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Author: C. Lee Smith

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Management Marketing Personal Development

Tips for Succeeding as a First-Time Manager

Jennifer Gluckow, founder of Sales in A New York Minute, knows a thing or two about sales. She’s also a first-rate manager with plenty of street cred. When she was placed in a sales management position, she quickly learned how to motivate her reps. Here’s what she shared with us about young and first-time managers in her recent Manage Smarter podcast.

Immediate Feedback

It’s always great when your younger reps make a sale. But, they need you most when the sale doesn’t happen. When you, and they, are first starting out, make sure they discuss their disappointments with you. These sessions allow you to point out what they could have said or done differently. The discussions also give you a chance to boost their ego, so they don’t get lost in negativity.

Mind the Age Gap

Long ago, presidential candidate Dan Quayle questioned the suitability of his opponent, Ronald Reagan, based on age. Reagan scored huge points, and went on to win re-election, after he famously turned around the challenge by saying, “I am not going to exploit for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” If you’re much younger than the team members you’re supervising, be prepared to feel some heat. “They’ll seem nice and friendly, but they’re totally judging you,” remembers Gluckow, who was in the situation of supervising much older sales reps. You don’t have to form deep personal friendships with your team members. You just need to get them to do their best. To earn their respect, and cooperation, Gluckow quizzed her team members on what mattered to them about the job. Once she tapped into their emotional connection to the job, it was easier to convince them to work with her and make quota.

Make a List

Most sales managers have been reps. They’ve suffered under managers who were rude. Or, they’ve put up with constantly being handed the worst assignments. Or, they’ve had to figure out how to succeed on their own, because their manager couldn’t be bothered training them. You don’t have to be that kind of manager. Gluckow made a list when she first started managing people. She wrote down the traits of the best managers she had and made sure she emulated them.

If you want to start your management career on the right path, consider doing the same.

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

It’s Time for Managers to March to Their Own Coaching Cadence

Are millennials really that different from their younger counterparts: the members of the up and coming Generation Z? Yes, says Jessica Ogilvy, assistant professor of marketing at Marquette University. She explained the difference between generations during a recent Manage Smarter podcast.

Gen Z: Great Expectations

While managers might be used to supervising baby boomers, Gen Xers and millennials, Gen Z workers have different expectations. Here’s what you need to do to hire and keep the freshest talent.

Like millennials, Gen Z workers grew up in an age of transparency. They’re always connected and always want to be kept in the loop. This desire can come as a surprise to hiring organizations. In the past, you got away with not keeping in touch with candidates. That practice was especially true during the recession, when there were hundreds of qualified candidates for every job opening.

Right now, we’re in a strong labor market. If you’ve got a winning Gen Z candidate, you need to stay in touch. They want feedback. How did the interview go? Are you going to reach out to their references? Let them know these details, before they decide you’re not interested and move on to their next option.

Managing the Gen Z Employee

Once the Gen Z joins your workforce, the need for feedback doesn’t change. When these employees turn in an assignment, they expect some kind of response. For them, the absence of a response is the same as receiving a thumbs-down. That reaction is a far cry from the expectations of older generations. Old-school workers weren’t raised in a climate of constant feedback. They’re likely to break in a sweat, worrying they’ve done something wrong, when the manager appears at their cubicle.

It’s risky to hire an unproven Gen Z candidate right out of school. And it can be expensive if they leave quickly, which many tend to do. Ogilvy says we shouldn’t overlook the Gen Z eagerness to learn and high energy levels.

Coaching Cadence

To generate loyalty, Ogilvy recommends a using a practice called coaching cadence. Start your relationship with your employee by understanding their personal and professional goals. If they hope to buy a house and need more money, work with them on developing skills that will qualify them for a promotion in your organization. Help them see how their professional lives, at your company, will lead to achieving their personal dreams.

When you reach out as a manager on this level, employees see you being self-aware and empathetic. That transparency matters to them. The bigger challenge for you, as a manager, is to balance the unique needs of your youngest employees with all of the other demands on your time.

Make sure you regularly evaluate your priorities and don’t be afraid to delegate tasks when it makes sense.

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

Management Tips from The Charisma Coach

You’ve hired your dream candidate. They’re blowing the doors off all the technical problems you’ve been having. But, they don’t seem very happy. And, they don’t seem to be fitting in with the rest of the team, especially since they’re lacking professionalism. What are you going to do now? Mary Gardner, The Charisma Coach, who we just interviewed for a Manage Smarter podcast on the C-Suite Radio Network, would say it’s time to put on your coaching hat. Here’s how it works…

Today’s managers are faced with building teams from five different generations. Older employees, those in the baby boomer and Gen X groups, accept assignments without question. They put in long hours. For many, the concept of work-life balance doesn’t exist. Younger employees question everything. These team members won’t necessarily complete a task unless they feel involved.

