Leadership Through Communication Course

Leadership is about working with your people, not against them, and effective communication is essential to leading your team.  In this retail specific program, communication techniques are presented along with examples of situations in which they may apply.

This course covers:

Paraphrasing

• Communication is as much about listening and understanding as it is about talking. 
• When you initiate any kind of communication you must assure yourself that the other person understands what you are saying. 
• Paraphrasing is an excellent way to verify comprehension.

Follow up

• Follow up is essential when you are counting on others to communicate a message on your behalf. 
• Whenever you communicate a message make sure it is delivered to the right people and that everyone understands what you meant.

Performance Feedback

When offering positive feedback, you should

• First offer congratulations to the employee on the good work.
• Mentioned specifics of why the work was good and discussed the positive result of the work.
• Thank employees for the work and encourage them for the future

When offering constructive criticism:

• Offer congratulations and point out what was good about their work.
• Don’t tell them they are wrong.
• Offer a suggestion. 
• Discuss what you believe the result of the suggestion will be. 
• Thank employees for the work and give encouragement
• Offer to help the employee start implementing the suggestions.

Getting to know your employees.

• Every employee is unique and the better you know each employee the better motivator you will be. 
• Some people are sensitive to criticism while others take it well and know how to immediately incorporate suggestions. 
• Some people embarrass easily and would rather not receive a complement in public. 
• Some people need constant public praise in order to thrive. 
• Spend time talking to your people one on one, it’s the best way to know how to motivate and encourage your team.

Facilitating Meetings

Meetings are a great way to train and motivate your people.  There are two particularly effective kinds of meetings…storewide meetings and small group meetings.

Storewide Meetings

• One of the best ways to learn is through teaching, therefore, it’s effective to delegate part of your meeting to be presented by other members of your team. 
• By involving employees in the subject matter of the meeting they will feel more connected to the material. 
• Managers should be prepared to follow up with each presenter before the meeting.  If you delegate a task and the person you delegate to is not prepared this will reflect poorly on both of you.

Follow a simple format during your storewide meeting.

• Introduce the meeting. 
• Welcome your employees
• Thank them for being there
• Briefly present what will be covered.
• Present the subject matter with individual presentations, role play, video training or other hands-on activity.
• Close the meeting.  This just takes a couple of minutes.  You’ll need to recap what was covered and again thank everyone for their commitment and their time.

Small Group Meetings

• One great way to provide ongoing support is through the use of small group meetings.  In contrast to a storewide meeting, a small group meeting focuses on one specific subject only and it is held with just a couple of people. 
• Small group meetings are an excellent tool to use with two or three associates who are having difficulty with topics others on your staff don’t need additional training on.
• Small group meetings can be scheduled informally. 
• They can be any length from 15-30 minutes. 
• They can be held on any topic that you think will improve your business.  Consider topics such as customer service, store presentation, or recruiting. 
• If you ever need suggestions on what topics you should cover, ask your staff.  They know better than anybody what techniques and skills that would like to improve.
• Use the same techniques in running a small group meeting as you would when running a storewide meeting. 
• Encourage those attending to be involved in the presentation of the material
• Be prepared with exactly what information you will cover and how you will present it.

Conflict Resolution

• Even the best leaders have problems with employees. 
• When conflicts arise with the employees you manage handle the situation calmly and effectively. 
• Make no accusations and do not make disparaging comments.
• Even if the employee becomes defensive, remain calm and professional.
• Offer a suggestion to correct the problem. 
• Conflicts with or between employees can turn into serious issues if they are not handled calmly and effectively from the beginning. 
• Always stay professional and never let emotions run high.

This course features a video and employee quiz.

Keywords: leadership, retail, supervisor training

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