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Patronising behaviour in retail

Hi guys!

I would appreciate some help on the fact I come across as patronising to my work colleagues. The thing is, I don't even realise I am doing it but that's the feedback from them, which is what I need to work on.

I work in retail and I am a supervisor so obviously, I need to help my manager run the department and ensure staff are going what they should be correctly. For example, a couple of days ago, I was with a colleague and she had to put some new sale stock out and her argument was that there was not enough space and I said that it seems that way because the fixture was really messy but once she tidied it, she would be able to get a better understanding of where the extra sale stock can go... my manger was there at the time and after said that sounded patronising but I said "I think you can get it out" at one point in the conversation....

Can you guys please give me tips/examples of how I can watch my tongue?

Reply 1

hungryhannah

not exactly sure what to suggest...maybe try not to act as much like the boss but accept your colleagues ideas casually like, 'yeah, sounds alright to me' without sounding too enthusiastic. when you've said something and you realise it sounded patronising you could follow it up with, 'I mean, obviously'--pragmatically meaning 'i was stupid to suggest that'. I'd just try and not sound superior and try and praise people just the right amount, don't go overboard

Reply 2

russellsteapot

Tone of voice matters a lot, as does trusting other peoples' judgement and managing situations properly, speaking to people as equals.

It's also quite important to let people feel like their opinion matters, even if it doesn't. Don't dismiss objections by giving people other jobs to do. "See what you can get out" works much better than "you'll get a better understanding of it once you've tidied up". One sounds reasonably empowering (the employee can use their own head), the other is telling the person they're not bright enough to think of things. They both have the same end result.

Apart from that it's very difficult to say on an Internet forum. Some people are naturally patronising by nature. Others can say pretty much anything without coming across like it.

Reply 3

Patrick Wallace

You would be better off just instructing them. In your example, after she raised the objection about there not being enough space you could have just said "you're right, in which case please spend a couple of minutes tidying up to make space for all the new stock". That way you've acknowledged and agreed with her opinion, given her the solution to the problem and reaffirmed the task.

Remember that at the end of the day your job requires you to be patronising almost by definition, you can't get away from that. You just need to give firm instructions.