To increase involvement and make solid connections with your team members, use storytelling. Try opening a meeting on a project by delivering a one-liner: a statement about what must be delivered. Then you should delve into details that will make your audience, your team, become emotionally involved. Talk on a personal level about a similar project you managed and how it impacted you or the larger world.

Beyond storytelling, start involving your team members. Ask for their input. Start with the least experienced person in the group. Otherwise, the more experienced team members may squelch creative thinking, simply because newer employees often feel intimidated. Include as many ideas as you can in the project in order to give employees ownership. This process, says Gardner, will appeal to millennial and Gen Z workers who admire inspiring leaders.

Excitement about a work project may still not be enough to induce professionalism in your new tech hire. Managers realize that while younger employees bring energy, ideas and technical skills to the table, they often lack understanding of true teamwork. It’s up to you, the manager, to set ground rules. One approach to the situation is to focus on career goals and discuss how the current job fits into the employees’ larger vision for their lives. Ask if they see themselves progressing in a management role. Many young workers share this goal.

If they are coming in late, leaving early and asking about more benefits, explain how that attitude doesn’t match the management profile. Encourage them to volunteer for more projects and devote more energy to work. Advise them to pay attention to company culture. For example, taking more than an hour for lunch isn’t a good idea. Another example could be reminding them to praise a co-worker for a job well done. Consistent coaching on these topics can help you shape the career path of a talented employee. What could be more rewarding than that?

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

Don’t Like Conflict? Here’s How to Stop Avoiding that Dreaded Encounter

If you’ve been managing people for any length of time, you know it’s not always fun. You’ll have great days when you’re cheering about a team member’s win. And, then, you’ll have some truly challenging days. You know what I’m talking about. It’s those days when you have to address an employee performance issue. If you’re conflict-averse, you may be avoiding these encounters.

When you avoid an employee-related problem, you’re damaging your credibility as a manager. Your inaction also demotivates other team members. If they see a co-worker consistently taking long lunches, and not being asked to change their behavior, resentment grows. To stop this problem from getting any worse, take action as advised by Steve Sisler.

In a recent Manage Smarter podcast, Sisler, president of the Behavior Resource Group, discusses how to understand and address your motivations as a conflict-averse individual. He describes one situation involving a manager who didn’t want to ask an employee to stop coming in late.

“A highly altruistic person, this kind of manager [conflict averse] sees the value in other people sooner than they see the value in themselves.” As a result, these managers find it hard to say anything confrontational to someone else.

If you’re not comfortable telling an employee to change their behavior, try a different approach. Since you don’t want to be the ‘bad guy,’ one of Sisler’s suggested workarounds is to blame company policy. Tell the employee that everyone else is coming to work on time, because that’s what the policy requires. So they must follow the policy, too. By bringing in the higher authority, the conflict averse manager escapes having the employee’s resentment directed at them.

Sisler points out that conflict averse individuals often don’t possess the ability to become angry. And anger is often the emotion that drives conflict. In Sisler’s opinion, four energy systems drive human behavior: anger, optimism, fear and patience. If you have too much anger, Sisler points out, you can turn into a manager everyone avoids. Why? Because you’re looking for conflict even there isn’t any.

To succeed as a manager, think about what motivates you. Take a personality assessment and study the results. Then review the motivators of the individuals on your team. Once you have that information, think logically about the best way for you to approach each person in every type of situation. Thinking they want to be treated the same way you want to be treated can easily make things worse in many cases.

Categories
Management Marketing Personal Development Sales

Sales Managers: Are You Unintentionally Setting a Low Bar for Your Team?

Most sales departments often talk about setting the bar high. But there’s another bar for sales managers to consider. It’s not the high bar that sets the desired standard, it’s the LOW bar – and that can be a job killer for sales managers.

The “low bar” is the lowest level of performance acceptable to keep their job. And you set it by what you allow your salespeople to get away with. You may not see the negative impact immediately, but it’s a morale killer to the other higher performers on the staff.

