Cultivating a Culture

In this week’s retail seminar, Kayley McCranie, the Senior Manager of College Recruiting at Macy’s, and Pri Frazier, College Relations Manager joined us and shared how Macy’s is cultivating their culture. In essence, culture is shared, constant, and intentional. Macy’s creates a great environment for the employees to feel accepted and respected, and in return, they are passionate about giving back to the community with integrity.

To help achieve Macy’s value, Macy’s put great emphasis on their behaviors.

They commit to win: It is common to run into problems and changes in the retail industry, but the key is to be solution-oriented, and choose speed over perfection to avoid overthinking.

They build trust: Macy’s is open to discussion and provides a safe and trustworthy space for the employees to be kind, and genuine, and be able to make connections, share ideas and speak up.

They own their roles: We accept the fact that we cannot do everything, but at the same time, we have the choice to do anything. The key is to be disciplined and try your best to make a difference.

They get better every day: We all have different learning styles, but fundamentally, we learn by doing. The key is to come down to earth, utilize learning resources, align with the goals, and be determined.

When it comes to company culture, Macy’s believes that culture starts from the top and trickles down. Employees tend to learn from the higher-ups and look to them for guidance, and therefore, Macy’s introduced People Leaders: They act as guides and mentors and set the tone for the teams from encouraging growth to driving performance with their commitments.

They promote diversity and inclusion: Macy’s strives for setting inspiring role models and providing a place where employees feel safe and comfortable to share their opinions. They also pay great attention to how to reflect that sense of inclusion in the stores and to the customers.

They encourage growth: Everyone wants to grow and be recognized. It is important to constantly develop the team and provide needed resources to help the team and individuals to leverage their skills and achieve their end goals with confidence.

They create connections: Macy’s value relationships and identify the meaning and purpose of building trust and feeling connected. They always want to make sure that people feel comfortable and included when making connections and asking for help.

They drive performance: Macy’s encourages employees to take ownership of their tasks and get recognized. They also see the importance of providing and receiving constructive feedback to create positive impacts for the organization.

Generational Differences

Our final Retail You! for the semester welcomed Macy’s guest executives, Kayley McCranie, Senior Manager of College Recruiting and Pri Frazier, College Relations Manager. They taught students about the generations at work in contemporary America: Veterans, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials and the beginnings of Generation Z. They discussed how understanding the values of the different generations can help students as they go into the workforce. Kayley and Pri shared a quote from George Orwell, “Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.” This quote shows how each generation thinks they are the best, but if everyone takes this mindset there can be no workplace harmony. Experiential connection creates shared identity, and this can happen for the various generations at work.