Maybe I’m being hard-nosed or lacking in sensitivity, but I’m amazed at how much lack of accountability we accept in performance of people’s jobs. Too often, it seems that we treat many of our accountabilities as optional.
The examples are rampant. Things like, using the sales process, maintaining high quality/healthy pipelines, leveraging the tools and technologies we put in place, coaching/developing our people, and on and on.
We put the things in place that enable us to achieve our goals. Yet too often, perhaps through lack of attention, leveraging them seems to be optional. We provide tools to help improve efficiency, yet people aren’t using them. We provide training to help improve performance, but people aren’t using it. We provide programs, that may drive certain initiatives, but people don’t implement them. As managers, we know our job is to maximize the performance of each person on the team, but we don’t to the work of coaching and developing that performance.
Recently, I had a conversation with an executive. Initially, this executive thought “We need pipeline management training……” But as we drilled into the issue, we discovered they had very rich pipeline metrics and reporting. They had weekly meetings on the pipeline. They didn’t really need pipeline management training, they needed to be held accountable for maintaining high quality/healthy pipelines. No amount of training would help them, unless they were accountable for the quality and health of their pipelines.
With another group, they were shifting roles and responsibilities of the field sales people. Rather than managing all the accounts in their territories (which could have been hundreds), they were now focused on about 20-30 strategic accounts in each of their territories. The sellers were provided training and tools to help them in focusing on the strategic accounts. Their quotas were adjusted to reflect the potential and expectation from those accounts, rather than for the whole territory. But many refused to change. “I don’t have the time to do an account plan…., I’m too busy managing my territory…..,” and other excuses arose. People weren’t changing their behaviors, their jobs had changed significantly, but weren’t doing their jobs.
We see this in many, sometimes small ways. We provide tools that people are supposed to use, but they don’t. We provide programs and training people are supposed to use, but don’t. We provide processes that people don’t use. We define our ICP, but let people do what they want in filling the pipeline.
And this is not just a problem at the individual contributor level, this is a problem at many management levels. We are accountable for coaching our people, yet we fail to do this. We are accountable for making sure our people use the tools, but we don’t use them ourselves. We say people should use the process, yet abandon it to drive revenue faster.
We talk about accountability, yet people aren’t answerable.
I’m sorry, but these behaviors and the continued acceptance (implicit or explicit) have to be unacceptable!
I don’t mean this in a mindless, “Do what I say,” mode, but rather, when we consciously put things in place that are critical in getting our jobs done, we cannot treat them as optional.
With my teams, I’ve always created “conditions of employment.” And these are as tough as they sound. By accepting a role in any of the organizations I’ve led, there have been conditions of employment. In accepting the role, people were consciously committing to those items. If people consistently or purposefully failed to do these things, they were choosing not to do their jobs, consequently were choosing not to keep their jobs.
Now you might be surprised, meeting quota or budget was never one of these conditions of employment. Yet, people were terminated if they consistently failed to achieve those. But when you drilled down, they weren’t doing the things that would lead to them to achieving the numbers.
For example, leveraging tools and technology was a critical accountability. Leveraging the sales process appropriately, using the sales methodologies, going through training programs. Showing up for work on time and putting in the time–not the hours, but whatever it took to achieve their goals. Working, collaboratively, with others.
Each person is accountable for their behaviors, doing the work, supporting each other. These are not optional, but they are critical to individual and team success.
We have to do the work.
Good post, and I especially like this part: “Now you might be surprised, meeting quota or budget was never one of these conditions of employment. Yet, people were terminated if they consistently failed to achieve those. But when you drilled down, they weren’t doing the things that would lead to them to achieving the numbers.”
It amazes me that some leaders put the tools in place but do not enforce the disciplines to ensure those tools are used. I’m thinking specifically about CRM systems, where sales leaders allow reps to use whatever methods they want to track leads, contacts, and communications. Then they wonder why, when a rep leaves (either voluntarily or forced) no one can pick up his or her pipeline.
Ultimately, it is the leader who needs to be held accountable.
Frank, first, it’s such a privilege to see you reading and commenting on the post, thank you!
There are a number of intertwined issues, as there always are, in looking at these things. Using the CRM example, so often, these are sold to managers, so the focus is on what managers can get from them. Managers look for great reporting, but their people aren’t using the tools. Then a message comes from, “on high,” “Though shalt update CRM!” The result is sellers do the minimal amount of work, managers don’t get the value they could get, things go in a death spiral.
The simple thing that has been overlooked is, “How do our people get value out of CRM?” I can’t imagine a high performing seller not leveraging CRM. But we don’t do this, we don’t help them see what they can/should be getting out of these tools to help them better achieve their goals. And once they “get it,” they start using it, and the value of the tools to managers becomes much higher.
And managers continue this virtuous cycle by leveraging the information in their coaching and development of the people using them.
Sadly, this is seldom done. It’s a huge financial, opportunity, and performance loss. All the result of management failure.