July 10, 2025
In a recent SG Voices panel discussion, Stephanie Galentine, Lassus Brothers, Darrell Meek, JD Streett, Mason Cowan, Tom Bandy, BandyWorks, and Jed Brewer, SG Voices, discussed how they maximize c-store leadership development ROI.
Summary
C-Store managers are essential to the success of convenience stores. The speakers highlight that effective store management, particularly in leadership and team building, is paramount to achieving c-store operations consistency, enhancing customer experience, and ultimately driving financial performance. They discuss the challenges and strategies involved in developing c-store managers, especially those promoted from within, and stress the importance of fostering a supportive culture that allows for growth and even mistakes.
Keys to Maximize C-Store – Leadership Development ROI
C-Store Manager as the Linchpin:
The core idea is that a good store manager is indispensable for a store’s success, regardless of its size. Their impact directly translates to operations consistency, customer experience, and financial outcomes. Tom Bandy, Founder, at BandyWorks, sets the stage by quoting, “It doesn’t really matter how big the store is. A decent manager can make it work. But if you get a bad manager, it’s just going to be problems.” This underscores the foundational importance of this role.
Leadership Over Numbers
Darrell Meek, Operations Manager at JD Streett & Co., makes a powerful point: he prioritizes developing store managers as leaders before focusing on financial numbers. He believes strong leadership naturally leads to positive financial results. This means focusing on the “people” aspect first. Meek explicitly states, “I don’t want the managers focusing on numbers, I want the managers focusing on being a leader… they have to be a good leader and develop people under them because if they don’t, there are no numbers. The numbers are bad.”
Born Leaders vs. Developed Leaders
While Darrell believes people are “born leaders” (possessing innate leadership traits), both he and Stephanie Galentine, COO at Lassus Brothers Oil, agree that ongoing coaching, development, and support are crucial to cultivate these abilities. This highlights the idea that while some have a natural inclination, everyone can grow as a leader with the right motivation and environment. Darrell elaborates, “I’m a firm believer that you cannot I cannot teach anybody how to be a leader. People are born leaders. You’re either a leader or you’re not.” However, he quickly reconciles this by adding, “When I say they’re born a leader, that doesn’t mean that they’ve mastered the tasks. What I mean by that is they have the ability to grow as a leader.” Stephanie echoes this sentiment regarding potential, saying, “I would go as far as saying I think everyone can be a leader if they’re motivated to be. So they certainly need coaching. They certainly need depth and structure and support.”
The Importance of Culture and Trust
Stephanie emphasizes that a supportive culture where employees feel valued, appreciated, and part of something bigger is key to retention. This goes beyond just messaging; it requires consistent action, protected time for training, and creating a safe space for discomfort and learning from mistakes. Stephanie highlights their retention by stating, “The cool thing about our culture it’s hard to leave us and and we really rely on that.” She further connects action to messaging, asserting, “If I’m not willing to protect the calendar and put space in the calendar and bring people together…and make time for training then my my words aren’t matching my actions.” She acknowledges the intangible value, noting, “It is very messy. It does not have a number and a profit generator to it that you can throw on a financial, but 100% it changes all aspects of the customer’s experience.”
Delegation as a “Cheat” for Busy Managers
When managers feel overwhelmed, Tom Bandy and Darrell suggest that teaching them to delegate effectively is a primary solution. This frees up their time to focus on leadership and strategic tasks. Darrell describes the common manager complaint: “That’s the number one thing I hear from anybody when I roll out any program is how am I supposed to do that? How do I have time to do that?” His solution is direct: “The first thing I say to a manager when they say, ‘I don’t have time for that.’ I’ll say, ‘Okay, what can we delegate off of your plate to make that time?'”
Internal Promotion and Development
Both Lassus Brothers Oil and JD Streett & Co. largely promote store managers from within, often starting as cashiers. This deep understanding of c-store operations is a significant advantage. However, it also necessitates robust training programs to transition individuals from high-performing team members to effective leaders who can manage diverse personalities and difficult conversations. Stephanie notes, “The majority of our managers have moved up through the organization. So most of them…started as part-time or night shift.” Darrell takes it further, saying, “90% of our managers have started as a cashier. In fact, when we have to hire a manager from the outside, I just tell everybody I failed because we didn’t develop our people.”
Valuing Mistakes as Growth Opportunities
Darrell explicitly states that he wants managers to make mistakes as long as they are trying to improve. This non-punitive approach to errors fosters a learning environment and encourages initiative. He passionately declares, “They’re going to make mistakes. They’re all going to make mistakes. I want them to make mistakes. That’s how people grow. If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not going to get any better. There’s no repercussions for managers when they make a mistake if they’re trying to make to trying to make their location better. That’s our culture, the freedom to make mistakes.”
Identifying Leadership Potential
Both companies have open processes for training and job applications, allowing individuals to self-select and demonstrate their interest in leadership. They also actively look for “attitude” and leadership traits even during initial cashier interviews. Interviewing and providing coaching to those not selected for a role is also a practiced strategy to encourage future growth. Darrell mentions, “We have a saying that we hire for attitude to begin with.” Stephanie details their open approach: “You can volunteer to participate in a lot of our trainings… And that brings forward leaders.” She adds, “We’ve actually begun doing that because we experienced the injury of not doing that in the past. Prior generations, we didn’t do that. We offended people. We lost people because we didn’t have an open format.”
Employee Retention through Valued Leadership
The webinar reiterates the well-known adage, “People don’t leave companies, they leave their manager.” Investing in manager development is directly linked to higher staff retention and a more positive customer experience. Stephanie profoundly reflects, “I can’t even begin to count how many people I know are still here… not because they love punching a register and not because they love cleaning a bathroom every hour, but because they feel like they’re part of something bigger and they feel appreciated and they feel like they’re invested and they feel like individually they’re important to me, they’re important to their supervisor. They’re important to our ownership.” Darrell concisely concludes, “People don’t leave companies, they leave their manager is what everybody knows.”
Training Timing and Layering
Stephanie notes that the impact of training can vary based on the timing of the message in relation to a manager’s current challenges. Consistent, layered training that builds upon previous concepts is more effective. She explains, “Sometimes messages have timing to them, right? So, I might hear it in the spring, and it not really touch what’s going on in my world so it really is kind of a throwaway lesson or thought and then come fall I’m literally in the middle of something and that very same training could hit differently.” She stresses the importance of “layering, you know, you’re adding a theory to the last three theories.”
Watch the entire video of the panel – Maximize C-Store Leadership Development ROI
NACS Related Training Options for C-Store Operations
Develop Your C-Store Manager Operations Economics October 15, 2025 8 AM
Develop Your C-Store Operations Team October 16, 2025 8 AM
Related Links – Maximize C-Store Leadership Development ROI