Here are seven examples of how the “low bar” gets set on your sales team…

If you allow… The “low bar” you’re setting is.. How to fix it…
1. Salespeople to routinely miss goal If you miss you’re sales goal, there’ll be no consequences. So don’t worry about it. Adopt a three strikes and you’re out policy.
2. Salespeople to be rewarded for reaching only 80% of goal 80% is really good enough. 100% becomes the REAL stretch goal. Stop all incentives for anything less than 100% of goal. Be more realistic about the goals you’re setting.
3. Salespeople to routinely show up late for meetings It’s okay to be 5-15 minutes late. Hope your advertisers feel the same way! Start meetings no more than two minutes late. Reserve the front row of chairs or those closest to you for late arrivers so they just can’t sneak in undetected.
4. Salespeople to not enter everything into your company CRM The CRM isn’t all that important to you. The problem is “garbage in, garbage out” or “lack of information in, means lack of information out.” You’ve greatly reduced the effectiveness of CRM. If it’s not in the CRM, it didn’t happen. No ifs, ands, or buts.
5. Salespeople to go long stretches without engaging in a two-way conversation with their accounts It’s ok to take long time accounts for granted and put them on auto-pilot. There are no consequences for not doing your job. If a rep goes more than X weeks/months without a telephone or in-person conversation with an account, they lose it – and the commissions that go along with it.
6. Salespeople to not use the valuable tools and research you’ve provided them Anytime we bring in a tool for you to use, you can just ignore it, then we’ll make it go away if enough of you don’t use it. Using these sales tools regularly is part of their job. Make it an item on their performance evaluation.
7. Salespeople to text, check email or otherwise fiddle with their mobile phones during your sales meetings. The content of the sales meeting isn’t important enough for your full attention. Heck, YOU aren’t important enough for their full attention. Movie theater rules apply. No texting, message checking or anything else during meetings. Allow for checking of content or for Googling that directly relates to the topic of the meeting. If they have to take a call, make them leave the room.
7+1. Salespeople to blame the customer, the competition or other people in your company for their lack of success You don’t have to be personally responsible for anything. It’s okay as long as you tried. Problem is, you now have a culture of finger pointing and backbiting instead of positivity and teamwork. Always bring the conversation back around to what could YOU have done better? Did you provide value to the customer before trying to make a sale? Did you make a recommendation that makes sense (or did you just take their order)? Did you reduce their risk? Were you proactive? Were you persistent? Were you resilient?

You might think the worst person at returning calls sets the low bar for the rest of the staff. Or that the worst performer in terms of revenue, closing rates, proposals, account satisfaction, professionalism, etc. sets the low bar for the rest of the staff. And you’d be 100% wrong.

The fact is YOU set the low bar for the minimum level of performance needed to keep their jobs.

You’re not a passenger, you’re the driver of the sales team. So no whining about “I just can’t get the salespeople to use it/show up on time/stop doing what they shouldn’t be doing/start doing what they should be doing.” When you do that, you’re just admitting to the world that you suck as their manager.

There’s nothing wrong with being demanding or having high standards, so long as those demands are realistic – and you’re ready, willing and able to help them meet those standards whenever they need it. You also need to be ready to “walk the talk” and do what you’re asking them to do.

Setting the “low bar” bar high enough for success also means having uncomfortable and blunt conversations from time to time. Here’s a hint: those conversations need to be a lot more uncomfortable for them than they are for you.

Not everything is in your control, but are you willing to control the things that are?

Categories
Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development

Workplace Civility Starts with Management

 

Most Americans would agree that we’re living in an increasingly uncivil society. Our incivility is now invading the workplace, and bad behavior is demoralizing managers and employees. If you want to do something about this negative trend, listen to what Christine Porath has to say.

I recently interviewed Dr. Porath, an associate professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and the author of Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace, on an episode of my podcast Manage Smarter.

Porath suggests that managers increase awareness of their own civility. Managers often don’t realize that simply checking their phones during a one-on-one can be seen as rude. Porath urges managers “to ask people they work with about how they could improve their effectiveness. They should also ask which of their habits rub employees the wrong way.”

While they’re at it, managers should solicit feedback across the organization. Once you hear about how your habits and behaviors impact others, reflect on what was said. If people say you have a sharp tone in your email, think about how to change. For example, maybe you’ve been firing back responses to emails when you’ve been stressed. Are you always a bit stressed in the afternoons? If so, don’t respond to email until the morning, when you’re feeling energetic and positive.

Remember that uncivil behavior on the part of a manager can result in a big hit to the bottom line. Porath’s research shows that when managers act like their computers or phones are more important than anything else, employees react negatively. They:

  • Cut back on work effort: 66%
  • Worry about the incident: 80%
  • Leave the organization: 12%

Employees

Besides demonstrating their own commitment to civil behavior, managers should be on the lookout for employees who are rude and condescending. Some employees may act that way directly to their managers, while others are only rude to co-workers. If you want to curtail this kind of behavior, pull the offending person aside for a private chat. Explain how their behavior is hurting company culture and their personal reputations.

Another path toward a civil workplace is to establish a formal policy. Your policy could address topics that frustrate team members. For example, employees should show up on time for work. They should behave courteously to everyone in meetings. And they should nip their other rude tendencies in the bud.

Managers must showcase their commitment to civil behavior if they want to see change in their workplace.