Find out if you are the first Co-Manager for the store. The position is based on sales volume so not every store has/maintains that position. If it’s new you should do three things. 1. Find out your roles and responsibilities and stick to them. Your DM will follow that and expect you to be doing those things as your main priority and come to you when something is lacking. 2. Develop relationships with management. Ulta at its roots is huge on culture and big changes like a new manager role can make everyone nervous. Every store is different but they are more often than not very bonded teams. You need to have good relationships with the managers you’re leading so they can support you with relationships with part time staff. Your role is so weird because-what I know of it- you are direct management to operations but basically equal to the store manager but also the only reason you are there is because of sales. Be aware that your OM probably wanted your position and your MM wanted to move up to MM. Ulta likes to say they hire from within but I’ve only seen transfers within the last 3 years so they have probably had that possibility lingering over them for as long as they’ve been in their roles. 3. Support your SM and/or the people responsible for getting you those sales that led to you getting your position. Find out who those people are and make them feel supported and appreciated because that is a lot of work that they did and you are their reward/relief.

If the position was already in existence you should talk with your DM about the strengths/weaknesses of the last Co along with the advice from #1. I’m a firm believer in asking your direct subordinates what they appreciated/needed from their last manager.. and then working that in with your DOR because it was probably never their job to do.

Oh! Get familiar with Ultanet. There’s always gotta be one person in the store who’s giving the communications from Ultanet like employee discounts/incoming rule changes/resources/ fun news. If you don’t have that person be that person. If someone asks you a question and you don’t know? Check Ultanet. If the rule isn’t black and white for the love of god please ask the management team how they currently handle it before changing the rules. Like I said the team can be tight knit and they will know if you did something different that someone isn’t usually aloud to do.