Sharon's convenience store report

Sharon Kane, area manager at Henderson Retail in Northern Ireland, on the less physical challenges of her role.

Time is flying by right now. I have been in my new role as area manager for seven months but it seems just like yesterday I was a store manager, responsible for just one shop.

Taking on the responsibility of 10 shops is a whole new ball game, moving from managing 70 staff to nearly 300.

My working week is completely different. I spend much more time in meetings, doing paperwork and traveling. The work is far less physical than it used to be - I do miss getting stuck in on the shop floor. On a few occasions, visiting my stores, the jacket has come off and I have helped out on the shop floor. Sometimes I think it is easier to show people how to do something than to tell them.

One of the biggest differences between the two jobs is as store manager you can work all day on the floor and see the results of your hard work at the end of the day. But for an area manager it is in the area's sales performance and quarterly accounts where you can see your achievements.

I try to get round all my stores as much as possible every week to assist and support my team. As a store manager for 12 years I know how tough the job really is.

However, it is not always possible due to meetings, paperwork and other projects I am working on for the company. But it is great to get in the shops and pass on ideas from store to store and share ideas across the area.

Sometimes it feels like I spend more time in my car than actually in the stores. But once I get to my first store, which is about 25 miles from home, the rest are in close proximity. The amount of time spent in the car was one of the hardest aspects of the job to get used to.

I attended the company's wholesale conference for this time this week and really enjoyed it. We knew that we would be taking part in community projects and ended up painting and decorating a community centre, play group and a primary school mobile.

Since I have not been as physically active in my current role I was dreading it but we were split into groups with about 30 people in each and I found it enjoyable. It was also fulfilling that we were really helping these people out and giving something back to the community.

The job can be tough and very different to what I used to do but I am really enjoying it.

The similarity between the jobs is that no two days days are the same. I suppose that's common in all roles of retailing - you just don't know what's going to happen next.

Sharon Kane

Sharon Kane: fulfilling new role