Marcus Cauchi has been writing a provocative series of posts on mistaken sales management behaviors. The posts and discussion are fantastic, make sure you read them. He asked for my thinking on the issue.
We see all sorts of bad management behaviors. Some of it seems to be driven by a compulsion to “help” our people succeed. Much of it is driven by a lack of trust managers have in their people. Almost all if it is driven by the mindset, “We have to make our numbers.”
Too many managers have a “Superperson” complex. They were, possibly, great sellers and promoted into a leadership role because of this. As they look at their people struggling with deals, they swoop in to save them. “I’m a fantastic seller, I can do this better myself, stand aside, let me take control….”
We’ve all seen this play out. Pretty soon, sellers tire of this behavior, they step aside letting the manager swoop in on all their deals. Pretty soon the managers are doing the majority of the selling, they become overwhelmed and start to fail. In the mean time, sellers aren’t building their capability to win more deals, they count on the managers to do this.
Alternatively, we see managers don’t trust their sales people to do their jobs. They don’t trust their people have the skills that drive win rates and performance. They tend to jump in, perhaps not playing “Superperson,” rather micromanaging each deal. Instructing, perhaps scripting behaviors telling people to do what they say.
Much of this is driven by fear of failure—not their team’s, but their own personal failure.
And while a manager might muscle through with these behaviors, they achieve their goals for a few quarters, maybe a year or two, ultimately these behaviors come crashing down on everyone. They are unsustainable in driving sustained performance–their own and that of the team.
Their teams aren’t building their skills/capabilities. They aren’t learning how to manage and close complex deals because the manager is doing it for them.
They see the lack of trust, consequently don’t trust their managers or those around them. This absence of trust eliminates any possibility of a seller trying something new, sticking their necks out to try to win a deal, when they know the consequences of failure.
And these behaviors create unhealthy work environments. No one is growing, no one is developing, no one is happy. When the next new opportunity comes up with a different company, they are gone.
Unfortunately, we see the impact of these behaviors permeating organizations. Average tenure, at all levels, is down–now 11-15 months. win rates/quota attainment/revenue attainment all plummeting. Employee satisfaction/engagement continues to fall.
High performing organizations are very different. Managers recognize their jobs aren’t to make the number, rather they maximize the performance of each person on their teams (who are accountable for making the number). Maximizing the performance of the team includes getting the support their teams need, getting the tools, programs, training their teams need. Fighting for their teams internally. And most importantly, yet least done, coaching each person on their team. Helping them learn, grow, and develop.
Successful managers seek to develop the capabilities of their teams, so that each person is as good as or better than the manager. If they were a great seller, their goal as high performing managers is to develop each of their people to be better than they were. Senior managers in these organizations don’t seek to be the smartest person in the room or in any conversation, rather they seek to fill the room with people much smarter than they are.
Early, I spoke about fear of failure. None of these high performing organizations seeks to fail, but they recognize that failure is an inevitable part of the growth process. As these organizations stretch, seeking to constantly improve, they will, inevitably fail. But they learn from that failure, constantly refining what they do, continuing to grow.
As leaders, our goal is to maximize the potential and performance of everyone in the organization. Leaders constantly inspire their people to learn, grow and develop. They don’t fear failure, rather learn, adapt, and change so they don’t repeat the mistakes in the future. They recognize all of this only exists in an organization of shared trust.
Afterword: Here is the AI generated discussion of this article. As usual, some great perspectives, enjoy!
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