Avoiding The Pitfalls of Recruiting Retail Executives: Part III

By Gail E. Amsterdam, Founder, CEO, and Chief Talent Curator, Amsterdam Associates

Over 5 weeks, we’ve prepared a 5-Part series exploring how Retailers are Avoiding the Pitfalls of Recruiting Retail Executives.  Join us each week with a new article that builds on the prior one to detail how to maximize your talent stream.

What’s the secret sauce that retailers keep overlooking?

Did you know in communication loops that one of the biggest mistakes people repeatedly make is hearing their own voices and perspective in a communication and not putting themselves into their colleagues’ shoes? Everyone is so busy waiting to talk, they keep forgetting to listen to what others are saying in the conversation. Add an emotional edge to the banter and it’s as if they’re having a monologue with themselves, with the potential for anger or transmission noise blurring the message that’s received: 

Active listening is a communication skill that involves going above and beyond simply hearing the words that another person speaks, but also seeking to understand the meaning and intent behind the message. It requires being an active participant in the communications process. Only by doing this accurately, can people build relationships and trust, it’s not just a skill of excellence, but EQ needs to be very much emphasized.

Having rules, processes, and procedures to enable retailers to make things work in a win-win transaction, for both the executive and the retailer, will be the test of whether each side listened and actually heard each other.  Hearing isn’t listening.  Although it may seem pedantic, repeating what an executive has said or writing it down and echoing it back to them will be an excellent way to ensure that you properly understood what was communicated. Additionally, the executive will feel reinforced, heard, and listened to by the company and likely will be more inclined to consider working with and for them.

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Next week, we’ll talk about opening the ‘Kimono’ and why you should totally revamp your recruiting process to maximize your talent bench strength.