I was talking with a client the other day that over the years has also become a good friend. I know he’ll be reading this, and I know he’ll recognize himself as the subject of the following. Don’t worry; he’ll be fine with it.
The discussion was about an opportunity his current employer presented him with for a promotion, and his skills relative to the demands of the position.
I always liked “John”, and it was some years ago that I was fortunate enough to cross paths with him. Since then, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about and sharing ideas with one another, business or otherwise.
While no one is perfect, (yes, yes, including me) part of my role as a consultant is to observe, and share my observations with those that have paid for my opinion.
What I observed with John – and I have shared this with him directly – was that while he had numerous strengths, the one area I thought was lacking was his ability to hold his sales team accountable. Not for all aspects of what he expected from them, but when they pushed back against stuff that he felt was really important, from time to time.
It was this conversation that got me thinking about how similar this weakness was for so many other managers I have worked with over the years. There have been many, more than enough to be considered a reasonable representation for a problem I characterize as chronic.
The problem is letting people talk the talk, instead of ensuring they walk the walk. It’s about making sure that action is achieved vs. words or best intentions being as far as they get.
What I observe as an outsider is that way, way too much time is spent talking about what was supposed to or should have been done, instead of what actually got done.
And the people doing the talking? The managers.
I’ve listened to managers lament, bemoan, and whinge on about how frustrated they are that their team often fails to follow through. Usually, the talk includes predictable comments like, “I wasn’t like that when I was a sales rep”, to” I don’t want to have to baby sit “to, “my job isn’t to micro manage”
The problem here is that those who have ascended to the ranks of “manager” assume that the people who report to them have the same skills and qualities that they do. These are qualities like commitment, work ethic, perseverance, accountability, etc. If those that are generally younger and newer to the workforce than the manager and had these same qualities, then we wouldn’t need managers. Moreover, if they possessed these qualities, they too might be managers, putting other managers out of a job.
While talking the good talk has value, results are impossible unless the walk gets walked.
As for my friend, an extremely intelligent and worldly fellow, he knew what he wanted his team to do; he just wasn’t particularly good at providing the kind of management and leadership that resulted in it always getting done. John is a “nice” guy, and while nice managers can be some of the best managers around, the really good managers know where and when to apply boundaries.
Boundaries are a necessity to being a good manager, and boundaries are what many managers struggle with.
In any business, there is the “what would be nice to get done”, and then there is the “what must get done” in order to achieve goals and targets. It is the “what must get done” that should have boundaries surrounding it.
If you’re Coca-Cola, and you launch a new drink you want the consumer to buy, then you have to promote it. No promotion? No consumer awareness. No consumer awareness? No sales.
If the logistics manager for the company whose favorite cheese cake you buy fails to ship your cheesecake, and you go to the store… well, you get the point.
My favorite area of rant of course is about prospecting, and specifically the fundamental reality that if sales people don’t prospect, sales people won’t have new clients.
Managing people will always require managing what people like to do along with what they don’t necessarily like doing, and prospecting is right up there on the scale of what people don’t like doing. It is the manager’s job to delineate which activities and best practices lead to success, and then to provide the environment that ensures those activities get done. That environment will most certainly require boundaries. Boundaries define what is acceptable, and what is not. While there will always be an ebb and flow to managing people, boundaries establish where and when there is a line in the sand that should not be crossed.
Don’t think you’re a “boundaries” type of manager? Think again, because you already have and enforce boundaries. Would it be acceptable for one of your charges to directly insult a client? You bet it wouldn’t, and you would most defiantly take action. Did one of your sales people ever show up intoxicated for work?
Boundaries are good, and they are healthy. Boundaries are what specify and formalize the type of behaviours that are not only accepted, but required. Allowing sales people to rationalize why they didn’t do their prospecting should fall outside a defined boundary, unless the manager feels that they can meet their company’s goals without meeting any new clients.
Remember, the work place isn’t a democracy, and although most progressive employers are moving ever closer to insisting that employees “buy in” rather than whacking them over the head, I know of no company that can move forward on a day to day basis without the need for the occasional badge call.
I know what I’m about to say next may not be universally popular, particularly as many companies shift ever closer to the Shangri-La school of management, but if you’re the sheriff in town remember that sometimes you need to lead by the authority of your position rather than by a consensus of all.
Whatever boundaries you feel are paramount to an intended outcome, make sure you enforce those boundaries. And if you find you just can’t make an individual or two respect your boundaries, then find people who can, otherwise it may just be you looking for the next position, because chances are that the person or persons you report to may not be as “accommodating” about their boundaries.
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