One of the most satisfying aspects of our work is the privilege to meet clients - it is truly an exciting opportunity to listen and work with the client to achieve their business objectives. Usually, we will run into clients 'know what they want' or others who will rely on our experience in the diagnostic process to get a solid understanding of the problem. And this can take a number of iterations to get to the issues, evidence that these issues exist, the impact of these issues on the business and the type of solution we can customize.
Now nothing could have prepared us for last week, when we ran into a client who was 'surprised' at the suggestion that the issues the sales team was facing could not be dealt with in isolation of how the sales team was been led. 'we don't do the work, our sales people do' was the emphatic conclusion of the sales leaders at the meeting. Implication is 'fix' our people and we will be fine. Specifically, the sales leaders complained that their team was focused on the 'flavour of the month' and not a balanced sales approach that looked at growth, retention, profitability and customer service.
Now this idea of 'fix' my team is not new. Sam Reese, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Miller Heiman International (MHI) told of a similar story at the MHI Europe and Middles East (EMEA) conference in Prague a couple of years ago. According to Sam Reese, a top US investment banking client complained how non-performing his sales team was and asked Sam Reese if MHI could do the fix. Without much conversation, Sam Reese told the packed audience that he told the Chief Executive that if 'if you have no faith in your team, there is nothing we can do'.
The 'fix my team' attitude of our local customer and that experienced by Sam Reese is based on this idea that leadership is fine but it is the people who are the problem. And nothing could be farther from the truth. What we know, thanks to the work of Norris and Smith in 'Change the Culture, Change the Game', every team and organization has a culture, the culture is either working for or against you. Cultures are created intentionally to create a work environment of accountability for results. Leaders, based on thousands work around the world, are the high leverage point for culture for change. The actions of the sales people in our local example above, are driven by what they belief about the team. And this belief is driven by the experiences provided by the leadership. A team's result therefore is not created by a bad sales force but by the quality of the leadership in place.
A tough proposition but an accurate one if we want to change from a culture of non-performance to one of results and accountability. The great management guru, Peter Drucker opined many years ago that Leadership is defined by results and not attributes. And the folks at Bain in their turnaround bible, stated clearly that 'there is no running away from the fact that the continued malfunction in a business is due to management inadequacy'. So the 'fix' starts with us, those entrusted with the responsibility to make it happen.
It is the our responsibility to one,lead our teams to create the future (Direction), to envision the future and create a plan to get there. Like one sage said, when you find a man on top of a mountain you can be sure he did not just fall there. Two, leaders must align (Alignment) everyone to future - individual contribution and compensation and thirdly, we must ensure people volunteer their grit and sweat (Commitment) to make the future happen.
Now nothing could have prepared us for last week, when we ran into a client who was 'surprised' at the suggestion that the issues the sales team was facing could not be dealt with in isolation of how the sales team was been led. 'we don't do the work, our sales people do' was the emphatic conclusion of the sales leaders at the meeting. Implication is 'fix' our people and we will be fine. Specifically, the sales leaders complained that their team was focused on the 'flavour of the month' and not a balanced sales approach that looked at growth, retention, profitability and customer service.
Now this idea of 'fix' my team is not new. Sam Reese, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Miller Heiman International (MHI) told of a similar story at the MHI Europe and Middles East (EMEA) conference in Prague a couple of years ago. According to Sam Reese, a top US investment banking client complained how non-performing his sales team was and asked Sam Reese if MHI could do the fix. Without much conversation, Sam Reese told the packed audience that he told the Chief Executive that if 'if you have no faith in your team, there is nothing we can do'.
The 'fix my team' attitude of our local customer and that experienced by Sam Reese is based on this idea that leadership is fine but it is the people who are the problem. And nothing could be farther from the truth. What we know, thanks to the work of Norris and Smith in 'Change the Culture, Change the Game', every team and organization has a culture, the culture is either working for or against you. Cultures are created intentionally to create a work environment of accountability for results. Leaders, based on thousands work around the world, are the high leverage point for culture for change. The actions of the sales people in our local example above, are driven by what they belief about the team. And this belief is driven by the experiences provided by the leadership. A team's result therefore is not created by a bad sales force but by the quality of the leadership in place.
A tough proposition but an accurate one if we want to change from a culture of non-performance to one of results and accountability. The great management guru, Peter Drucker opined many years ago that Leadership is defined by results and not attributes. And the folks at Bain in their turnaround bible, stated clearly that 'there is no running away from the fact that the continued malfunction in a business is due to management inadequacy'. So the 'fix' starts with us, those entrusted with the responsibility to make it happen.
It is the our responsibility to one,lead our teams to create the future (Direction), to envision the future and create a plan to get there. Like one sage said, when you find a man on top of a mountain you can be sure he did not just fall there. Two, leaders must align (Alignment) everyone to future - individual contribution and compensation and thirdly, we must ensure people volunteer their grit and sweat (Commitment) to make the future happen.
