The 80/20 Rule That Tells You If You're Coaching

April Sabral has a leadership test that takes one meeting. Walk out and count the split. If you spent more than 20% of it talking, you’re still managing, not coaching. Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden bring back bestselling author and leadership coach April Sabral for the manager to coach reset that retail needs. Retail leadership coaching is the topic, and April treats it as an operating change rather than a soft skill. Her framing: ops consistency comes from systems, growth comes from questions. A leader who opens a huddle with "What did you learn yesterday?" gets a different day than one who opens with a to-do list. And when a target gets missed, "walk me through your process" keeps the person in the room. "You missed target" starts their exit interview. April also makes the case that positivity is measurable. Track turnover, customer reviews, and productivity before and after coaching training, and the manager to coach shift stops being a theory you have to argue for. As she puts it, energy leaves evidence. She reads it on the face of whoever is standing in front of her when she walks into a store.What You’ll Learn:The 80/20 listening test that shows whether you have made the manager to coach shiftTwo questions that reset a daily huddle in under a minuteWhat to say instead of "you missed target," and why the wording changes who staysThree KPIs that make positive leadership measurable: turnover, customer reviews, productivityWhy April says energy leaves evidence, and what she looks for walking into a storeWhere retail leadership coaching fits without costing you operational consistency👉 Stay Sharp. Lead Boldly. Stay Human.This Episode is Brought to You By RetailClub.Retail and brand leaders can attend RetailClub AI Festival completely budget-free, plus get $1,750 toward travel and hotel. From the founders of Shoptalk and Groceryshop, it's three days fully outdoors in Huntington Beach, September 22 to 24, with 2,000 senior leaders working through how AI is transforming retail.Register by August 28 at retailclub.com/retail-razor-podcast.Retail Razor Podcast Network: https://retailrazor.com/Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.comYouTube channel: https://go.retailrazor.com/utubeGuest Spotlight:April Sabral. https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilsabral/Author, Positive Accountability for Teams, https://a.co/d/0eX42X19Founder, Ripple Leadership, https://www.aprilsabral.comExecutive Director, Miami Business Council. Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Swag, Tag and Brag from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.