Nobody argues when I say “coaching is one of the most important things a manager can do”. When people are nodding at that statement though, what’s in their mind when I mention the word “coaching”?
– reviewing rep calls and giving feedback to help them improve?
– 1:1 meetings where you talk about their performance and their development?
– roleplaying sessions where you’re working on honing a specific skill?
But these activities only make up a fraction of the time that a manager spends with each person on their team. We’ve been thinking about the rest of the interactions that impact team performance, like:
– advice on how to move a deal forward, when they ask for help
– guidance on messaging, when you spot something in an email that they could have done better
– a nudge on CRM admin, when you’re working on forecasting
– help with time management so they can manage their activities more efficiently
There’s plenty more that any manager will tell you they do on a daily basis to support and motivate their team, but none of this gets attention like those well defined coaching activities so there’s a lack of tools and processes to support it. I think we’re missing a trick and letting managers down on that front.
So, I’m going to be making some noise about sales *manager* enablement 🙂