There’s a lot of finger pointing at managers saying how they are failing their teams.
I think we’re failing our managers.
Yes, we’re giving them more data than ever before about deals and activity and giving them more tools to analyse that data. We’re giving them swathes of tools for reviewing calls and giving feedback. But whose responsibility is it to guide, mentor and coach them, in the way we’re asking them to do with their teams?
And when that person, be it a VP, director, or the Head of Sales or CRO wants to help their managers, what do they do?
What did I do, when I was in that seat?
We go straight to the deals.
Or we bypass the manager and step in to coach the rep ourselves and show them how it should be done. Owch.
How does that help the manager improve?
I want to change the focus. Don’t we say “coach to the behaviour, not the results?” I think we need to remember that if we want our managers to improve.