I’d like to come back on my post “Do we need to communicate on the brutal facts?‘ posted on January 14th. Today I read an interesting analysis on this topic based on the current situation the new US president Obama is faced with. What follows is part of a blogpost by Michael Watkins on Harvard Business.
“One of the core challenges of turnaround leadership is how much to share the bad news. On one hand, you want people to understand the depth of the challenges and the need for dramatic action. If you share too little information, you risk creating a vicious cycle in which people cling to overly optimistic views, and so do too little too late. Then, as hopes repeatedly get dashed, the credibility of the leader can be rapidly and irretrievably damaged.
On the other hand, confidence is itself in a variable in the turnaround equation. If you tell people the full truth as you believe it to be, you risk generating a panic or an equally dangerous dynamic of denial. Either way, it can lead people to take actions that can easily reinforce the downward cycle. In business, for example, perceptions that the ship is going down unsurprisingly tend to trigger the departure of the best people.
So in many ways you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
Welcome to the situation current facing our new President.”
This of course, is a far more serious situation then the one I described in my post. Yet I could conclude, based on the parallel, that it’s best to share the full truth on rather “operational” challenges. It will stimulate change and create some kind of a burning platform that will fuel motivation and team spirit leading to focused actions.
A survey taken in March 2008 amongst salespeople subscribed to salesdog.com show some interesting findings. 2.104 subscribers responded to the anonymous survey which asked questions on various job satisfaction issues.
The positive findings can be summarised as follows:
- A surprising 75% responded to be happy with their sales quota and found their quota realistic.
- 70% said to be happy with their sales manager
- 64% felt adequately recognized for their achievements
The survey also revealed some job dissatisfaction issues as well:
- 58% considers the sales job to be high stress
- 55% do not feel they are supplied with enough leads
- 52% of salespeople feel they do not receive sufficient training.
“The survey findings suggest that most salespeople feel good about their chosen career despite the high stress levels,” said Michael Dalton Johnson, founder and publisher of SalesDog.com. “Considering that lack of recognition is a common complaint of many employees in all types of jobs, we were surprised to learn the large number of salespeople who feel adequately recognized for their work.”
While much of the stressful sales process is beyond a salesperson’s control, the high producing reps are experiencing less stress partly because they focus on what they can control. Learning how to qualify and disqualify prospects, execute the right actions at the right time, have a balanced pipeline at all time and taking personal responsibility for their on-going sales training and personal development.
While many successful sales reps actively seek ways to sharpen the saw, dissatisfaction could come from companies failing to provide an environment that promotes personal growth and experiencing sharing as well as the right ongoing training and coaching.
Interesting as well is the fact that 83% would recommend a career in sales despite the high stress and all other issues revealed by the survey.
I’m intuitively inclined to support the findings when thinking about interactions I’ve had with sales people over the last year.
Other idea’s to share on this subject?
Harsh times is how some people describe the current situation. Yet the time has come to prove your leadership capabilities and convert them into actions and decisions resulting in outperforming your competitors.
No matter what happens in 2009, we will still have to meet expectations and try to maximize our potential. Conventional wisdom suggests that you have to play it safe and stick to what worked.
Yet Tom Peters quoted it as follows:
“If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got”
A couple of ideas to break the rules:
- Engagement has proven to be a ‘virus’ according to a recent study by Prof. Peggy De Prins (UAMS Antwerp). The result shows an important correlation between the engagement of the leaders and the quality of work and retention. Therefor leaders can make the difference by truly ‘walk the talk’.
- Today is a real opportunity to streamline your DNA. DNA dilution has proven to be one of the key reasons why companies don’t optimize their growth potential. Hiring people who are not completely compatible with your DNA is what happens a lot during times of high growth and a shortage on the job market. The importance of DNA was also found in the research by Jerry Porras and Jim Collins covered in their book ‘Build to last’.
- Focus on segments with the highest perceived differentiation that show ‘real ROI’. In other words focus your efforts on markets and prospects who seek your leadership.
- Get subjectivity out of your forecast allowing people to do the right things at the right time. It will decrease your cost of sales and increase your hit-rate at the same time. You will have have up to 45% more active deals in your pipeline in any given moment in time.
- Keep on investing in your people in order to proof the forward looking mindset of management and your commitment to them as well.
READERS: I’m looking forward to any other ways to break the rules and excel in 2009!
January is traditionally a kick-off meeting month.
I’ve been attending and participating at quite a few of them over the last years.
Driving back from one of those, I kept on asking myself why are some executives playing down on the brutal facts expressed by a direct report? The one I just witnessed was a VP sales stating: “We will have to solve some serious internal challenges in order to make our numbers this year. The current economic situation will only be an excuse in our case because…” and he continued by briefly explaining why the company should hardly be affected by the situation and some internal issues which they have been unable to solve in the last couple of years.
His speech was followed by the CEO introducing the next speaker and at the same time down played the challenges by stating: “During my decennia long tenure these problems have always been there so there is no need to be worried”.
What could be the reason and how to find the right balance?
Could this behaviour come from convictions such as:
- My people can’t handle the hard reality. That’s why I’m a CxO.
- They will be so worried that their performance will decrease.
- Boosting motivation is best achieved by good news and pep talk.
- They will think I’m a bad CxO.
I’d love to see some comments on this topic and maybe some idea’s on how to tackle such problems.
