Month: July 2012

“Consistent growth requires high level goals, and a trusting dependence on the smartest and hardest working people to execute on the details”

I am currently reading a Sales Management book (“The Accidental Sales Manager” written by Chris Lytle), and have included an excerpt from the first chapter “You can manage a lot of things, but sales isn’t one of them.  It might be easier to think in terms of managing the things that lead to sales – things like the number of first meetings your team gets, their ability to manage long sales cycles, their aptitude for assessing customer problems and proposing customized solutions.”  In addition to my other responsibilities, I currently wear the hat of Sales Manager, so this hit home with me and really explained my excessive attention to the details in our sales process.  I have learned over time that this is the only way to have consistent success and growth in regards to our sales.

This also applies to all other areas of an organization.  To achieve the overall goals, there must be detailed goals that are owned by team members.   Everyone must execute on their part in order to exceed team and organizational goals.   Leaders are responsible for having the vision to set the goals, and to assist those on their teams in assessing the relevance of the underlying detailed activities/goals where execution is required.

“When preventable mistakes are made, look to education first, and then empower those that are educated to make changes if necessary”

Allowing change without a full understanding why it is needed can create a never-ending loop, which will be full of stress, frustration, and unhappy people.   While we must be innovative and embrace change, we need to make sure that the change is good for the organization.  When mistakes happen we often think first about what needs to change, whereas our first thought should be to find out what happened and why.   We should never let a lack of understanding be a reason for change.  Once we understand the what and why, the team can determine if change is needed, or if education/re-education is the solution.   Unless the organization or its customers are changing rapidly (or change is needed due to poor management / existing processes), internal education typically ends up being the solution.