Shining the Light on Leadership in Retail Expert, Alison Crabb
Meet Alison Crabb, Leadership in Retail Expert, Speaker, Area Leader and State Manager Development Specialist
Her clients include Flight Centre, Macquarie Telecom, Blue Illusion, Contiki, Bupa, Clark St, Expert Travel Group, Jardan, Travelex, Metro, Russell Kennedy, Italk Travels, Halo Top, Vic Sport, All Green Nursery, Club Med, Western Bulldogs, Armitage Jones, 99Bikes, Accent Group and The Pancake Parlour
Leadership in Retail Expert
Alison Crabb, the Founder and Principal of Alison Crabb Consulting, has over twenty-five years of experience working with some of Australia's most well-known and successful retail companies. Her career began as a travel consultant with the Flight Centre Travel Group, where she rose through the ranks to become a store manager, then an area leader, before spending eight years as a global leader in a very competitive and demanding retail environment.
Alison pushed limits and drove improvement year after year during these years of learning, development, and improvement. This resulted in a profit increase from $18 million to $49 million. Alison was essential in establishing the Flight Centre culture, and she led her team to be the most profitable division internationally for eight straight years during her leadership.
Working with over 1200 employees in over 200 retail locations, she was able to accomplish remarkable results, producing $1.2 billion in annual sales. Alison's talents were recognised when she received the Directors' Award for Global Outstanding Achievement from Flight Centre. In addition, she was a finalist for the Telstra Businesswoman of the Year Award. She was also a finalist in the Telstra Businesswoman of the Year Award.
Collaborating with Alison
Working with Alison entails truly collaborating with her. She personally facilitates all sessions, allowing her to track each participant's progress and provide customised feedback and support on an ongoing basis. She delivers high-quality transformational training using her leadership in retail knowledge, expertise and experience. Her programs are not outsourced in any way.
Knowing her clients well she typically works with them on challenges such as:
They experience rapid role shifts from area leaders to state or national leaders.
They manage the fluctuating engagement, morale and retention of staff.
Their broader organisation may not have succession plans and lack leaders who are future-ready to step into roles.
Time management skills may have slipped down the priority list in a busy retail environment.
They may have been equipped with the skills of shifting from manager to leader.
The Essential Guide for Area Leaders in Retail
Alison’s book, The Essential Guide for Area Leaders in Retail, was designed as a ‘how-to’ book and aimed at the heart of one of the most crucial roles in retail.
This book supports area leaders by focusing on the key elements of the role and providing them with proven strategies, tools and templates to help them fulfil their roles while also guiding them to be more effective and deliver better results.
Teaching Organisations to Trust Leaders
What I love most about Alison is her focus on empowering people to have autonomy and influence over their work. It can be hard for organisations to let go and let their people thrive. Not only does she teach them how to but she helps senior decision-makers to trust the leaders in their organisation, let them make their own decisions to lower the level of micromanagement and control and increase the capability, connection and collaboration of their teams. Keep an eye for her on stage in 2022!
You can connect with Alison on her LinkedIn profile here.
As a woman with influence, Alison is part of our Women with Influence community. Maybe you can see yourself being part of this community too!?