Daniel Shirreff, CPW, Briggate, Leeds

Daniel has worked in the mobile industry for 11 years, starting with Carphone Warehouse back in 2000. He moved up to manager after just three years in the business. In 2010 he was made manager of the Leeds Briggate branch.

The Challenge: The first thing I’d need to do in this situation is to describe to the person what’s expected of them – what we need from their work and the impact that they may be having on the rest of the group. It’s important to be honest with people and of course Carphone Warehouse’s pay structure is all about the team’s performance, not individual commission – teamwork is crucial.

I tried to instil this into my new team when I started at this branch a year ago. In my opinion, part of the process is getting into the mindset of treating the customer as you would want to be treated, or my ‘treat them like you would treat your mother’ philosophy. If you make that thought process clear then you will see things change.

One person on my new team was pulling in top sales week after week, but he had at one stage been on a final warning and I don’t think some people quite knew how to take him. By taking the time to rebuild the team to this way of thinking we made a lot of progress, and by January this year he was promoted. Honesty and integrity are what a team should strive for and in a situation like this I’d remind this person of why teamwork is important, how their actions affect the rest of the team and how they could go forward positively by working with their colleagues.

I’ve always tried to lead by example. I never ask my staff to do anything I wouldn’t do myself. I’m also more of a fan of the carrot than the stick and working with people as equals. I want my team to know that under my leadership they will have the opportunity to shine.

Management of the Middlesbrough store led to the branch being rated top in the Northern region in 2004.

Briggate store finished top in the UK for margins in July, as well as within the top 100 based on targets.

Oversaw promotion of five members of staff at Briggate store in five months.

I care about my team and my customers and I want to do the best I can for them. People tell me that they like to work for me because of the positive atmosphere I create in store. Honesty and integrity are very important to me, and I always tell the guys to ‘treat the customer like you would your mother’.