Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
As a retailer who works with the intangible asset known as employees, you’re probably not immune from having to take part in difficult conversations. As the Dean of the Lacy School of Business at Butler University and an instructor for the North American Hardware and Paint Association’s Retail Management Certification Program, Dr. Craig Caldwell leads students through exercises and scenarios to practice having difficult but crucial conversations. During these sessions, Dr. Caldwell provides tangible best practices retailers can take back to their operations.
Be Consistent and Timely
In a retail setting, having crucial conversations often involves providing difficult feedback. Dr. Caldwell says the two main components of giving feedback effectively are consistency and timeliness.
“Feedback has to be predictable and consistent so everyone has a full understanding of what behaviors are problematic or valued. Timeliness is required so that you have better recall of the event and don’t delay in fixing it,” he says. “It is a well documented fact that recency is a powerful psychological phenomenon in the human brain. Things that have happened recently are more powerful, or meaningful, then things that happen much earlier.”
Don’t Rely on Hearsay
As a manager or employee in a leadership role, you’ll likely hear a lot of hearsay rather than true feedback.
“Hearsay in and of itself can really only serve as an indication that there is a problem,” Dr. Caldwell says. “It is very problematic to use in an actual performance gap conversation.”
The only time there might be an exception to this is if the hearsay is pervasive, Dr. Caldwell says.
“A manager may feel empowered to at least alert an employee,” he says. “However, a better approach is to look for actual evidence of challenging behavior. If the hearsay is pervasive, you probably won’t have to wait too long to find more legitimate evidence of bad behavior. Everyone on the leadership team should be disciplined about knowing to search for solid evidence of a performance gap.”
Be Forward, But Supportive
When it comes to the actual giving of feedback, Dr. Caldwell suggests making sure you’re offering action item(s), documenting everything and being forward but supportive.
“I think it is important to tailor the conversation to the person,” he says. “For example, some folks are very sensitive to negative feedback or may not be aware of how their behavior is causing problems. A softer touch may also be appropriate the first time an issue comes up. If you are dealing with a second or third example of poor behavior, the advice will be more direct.”
It is extremely rare that one individual is solely responsible for a bad interaction, so Dr. Caldwell says you need to be sensitive to placing blame.
“If at any time people feel like you have a preconceived idea or have formed an opinion of responsibility early in a conversation, you have lost them. They will become hostile, defensive and less willing to see compromise,” Dr. Caldwell says. “I can think of many situations where someone was in the right but caused more problems because of the way it was handled.”
Once you get a sense for responsibility, it is best to handle the articulation of responsibility in a setting that doesn’t involve the other party.
“The person in the right should not leave feeling victorious,” Dr. Caldwell says. “Supported is better, because in the big picture, a conflict is bad for the organization and is draining for both parties.”
Learn more about the NHPA Retail Management Certification Program and enroll today at YourNHPA.org/rmcp.
