and calendars in order to ensure metrics can be tracked for the success of our client’s job placements as well a related referral fees.
• Outreach recruitment agencies and establish partnerships to expedite securing employment for our clients.
• Liaise directly with industry partners in New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Portugal, and Canada.
• Build client profiles based on qualifying screening implemented as a tool to better assess skills and qualifications while funneling talent to appropriate agencies to expedite securing work for BritBounders.
• Increase profitability by seeking companies willing to pay referral fees and commit to further financial involvement such as sponsorship with our ‘A’ events.

Continuous Improvement Change Lead

Auckland Council

November 2014 - Now

I lead and assist with the delivery of a variety of key projects and business initiatives that deliver improvements to Financial Transactions and the wider organisation. My role facilitates business processes and system improvements utilising a combination of process improvement methodologies facilitating proactive and collaborative problem solving, most notably with system agnostic automation solutions through robotic process automation.