Toys “R” Us Achieves Unity in Diversity—

and a Dramatic Drop in Turnover

Toys “R” Us management was concerned that discussing di- Improving Management
versity could be uncomfortable for some employees. To establish
a high level of comfort when discussing differences, management
Performance
chose to begin their Workforce Diversity Program with one day of LIFO® Training has been part of the
LIFO® Training. Ten years later, LIFO® Training has gone be- Toys “R” Us management development
yond the successful, turnover-reducing diversity program to take curriculum for over ten years. It is now an
an important part in the management development curriculum, integral part of the curriculum in all three
and in training line managers to facilitate LIFO® Training with divisions of the company-Toys “R” Us,
store personnel. Lisa Walton, Director of Training in the Corpo- Kids “R” Us, and Babies “R” Us. It is cur-
rate Education Department, speaking about the Workforce Diver- rently included in two main training pro-
sity Program, says, “Talking about differences in communication grams:
styles was non-threatening yet a great source of insight for people. Workforce Diversity Program, a 3-
It enabled our participants to open up and share with each other day program for managers who have
about their own styles and how their styles had helped or hindered been with the company for at least one
them in the business setting.” year.
According to Walton, including LIFO® Training in the Supervisor Training Program, a 10-
Workforce Diversity Program has helped Toys “R” Us achieve a day program for new store managers.
number of key program goals. She says that it helps participants In 1998, Toys “R” Us added LIFO®
identify behaviors they want to change and what will motivate Training to its Supervisor Training Pro-
them to change. She says, “It gives people the opportunity to gram for new store managers. “Starting
maximize the best of what they have to offer.” new managers off with a better under-
Human Resources Manager Lori Madden says that LIFO® standing of their communication styles en-
Training has helped management focus on the results people ables them to communicate more effec-
achieve, rather than how they get to those results. According to tively with both coworkers and custom-
Madden, the turnover rate has greatly decreased to one of the ers,” Walton reports. “We believe that it
lowest in the industry. She believes that this is in large part due to makes them more successful earlier in their
the company's use of LIFO® Training. “We are hiring better qual- careers.”
ity individuals who are running better quality stores. The aware- Marina Benedico, Human Resources
ness we've developed through LIFO® Training has helped us be- Assistant Manager, frequently facilitates
come a much more balanced organization.” the LIFO® Training workshops. She says,
“The culture of the company was very high in Controlling,” “Participants rate the program very highly.
Walton adds. “LIFO® Training has helped raise awareness of this They say that LIFO® Training is one of the
fact and has helped us both to select and to retain a more diverse most positive experiences they get
group of employees.” throughout the 10-day Supervisor Training
Program.”
Dung Vo, Store Director in Miami,
Florida, participated in LIFO® Training
several years ago. He says, “It has helped
6100 Center Drive, Suite 660 me to become more sensitive to the needs
Los Angeles, CA 90045 of both employees and customers. It's im-
800-552-6446 ? www.bcon-lifo.com portant to see others' points of view.
LIFO® Training has made me a better
See TOYS on page 2
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store director.”
Walton says that LIFO® Training has
helped the company in many ways. Per-
haps the most dramatic is the way it has Improving Efficiency and
helped managers improve their one-on-one
relationships with their supervisors and key Absenteeism at Mattel
subordinates. She says, “Understanding the
LIFO® behavioral styles can be very help- Don Payne
ful in building those relationships.” Director of Human Resources Development
Recent participant Tammie Nieto, Mattel, Inc.
Assistant Store Director in Orlando, Flor-
ida, says “What I liked was that I got to see Productivity improvement— can it really be achieved
how I was perceived by others. I also liked through human resources development training, or is it a subject
that it opened up the eyes of my coworkers better left to efficiency experts and systems engineers? According
to how they are perceived. I look at people to Don Payne, director of human resources development at Mat-
differently now, because I know they don't tel, Inc., companies can achieve substantial results in productivity
necessarily see things the same way I do.” improvement. It is possible if they apply sound and tailored hu-
man resources management strategies.
Managers as Facilitators Understanding that pre-packaged productivity programs
Toys “R” Us is committed to intro- don't work like many other personnel panaceas, Payne used the
ducing LIFO® Training throughout the LIFO® Training model to design a specific program which led to
organization. Delivering it economically to measurable results in productivity improvement.
store personnel has been the challenge. To In this case, the LIFO® Training model was used in a plas-
solve this problem, Toys “R” Us worked tics manufacturing company. The firm was experiencing rapid
closely with David Glowatzke, Senior Mas- sales growth, and management operated in an informal, personal,
ter Trainer for Stuart Atkins, Inc., to de- hands-on-manner. Systematic procedures and documentation
velop a program that trains carefully se- were unpopular in this environment. This management style was
lected line managers and store directors to successful until the company expanded from a one plant opera-
facilitate LIFO® Training workshops. tion to a two plant operation, with the second some miles distant
This new initiative has been very well from the first. Plastic production and warehousing were retained
received. One key to its success has been at the main plant, while packaging and distribution were now at
selecting line managers and store directors the new facility.
who already have good presentation skills, Lacking systems which permitted logical, formal interaction
understand the LIFO® concepts, and util- between the two operations— which was directly impacting the
ize the LIFO® strategies in dealing with company's productivity level— management soon realized the
others. Another important factor has been need to intervene and identify solutions to their problems. The
partnering the managers and directors with company president asked for help from Payne (a licensed LIFO®
trainers from the Human Resources De- Trainer since May, 1973) to identify improvement opportunities
partment. Only after a successful period of and strategies.
mentoring do the line managers and store Payne used a productivity checklist to help isolate critical
directors lead LIFO® training sessions on problems and help identify behaviors necessary for success be-
their own. tween the two plants. A structured training program was designed
This delivery method has had impor- and presented to key members of the management group. Relying
tant side benefits. Walton says, “If you on the LIFO® Training model to diagnose problems and identify
only have Human Resources people con- possible solutions, the workshop encouraged individuals to apply
ducting the training, it is viewed as a Hu- specific strategies and action plans where productivity improve-
man Resources program. But when your ment was desirable. All goals and action plans were based upon
District Manager is facilitating the session, those behaviors which would account for the greatest success in
it takes on a different level of meaning. It specific situations.
See Mattel on page 3

