Driving Sales Beyond

Leadership Management - From Napoleon To Welch

As I watched President Obama share his vision on Tuesday night during his press conference, I thought of his leadership, which then led me to think about leadership management within wholesale distributors and all sales organizations during these tough times.  

Some observations I recently received from one of my LinkedIn profile discussions, suggested that as leaders today we must:

• Lead by example and lead with action. Leadership is not about being perfect or doing everything right, it is about doing the right things that help empower others to do what they need to do.
• Understand the imperative nature of hiring good people (regardless of the economy) and, even more importantly to let them do what you hired them for. In tough times like these, it is very easy to "micro-manage".
• Keep the vision alive and make sure that people are still able to see it. Focusing on tasks, blurs that vision, and decreases morale for those on the front lines. In a highly transactional environment for example, some find the focus on tasks to be very depressing. We must bring long-term vision into the scenario, along with goals and then let our people go out and figure it out.
• Remember that people look to their manager for that vote of confidence, encouragement, enthusiasm, or just the gentle righting of the ship. Positive people possess that magnetism which can nudge individuals forward.
• Be direct in what you want out of your people and then let them figure out how to get it done. It doesn't work with everyone, and in every situation but if you have those go-getters on your team, then let them go. Set them on a path for success by simply getting out of their way.

Here are five great quotes on leadership management. Which do you think provides the best insight to sales leadership for these economic times? Tell us why you pick the one you do. 



1. "The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it." Theodore Roosevelt 


2. “A leader's job is to look into the future and see the organization, not as it is, but as it should be."  Jack Welch 
3. "A leader is a dealer in hope." Napoleon Bonaparte 


4. "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." Peter Drucker 


5. "Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results." George S. Patton

Please Share Your Thoughts
Which of these quotes do you think provides the best insight to leadership management for wholesale distributors and all sales organizations for these economic times? Tell us why you pick the one you do. 



Ongoing, Clear Communication: There is No Substitute

Over the last two weeks we surveyed LinkedIn users regarding the role executive management’s guiding ideas play in influencing their sales reps daily practices.  We polled the members of this business community asking, “To what degree do your vision and values direct sales rep behavior?”   A full 85% of respondents indicated that the vision and values “guide all the reps do” or provide a “direct link.”

The comments we received are equally as enlightening relative to this leadership trait, and many focused on the importance of not just establishing the guiding ideas but the ongoing, clear communication of these.  For example:

• "We are making progress on linking vision and values, however there is no end to this effort."
• "I believe the transfer of vision is the number one thing a c-level or sales organization manager can do. I learned a long time ago that repeating the vision over and over again, and in different ways, with different media, is key. One memo to the field won't cut it."
• "When the values, vision, purpose, etc. are built into defined processes that lay the framework for the sales department, it is pretty easy. When tasked with incorporating these values, etc. as a secondary set of guidelines not attached to job responsibilities or specific procedures it can be difficult to maintain across an entire team."

Consistent, Clear, and Repeated
These responses can be summed up with one respondent’s observation:  “Management has a responsibility to consistently articulate and demonstrate these [ideas] by their words and actions.”  This leadership insight touches on three key communication realities that we know build an engaged and productive sales force:

Keep it going -  In terms of lasting influence, a continuous string of little conversations about company ideas and valued behaviors trumps one grand mention of them.

Keep it consistent – A simple message repeated often has great staying power.  “What’s your main thing?” asked one of our poll respondents, adding, “The ‘main thing’ is the company’s purpose and priorities. When every person in an organization knows and understands the main thing, people will focus on what is important.”  

Keep it clear – When leaders take the time to link company ideas with desired behaviors -- and clearly communicate that relationship – they connect the dots between ideas and actions and make the connection obvious to others.       

Quick Three-Step Diagnosis
If ideas that drive your company fade by the time they reach street-level sales activity, run a communications check:

1. Does leadership keep the communication fire stoked with ongoing conversation about ideas that drive behavior?
2. Does leadership address and re-address the same ideas throughout the organization, over time, and in different settings?
3. Does leadership communicate a clear connection between the company’s “main idea” and desired behaviors?
   

What Are Your Thoughts?
Do you agree with the outcome of the poll?  

Have you seen a great example of consistent and clear communication of the guiding ideas that ultimately impact the behaviors of the sales team?  

Or, how about a poor example?  Please share your thoughts so we all may continue to collaborate and learn from one another.

Vision, Mission & Values: 8 Tips For Activating Your Company’s Big Ideas

Few would argue that guiding ideas like your company vision, mission, and values are critical to providing purpose, direction and motivation.  In our recent informal LinkedIn poll of business professionals, for example, only 3%  of the respondents saw company vision, mission, and values as anything less than “very important” to the sales effort.  

A full 96% are convinced that these guiding ideas are essential to success.  I happen to agree with Bruce Edwards, the Executive VP at West Marine who stated, “Mission and Values are the roadmap that define the rules of the game and the ‘endgame.’”

Use it or lose it
Having the “essentials” and using them are two different things though.  Here’s the challenge:  research from the Ken Blanchard Companies tells us that company-endorsed ideas tend to lose their strength as they move down the organizational chart.  What appears clearly motivating to those at the C-level often appears foggy and vague to frontline employees like the sales team.

Chuck West, Program Director for Sales and Sales Management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison summed up the value of guiding ideas when he said, “They are very important only if they are written with enough specificity to be actionable.”  In other words, their “execution-ability” reveals their value.  Good, working ideas are those that people, at all levels in the company, can translate into actions.

From mere words to actions
David Christensen, VP at Time Warner Cable commented "All employees want to know where their company is going and what it stands for and how they fit into the mission.”  Here are eight ideas we’ve gleaned from our work with leading distributors that can help you activate your company's ideas  on a daily basis.
 

1. Open and close meetings by briefly restating the idea you want to reinforce.  Regular repetition emphasizes its importance. (Do you remember reciting The Pledge of Allegiance at the start of a school day?)  Don’t bother though, if you’re just repeating words.  Genuine, heartfelt sincerity truly matters.  Anything less can do more harm than good.
2. Refer to the ideas as guides when others bring problems to you.  Ask them for example, “What do our values say about this?”
3. Openly refer to the ideas when setting priorities and use them as your guide when you need a tiebreaker.  You might say, for instance, “Option ‘C’ most closely aligns with our mission.  Let’s go with it.”
4. Point out to others how their actions support your company’s guiding ideas.  By connecting the dots for them, you plant the connection seed in their heads as well.
5. Formally recognize those who find ways to “activate” company ideas, even if the recognition is simply a short mention in a newsletter.  You’d be surprised how many people make it a point to read regular recognition blurbs.
6. Invite others to recognize activation of company ideas in their co-workers.  One company we know invites people to nominate others who demonstrate company values.  This puts everybody on the prowl for the ideas you want to reinforce.
7. Intentionally examine how your actions support the ideas.  By privately referring to the ideas often you’ll soon see how they drive your personal actions.
8. Connect the testimonials of satisfied clients to what your company stands for and share that connection with others.  Soon they'll be making such connections on their own.

 
Share Your Ideas

These are eight ideas, but I know there are more.  Share your ideas as to how leaders can activate their guiding ideas throughout the sales organization.

And, please participate in our latest LinkedIn poll where we ask – “To what degree does your vision and values direct your sales reps behaviors?