Quintin von Waltsleben, Phones 4U, Oxford Street, London

After relocating from South Africa to London, Quintin began his Phones 4u career in 2003 in the Wimbledon branch. He rose through the ranks to the top job in a little over a year and now manages four stores around London’s Oxford Street area.

The Challenge: Demotivated staff need a keen eye, someone to talk through what they want to achieve and a bit of positive thinking. I’ve faced this situation recently in one of my stores. One of my top sales people was a little deflated after two other team members were promoted. They were quite close and she felt she’d been overlooked. I noticed her body language and knew something was amiss, so I took her for what I call a coach walk. It’s important to sometimes get out of the usual work environment for these talks, so we went for a coffee and talked through her concerns. I asked her to write down her achievements over the last six months as a confidence boost. She’s been top three in store and top 30 in the company in that time and that’s something she should not lose sight of. We got back to the store and she wrote up a goal card for what she wants to achieve next and I told her to look at our ‘Soul Food Wall’ of compliments for inspiration. Knowing that your team is behind you is a powerful thing. As a manager, it’s my job to turn negatives into positives within the team and the store. If you can break down a problem with a team member, or as a group, and work on solutions as collaborators, you make them feel part of something. In my experience, that is a great motivator.

I have a coaching style of leadership. I collaborate with my team on a daily basis and help to drive them to be the best that they can be. It’s my passion to use the techniques I’ve learned over the years to help my staff realise their potential.

The cluster of four Phones 4u stores under Quintin’s management is the highest performing cluster in the UK. Six sales people under his management are in the top 30 in the company. Four staffers directly mentored by Quintin have moved on to become store managers.

Passion is what gets you out of bed in the morning and keeps your customers delighted. In life you have to have vision, the passion to pursue that vision and the discipline to turn every experience, even every failure, into something positive. I have passion for the wellbeing of my team and my customers and that’s what sets me apart.