In our 2023 Top Women in Retail report, we asked several of our honorees how they motivate their teams — especially in this new world of work — and how they use their leadership skills to inspire their staff. With hybrid or remote work being the norm, how do they sustain a great culture in the workplace?  Here are a few of their responses:

Prama Bhatt, Chief Digital Officer, Ulta Beauty
“We have so much passion in the company around our mission and brand, as well as a real belief in the work that we do. Collectively the work that we’re doing is helping our members and beauty enthusiasts use the power of beauty to bring the possibilities to life. Having that purpose really helps motivate most of us, because we can really relate to and appreciate the mission of the company. That’s a big part of how I think about leading: asking how we connect the dots with every single action each team member is taking and link it back to that broader mission. As leaders, it’s our responsibility to help build that bridge to that mission.

I tend to have a really open door policy and I don’t think hierarchically. I think of myself as a consumer half the time. Or when I have feedback about our experience, I think about it like a beauty junkie as if I was shopping on the site. I’m also really fact based. That might be the engineer and analytics side in me, but I think it really lends itself well to digital.

There can be lots of opinions and different points of view, but that’s the beauty of digital and data. You can blend your intuitive understanding of experiences or your qualitative understanding and mash it up with quantitative to help that guide the way.

Leading with a lot of integrity and transparency is also a part of my leadership style.”

Bianca Gates, CEO and Co-Founder, Birdies
“I lead by inspiring, setting the vision, anchoring us in our mission and working with our team to execute. We’re also a culture of testing and learning. We try not to overthink our decisions and let our customers and our community be our guide.”

Maureen Kelly, Founder and CEO, Tarte Cosmetics
“For me, it’s really important to lead by example. I always try my best to lead with kindness and gratitude, and I look for those values in the people that I hire. I do have a really strong team in place. 

Even after 23, almost 24 years, I’m still very, very involved in the day-to-day, just as involved as I was in the beginning, from driving product development innovations, which is one of my favorite things to do, to creating very disruptive marketing initiatives. 

Lifting others up starts at Tarte headquarters. Home is where the Tarte is. That’s what we always say. Celebrating my team’s wins is a really big thing because everyone works really hard. If you don’t celebrate the wins, it goes by too quickly, right? We’re all overwhelmed day-to-day and you have to celebrate the wins. We do in-person Zoom calls and fun events just dedicated to lifting up our teams and trying to celebrate the wins and focus on them so that they don’t go by.”

Aimée Lapic, CEO, Hanna Andersson
“I inspire my team by setting really clear objectives. I understand that it can get noisy, especially if you’re managing a large team. You can get pulled in a lot of directions and have a lot of competing priorities. So, I start with very clear objectives and then ruthless prioritization so that I’m not asking people to do two things that are in tension with each other. That’s really important to me. I also try to meet my team where they are. Some people need more help and guidance. Others need empowerment and help in terms of more resources or removing barriers. I change my leadership style to what they need at the time. And it’s important that I build a team where we all work together as one. I truly believe that we’re in it together. We’re one team and we will succeed or fail together.”

Kathy Reardon, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, Dollar General
“Dollar General believes that our employees benefit from open and direct communication. In addition to our formal feedback channels, including employee surveys, we encourage employees to share their thoughts openly with their supervisors. Ultimately, we strive to create a work environment that’s built on trust, respect and opportunity.

A wonderful example of acting on employees’ feedback and needs is the creation of our “Active Allyship” guide. The guide recognizes that a diverse and inclusive workplace results in a better experience for our employees. To us, being an ally means taking an active role and creating a safe space where every individual can be their authentic self. I’m proud to have published this set of guidelines to help employees live out one of our core values of “respecting the dignity and differences of others” to create a more welcoming and inclusive environment within their teams.

A strong workplace culture requires that each one of your employees feels wholly welcome to bring their true, authentic self to work every day. I’m proud to lead an organization that leans into that notion so heavily.”

Janice Tennant, Chief Marketing Officer, Merrell
“I’ve adopted a coaching leadership style. Growing up, I played a lot of sports, and I learned early on that when you play a sport your coach can’t run your race for you, but she can give you great advice, feedback and exercises that help you grow and prepare you to perform. I take that same approach with my current teams. I spend a lot of time focused on empowering them to build and drive the best strategies, while investing time in developing their skills as marketers and as business leaders.    

I’ve often received recognition for being a champion of innovation. I ask my team what we can do bigger, better and faster each year. This requires a deep level of curiosity and constantly studying where trends are going and how consumer behavior is shifting.”

Read full interviews with these Top Women in Retail by downloading the report.