We’d all love to give new managers a head start by telling them “what I wish I knew when I was in your place”.
If only it was that easy.
In some organisations I simply wasn’t given leeway to be the manager I wanted to be. They were set up for micromanagement style “do the thing, use the crm, follow the process, get to the number”. There was no path to coaching reps. It was short term revenue growth at all costs.
Then I moved somewhere that was trying to implement (or at least pay lip service to) a coaching model. Except that didn’t work as I was a new director, unsure how to coach, and had no training or guidance on where to start.
When I joined another company and built the sales organisation I wanted to build, there was a great leadership team that encouraged coaching and development and wanted a long term plan for growing the sales team. The team excelled. And they contributed millions of dollars in revenue and growth in a relatively short period of time.
Looking at those 3 scenarios, either the company wasn’t in the right space or I wasn’t.
A few things need to fall into place before you can put that well intentioned advice into practice. So before you get too frustrated with yourself, think about whether you need to change your environment – or if the only way out is through 😉