ManageSmarter.com offers 7 suggestions for sales managers to make them more effective: 1. Do not micromanage people 2. Take time when increasing expenses 3. Take care of your “stars” 4. Be teachable 5. Focus on the things that make a major difference 6. Be sure to understand the ‘hierarchy’ 7. Earn the respect of the people you are leading You will have to read the article to get the details for each point. But here is the take-away from point #5: There is a tendency to get caught up in making changes to areas that are irrelevant to productivity yet have a negative impact on the staff. Let the little… Read More
Continue ReadingA Tourniquet For Talent Bleed
Last week, Lee posted about a company that terminated a salesperson via voicemail while he was at home sick. That’s low, but this company is one that has a long-standing problem regarding turnover. We know this salesperson fairly well and we know he has significant sales talent. Yet he is one of many strong salespeople who have left this company or been terminated by them. It is almost part of their culture (that’s not hyperbole). This CareerJournal.com article – Best Way to Save: Analyze Why Talent Is Going Out the Door – addresses this very issue. Rather than deny a talent bleed, executives should carefully analyze why it is happening.… Read More
Continue ReadingTermination By Voicemail
A couple of days ago I put up a post about the rise of email terminations and how inappropriate I thought that practice was. Well I must say I have now learned of one example of a termination that does this one better (or should that be WORSE!). I talked with a salesperson this morning and would like to pass along his story of his termination experience. The President of his division was going to be in town and wanted to meet with him so they scheduled a time to meet in the morning. When the day came the salesperson was in bed with the flu so he called his… Read More
Continue ReadingTermination By Email
Over a year ago Derrick posted on Radio Shack’s faux pas regarding the emails they sent to their employees telling them that they had been terminated. If you would have told me then that this trend would be on the rise, I would have never believed you. Unfortunately, a recent survey of 752 people found that 75 of them had experienced or knew someone who had been terminated/laid-off via email. Maybe it’s me, but does anyone else out there think that this is beyond inappropriate? Firing or laying off an employee is never a fun thing to do and I have had my share to do, but emailing some one… Read More
Continue ReadingFlamboyant Incompetence
I’ve been swamped of late and am still trying to catch up on my RSS reading. I did just read this hilarious post from GL over at What Would Dad Say. You have to read the whole thing – it is excellent. I’m still laughing as I type. The content primarily discusses what not to do in a layoff The post is written from the recently laid-off employee’s perspective. The line that got me laughing (emphasis mine): 1. Include an obvious misspelling or two in the letter €” ideally, something that would slip past a spell checker but be caught easily by anyone who bothered to proofread it. Suggestion: €œIf… Read More
Continue ReadingTeam-Based Intelligence
Ok, I haven’t heard of this book until now, but it sounds most interesting – Teaching an Anthill to Fetch: Developing Collaborative Intelligence @ Work. The book is profiled in the BusinessWeek.com article Building a Better Team. From the author: Teaching an Anthill to Fetch is a metaphor for the challenge of creating a significant level of collaborative intelligence in a system. It applies equally whether it is a team, a business, or an entire organization. The title also poses a question: Is it possible to create change at a micro level that will have s(sic) predictable large-scale effects? In my opinion it is. I think he is on to… Read More
Continue ReadingTips To Retain Employees
Retention is on everyone’s mind with the job-hopping world we now live in. I have to admit, if we see a candidate who has been locked in with a company for 10+ years, we start to wonder about their overall development. Today Kevin Wheeler offers an excellent article on the ERE website that deals with strategies to implement to improve employee retention. Money Won’t Hold Them starts with a quick history lesson on how we got here: But somewhere in the early 1980s, things began to change. The first crack came with the advent of the 401(k) and (b) plans that freed employees from the corporate retirement programs. The 401… Read More
Continue ReadingWarm Chair Attrition
The above term is from The Herman Group’s weekly newsletter (no link but their website is www.herman.net). I love that phrase – it is quite descriptive. Here is the excerpt that caught my attention: Fueled by the publicity frenzy the press is enjoying, the current volatility in world financial markets is affecting many people at all levels of our societies. From the employees’ point of view, this uncertainty engenders insecurity. What will happen to my company? Will it be in business? Will I have a job? The reaction is that they continue “corporate cocooning”, staying in the safety and sanctuary of their corporate jobs, despite their deep dissatisfaction. A number… Read More
Continue ReadingBrutal Bosses Get Promoted?
This report just cuts against common sense in many ways. From Yahoo News’ Bad bosses get promoted, not punished? In the study to be presented at a conference on management this weekend, almost two-thirds of the 240 participants in an online survey said the local workplace tyrant was either never censured or was promoted for domineering ways. Whenever I see these types of surveys, I wonder about the wording. “Domineering ways” is definitely a fuzzy phrase. I would guess that the respondents may simply have had an issue with a High D style. I’ve worked for quite a few bad bosses and I know the stress involved with them. Some… Read More
Continue ReadingDirty Jobs And Common Sense
I’m a big fan of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel and have the Tivo set to record it every week. If you haven’t seen it, essentially the host goes around each week and works with people who have a dirty job. Well, not just dirty, usually disgusting to the nth degree. So I’m intrigued when I see this CareerJournal.com article – Putting the Spotlight On the Grimiest Gigs. It’s a fun read and the host, Mike Rowe, is an interesting guy. Read the article and you will find this great point (my emphasis): Wall Street Journal: Why do the workers highlighted on your show often appear happy in their… Read More
Continue Reading