Great Sales Leaders don’t go it alone

This series of posting is part of a research project for my Masters program in Transformational Leadership. If you could participate in this short survey, it would be much appreciated. Here’s a quick, 15-second survey.

Gran Torino is an interesting sales leadership example. I’m not a huge Clint Eastwood fan. However, I loved the 2008 film, Gran Torino. Clint portrays his stereotyped ‘tough guy’ role, but then demonstrates tremendous wisdom in mentoring a troubled teenager. In real life I’ve experienced that, much like Hollywood heroes, good leaders come in different packages. There’s the Eastwood ‘go-ahead-make-my-day’ kind, but there’s also the more humble kind: the kind of leader who can see beyond the seemingly catastrophic here and now. That’s the kind of leader who knows that they’ll be stronger and more effective when they’re not doing it all on their own. I hope to inspire you to become this kind of leader.

“Now if you get your strength from outside yourself, doesn’t that make you too dependent? Actually, the opposite is true. The strongest leaders, the ones who stand the test of time, depend most on the wisdom, insight, and inspiration of those around them. In turn, they share their own resources with those they lead. Take away that interlocking dependence, however, and everybody falls down, including the leader.” – Leadership Shift pp. 53

Does it make you feel vulnerable to admit that you can’t do everything on your own? Well, here’s some good news – you’re not the only one! Being a perfectionist, it’s difficult for me to ask anybody for help. And when I do, I’m always worried that they won’t do it quite the way I would have gone about it. Changing this attitude, does not happen overnight. In the following blog postings, I hope to help you see the tremendous benefits that can be gained from allowing others to share your management and leadership burden.

Sales Growth Leadership Question: Do you have the tendency to be a go-it-alone leader or a humble help-me leader?

Sales Growth Leadership Lesson: Remember that gathering wisdom, insights and inspiration from those around you will make you a stronger leader.

Sales Growth Leadership Action: Take a Key Management Dynamics Evaluation to determine your talents, which can be leveraged into strengths for the team.

In my next posting we’ll turn to Mother Nature for inspiration and getting to the root of the problem…

What are your thoughts? I invite you to a quick, 15-second survey, regarding your insights.

March 7, 2011 | Filed Under Sales Leadership | Leave a Comment

Leadership Shift Recap

Did you miss one my posts on the Leadership Paradoxes in my eBook, Leadership Shift? Not to worry, here is a recap of my posts on the subject so far in this series.

The Paradoxical Commandments

Leadership Paradox 1: Instill Hopeful Realism

Leadership Paradox 2: Management in Synergy with Leadership

Leadership Paradox 3: Cultivate Disciplined Creativity

Stay tuned for Leadership Paradox 4: Foster Collective Interdependence.

March 4, 2011 | Filed Under Sales Leadership | Leave a Comment

Crazy or Creative Sales Processes – Pursue innovative change

Be sure to encourage creativity in your sales team. “It’s easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out of date.” — Roger von Oech, an internationally recognized leader in stimulating business creativity. If you allow yourself and your team lots of freedom when coming up with new ideas, you might just be surprised to discover the hidden talents you have. However, the trick for business leaders and sales managers is to manage the balance between creating and discipline.

“Here are two ways to do just that:

Pursue innovative change
Remember the scene from Apollo 13, when NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz says, “I don’t care about what anything was designed to do; I care about what it can do”? He tells his team to “invent a way to put a square peg in a round hole” and design a new filter from spare parts.

Don’t just ask for innovative change, pursue it, no matter how long it takes employees to get into the groove. This determination to extract the best ideas from each individual will result in employees who first are surprised by their own resourcefulness and then are empowered.
Reward crazy ideas
When it comes to creativity, most ideas are stupid, at least at first. But by getting those out of the way you dig for the real gold. So, don’t penalize dumb ideas. Begin responding to crazy / stupid / wacky ideas with “What I like most about that idea is …” Build on the positive attributes of an idea, creating synergy and encouraging the creation of other crazy ideas – ideas that may have a kernel of brilliance.” – Leadership Shift Paradox 3 pp. 46

Many of the greatest inventors would have told you that their first attempts were complete failures. But these inventors would also have told you that with each new attempt they were able to cut out the errors of the previous failed attempt until their idea was perfect. By following the steps above, you can also learn to be disciplined and creative at the same time.

Sales Growth Leadership Question: How often do you cut your team members off too soon when their ideas don’t correspond with your own?

Sales Growth Leadership Lesson: Allowing innovative thinking may lead to the discovery of great new opportunities and business ventures.

Sales Growth Leadership Action: To find out who on your team has Innovation, Risk Taking and Problem Solving strengths, take the Key Management Dynamics Evaluation.

In the next section, we’ll begin exploring the fourth paradox of interdependent leaders.

What are your thoughts? I invite you to a quick, 15-second survey, regarding your insights.