Another managerial trait this week that we measure when assessing sales manager candidates. A critical aspect of successful sales management is the manager’s ability to hold salespeople accountable. At times that can be like herding cats, but it is still mission critical to developing a top-notch sales team.
Correcting Others
This ability confronts controversial or difficult issues in an objective manner while having non-emotional discussions about disciplinary matters. This trait is directly related to the manager’s balance in their ability to evaluate others and be empathetic.
A manager with strength in this trait can usually provide constructive criticism to another in a way that it is not received as insulting or degrading. The balance they exhibit in weighing the needs of the situation versus the needs of the people involved allows them to address both adequately.
A manager with a low ability in this capacity could either tend to be too insensitive or harsh in such correction, or be too sensitive and not willing to provide the necessary criticism or positive discipline required to develop an employee. As to whether they tend to be too harsh or too sensitive, a correlation can be made based on their score in the empathetic ability trait. Over attention to their empathetic ability may tend to result in someone who is so sensitive to the feelings of others that they place that person€™s emotions over the needs of correcting a problem. Under attention to this same ability can result in a person who views others more as functional work units rather than individuals. They tend to discount other€™s emotions in comparison to the importance of correcting a problem.