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Results Coach Bryan Dunlop looks at why change is so difficult to achieve effectively.
14 January 2010
To get what you've never had, you must do what you've never done..... Read Bryan's January Business First article.
To get what you’ve never had, you must do what you’ve never done” Anon
A blindingly obvious statement that never loses its relevance.
Everyone talks incessantly about the pace of change, the fact that if you stand still you don’t actually stand still but that you go backwards. Despite this we all know that very few people are actually that good at embracing change.
One of my Clients was evaluating the performance of his sales team. His sales team were consuming leads and transacting business with only 23% of the potential buyers they met. Before he had taken charge, the previous Sales Director’s strategy was to produce new (additional and very expensive) products for his people to try and sell to their existing customers. This strategy was unsustainable.
As we discussed the dilemma, the Sales Director said “you either change the people or you change the people”. This was our first meeting and my initial reaction to this statement was that his only management approach was to clear out the existing team. This turned out not to be the case by the way.
After our meeting I reflected on his expression. Was he right? Was the easiest thing just to remove the people who weren’t producing? Is the best thing just to cut your losses and start again? Do you have to tolerate a certain degree of under performance? Do you try and get your existing team to do things differently?
I was a member of a sales team that ranked 23rd out of 32 in the company’s meritocracy. We were based in a Branch and sold in a regulated and compliance affected industry. My memories of my first Sales Manager are that he operated a closed door policy, came to sales meetings but never actually got involved (although he was authorised to), his feedback always focused on the things I had done wrong, which being a beginner were many, and despite us all being office based, his favoured communication mechanism was leaving group voice mails.
Although we stayed at 23rd out of 32, which given our Client assets was not very good, he was promoted and left. The UK Sales Manager was a friend of his.
Our new Manager arrived. I was the only person that knew him (he had trained me during my induction).
He operated an open door policy, enjoyed getting involved in our sales meetings (though never used them as a platform to show off, as some sales managers do), created environments that provided him with an opportunity to listen to the Sales Team, and delivered the tough messages face to face leaving plenty of time for a question and answer session at the end.
In 12 months under his management, we rose from 23rdto 10th out of 32 Sales Teams.
This increase in results was more than just a coincidence. No external factors had changed to any great extent
So what had changed?
One thing that had definetly changed was the man in charge.
Our perception of the first Manager was that he was interested in developing our competence. This is defensible in a sales world where compliance is a key part of day to day activities.
The second Manager was more interested in developing our confidence. His focus was directed at developing our sales abilities so that we felt able to initiate and then have conversations in new and different business areas. His belief was that if we did the best thing for our Clients, the compliance aspects would fall into place. He was right.
So why is it that two Managers are able to achieve such different results with exactly the same people?
I think it’s quite simple. One was a Manager and one was a blend of Leader, Manager and Coach.
It was never enough just to be a Manager but these difficult times have made that even more obvious.
In fact it is no longer enough to be a either a Manager, or a Coach or a Leader. It is no longer enough to wear just one hat. People need to be managed, coached and led and not many businesses can afford to employ three people to fulfil each of the three roles.
If Leaders are made and not born, the making of the Leader happens in their formative years. You can learn to be a Leader but it usually requires Managers to change.