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Examples were:
Strengthening the helping relationship among departments
Setting challenging targets
Providing timely, meaningful feedback on performance
Following up on actions and commitments
Asking more questions and holding people accountable for
their actions
Allowing the hourly workforce to participate in decisions that
affect them
“The most important part of the intervention was the use of
LIFO® Training to get people to look at the options available to
them in order to initiate needed changes and improvements,”
states Payne. “The opportunity for improvement was apparent—
managers had to discipline themselves to apply the appropriate
style in specific situations to meet their goals.”
By identifying their style preferences, the team was able to
spot low-strength areas and build them up. “A large part of the
program design was, directed at participants practicing and be-
coming comfortable with productive aspects of the least preferred
CT and CH styles and strengths,” Payne adds. As a result, the
SG/AD predominant group extended behavioral options to in- TOYS from page 2
clude CT/CH behavior in those situations requiring it.
really does become the way that business
has to be done. As a result, we are able to
Results deliver a program that has a great deal of
At the end of the six month period, the following results impact.”
were reported. “It's been exciting to work with an
1. Manufacturing efficiency (man hours vs. scheduled expansive, fast paced organization like
product off the end of the production line) increased Toys “R” Us, says Eric Dahl, Vice Presi-
from 65% of standard to 95% of standard. dent of Design and Development for Stu-
2. Absenteeism decreased from 30 people out of 150 be- art Atkins, Inc. “The Toys 'R' Us Corpo-
ing absent on a daily basis, to 5 out of 150. rate Education Department took our basic
3. Material handlers were reduced from 28 to 13 yet were LIFO® training applications and delivered
able to handle the same amount of work as 28; and de- them the way they were designed, yet they
vised a plan for handling twice as much work during skillfully tailored them to the specific needs
peak period without adding staff. and goals of their organization.”
4. Shipping (both distribution and interplant transfer) had The creator of LIFO® Training, Dr.
reduced staff by 10% and had consolidated interplant Stuart Atkins, says that Toys 'R' Us has
shipments to conserve labor and fuel. Graphs showing impacted the growth and development of
monthly improvements in efficiency were posted. two generations of children in his family.
5. A formal planning system had been designed for pro- “I'm delighted to reciprocate to the Toys
duction planning-now packaging knew what it would 'R' Us family,” Dr. Atkins states, “and I'm
be packing out for the next six months rather than day pleased to know we have contributed to
to day. The greatest assistance in this change came the growth of many people in the organiza-
from top management who (a) originally requested the tion— and that the company is the benefi-
help, (b) were involved in identifying the improvement ciary of the growth. Toys 'R' Us not only
goals and (c) supported and reinforced the required found unity in their diversity but improved
style changes. performance along with it.”

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