We continue this week with another mission-critical sales manager trait. This measurement reveals a manager’s ability to take responsibility without using excuses for a lack of team peformance.
Accountability For Others
The capacity of a sales manager to take responsibility for the consequences of the actions of those under their management. This trait encompasses taking responsibility for the decisions and actions of subordinates and not shifting focus on blame or poor performance back onto them, or somewhere else. This trait derived from an internal responsibility and accountability to one€™s self as a manager. This internal willingness is to accept responsibility associated with being in a position of management. It involves understanding that it is the task of the manager to accurately evaluate and understand the abilities of his/her employees
and to set realistic goals and expectations based on the resources and capabilities available.
A sales manager with strength in this trait will not try to make excuses for a bad decision, which resulted in poor performance by an employee. Instead, they will make every effort to try and identify the cause of both the poor performance and any mistakes they made in assigning the task. Their focus will be more on correcting the problem to ensure future success as opposed to protecting themselves.
As in personal accountability, a weakness in this area can indicate a sales manager who is more concerned with appearance and image than with results and success. They will seek to place blame for a bad decision on any factor which does not lie solely with them. Taking the blame would detract from their abilities in the public image. Although achieving goals and success can be important to this person, their self-image is often fragile and protecting it is much more important.