I’ve recently been looking at creativity in selling since it seems to be a topic of discussion with greater frequency. The younger generations are flattening the long-standing hierarchal structures that have been a hallmark of corporate structure. Part of this change has to be attributed to the creative freedom wielded by so many Gen Y employees. Managing creative types can be a real challenge as Jack Welch discusses in this article: But what a mistake if you lead creative people from your heart and stop there. Managing creative people also requires—it even demands—a measure of authority. Nothing heavy-handed, of course. You don’t want your resident out-of-the-box thinkers running for the… Read More
Continue ReadingLeverage Your Sales Team’s Abilities
BusinessWeek.com offers up a great article from one of the authors of First, Break All The Rules. The author discusses how managers discover what makes their employees tick and then they use that information to place the employee in the best situations for success. This approach is one we wholly subscribe to: Do what great managers do: Instead of trying to change your employees, identify their unique abilities (and even their eccentricities)—then help them use those qualities to excel in their own way. This approach is one greatly important aspect of successful sales management. At times, we see sales managers who expect the sales team to adapt fully to him… Read More
Continue ReadingDoom On Company Time
The Herman Group newsletter this week discusses the amount of gaming that goes on in an office. Gaming as in playing video games. Seriously. We estimate that computer gaming is costing United States employers millions of dollars every year. According to a recent survey of computer gamers, 24 percent of white collar workers admitted to playing during work hours. The most critical finding is the frequency with which these workers play. Over half (53 percent) said they play at work at least once a day. Seventy-nine percent said they play at work several times a week—or more. Eighty-four percent said that, on average, they play casual games at work for… Read More
Continue ReadingIt Is Review Time
It is that time of year again…no, not Christmas – employee reviews. This topic is of great interest to us in that we help companies on-ramp new sales hires. One of the key aspects of onramping is regular meetings or reviews. That is management 101. Yet, it is surprising how many managers have a tendency to avoid a structured review with their employees. I suspect some of it has to do with the fact that managers may not be involved in their sales reps activities. I’m not talking about babysitting them every day, but I am talking about pre-call strategizing and post-call debriefing. If a sales manager is not completing those… Read More
Continue ReadingTelecommuting – Now More Than A Trend
We’ve been on the telecommuting trend for quite some time this year as it continues to grow. I think it is safe to say it is more than a trend now. As we source for sales positions, it is quite apparent that the younger candidates almost always address this issue early in the process. They want to know what tools are in place and what the office expectations are. We only work in the sales arena so our data may be slightly exaggerated to that end. Nonetheless, telecommuting is a hot article topic as you can see from CareerJournal.com’s Good News for Professionals Who Want to Work at Home: A… Read More
Continue ReadingCorporate Spying At Boeing
I suspect Boeing will be in damage control mode on this Seattle Post-Intelligencer article: One such team, dubbed “enterprise” investigators, has permission to read the private e-mails of employees, follow them and collect video footage or photos of them. Investigators can also secretly watch employee computer screens in real time and reproduce every keystroke a worker makes, the Seattle P-I has learned. I have read much about how Gen Y craves transparency in all things. I can’t imagine the impact an article like this could have on their recruiting efforts. Whether the story is true or not, the impact will still be felt. Recently, a Boeing investigator told a Puget… Read More
Continue ReadingDefinitely NOT A Totalitarian Culture
Earlier this week I posted about a totalitarian culture. Now today I just caught up to a post from GL over at What Would Dad Say that provides a view of a completely different culture. I’ve recently invested in and joined the board of a fast growing software company comprised of mainly geeks, but cool geeks. They work hard and they play even harder. I’ve seen many of them passed out from doing keg stands and beer drinking relay races (at company events) . The culture isn’t for everyone, but the really smart, hard working, competitive types (who can also drink a lot) who don’t like a lot of corporate… Read More
Continue ReadingWorking In A Totalitarian Culture
Corporate culture is an intriguing topic and one that is difficult to define. Lee and I both used to work for a company that attempted to measure, ascertain, define corporate culture through a homemade tool. It didn’t work, but the topic was still interesting. I personally believe that culture is experienced directly from your manager. I worked in a company where my dictatorial manager created a department that was far different than other departments within sales. In light of that theory, I give you this quick post from Inc.com Stan O’Neal Failed the First Rule of Leadership. The pull quote: Beth and the other interns were given a strict set… Read More
Continue ReadingTelecommuting Or Cube Farm?
As a resident in many cube farms for many years of my career, I have a fondness for stories involving this topic. This article – Why Silicon Valley Firms Are Rethinking the Cubicle – provides probably more insight than the average person cares to know about this topic. But this caught my attention: Intel Corp. is often credited, or blamed, for popularizing the office cubicle. Now it is joining some prominent Silicon Valley peers in reconsidering the concept. I didn’t know that, but later in the article you find this statistic: Sun Microsystems Inc. is particularly aggressive about flexible work styles; the computer maker estimated that about 55% of its employees… Read More
Continue Reading5th Annual National Work And Family Month
The US Senate designated October as National Work and Family Month back in 2003 in hopes that it would engage employers into sponsoring work/life programs for their employees. We’ve posted about this topic before, but as more and more Gen X & Y’ers fill the roles of the retiring Baby Boomers, this subject will require attention by everyone who plans on hiring. Gen X & Y’ers consider work/life balance a very important topic, often reporting it as important as money. As we posted earlier this year, a survey of recruiters showed that 85% of them have seen candidates reject a job offer because it was misaligned with their work-life balance.… Read More
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