Mark

• Mark
  Night Manager
• Denise
  Pharmacist
• Charlotte
  Trading Assistant
• Keith
  George Living Manager
• Suff
  IT Helpdesk Analyst
• Helen
  Merchandising Manager
• Craig
  Web Merchandising Assistant
• Andrew
  Transport Operations Manager
• Mark
  General Store Manager
• Noor
  Buyer, World Foods Team
• John
  Trading Manager for ASDA Living
• Wilma
  George Manager
• Emma
  Senior Manager in ASDA.com
• Rob
  Optometrist
• Richard
  Operations Manager
• Maria
  Marketing Manager for stores
• Katie
  Product Development Manager in Financial Services
• Gavin
  HR Manager in North London
• Andrew
  Finance Manager in Distribution
• Rebecca
  Public Relations Community Officer
• Julie
  Employee Relations Manager
• Jill
  Dispensing Optician
• Andrew
  Store Manager
• Gareth
  Distribution Operations Manager
• Charlotte
  Trading Assistant

Mark
General Store Manager
Store

Hi, I'm Mark and I'm the General Store Manager (GSM) at an ASDA supermarket in the North West.

At the time of writing this, although I've only been the GSM in this store for 4 weeks I can say that I already know every colleague in the store and a bit about each of them. For me that’s one of the things that makes ASDA such a great place to work – our focus on listening to all our colleagues and customers! It's so interesting talking to the shop floor colleagues and our customers as they always have great suggestions about how to solve the big challenges of a store.

When I joined ASDA as a shop floor colleague in 1990, I knew nothing about retail! My Grandma suggested I apply to ASDA as it looked an exciting place to work and even got an application form for me! She is still very proud that she suggested ASDA to me.

There are lots of opportunities to progress at ASDA and I believe that the clarity of the development programmes here have been a key part of my career progression. I was a Grocery colleague, a Night Manager, a Training Manager and a Project Manager, based at our home office in Leeds, before I became a GSM about 3 years ago. My development hasn't stopped now I've become a GSM either as I've had the opportunity to work in 3 different stores as a store manager, which have all been very diverse with different challenges, enabling me to develop personally and professionally. People at ASDA genuinely care about the development of their colleagues and, because of this, it's a priority for me to spend time developing others, creating a continuous cycle of fresh talent.

As a GSM, my day usually begins at about 7am with a review of the week to date and yesterdays figures and then a shop floor walk with the Night manager so that they can hand the store back to the day team to continue the great work done overnight. At least 1 week every quarter, all the GSMs in the company work nights so that we can understand any challenges, witness all the great work that happens at night and get to know the night time colleagues.

Every morning, I hold a store huddle, or meeting, which a colleague from each department comes to each morning. We share updates on how the store is performing, key activities for the store and company and celebrate successes and any birthdays or long service milestones of any of the colleagues in the store. Those colleagues then cascade this to the rest of their team. The rest of my day is generally spent on the shop floor, walking departments with managers, talking to customers and colleagues, or planning promotions or seasonal activity. Towards the end of the afternoon, we all 'rumble', which means tidying and restocking the shelves in preparation for our busy after-work period - when we all do it together it takes much less time!

My long term goal is to be the GSM of an ASDA Supercentre, a shop with a selling space of more than 80,000 square feet with an average of 800 colleagues! Then ultimately move on to become a Regional Operations Manager (ROM) with responsibility for between 15 to 20 stores within my region. I'm already working with my ROM on a Personal Development Plan to help me get there so watch this space!