\u2022 Have a vision and communicate it.<\/strong> Make sure you clearly communicate your vision for the company. No one follows a leader who cannot communicate the way in which the company will succeed. The future of all your employees is tied closely to the success of your company. Make sure they believe in your company, what it stands for, and its products and services, and make sure they know that the hard work they are putting in now will payoff.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI have been stuck in companies where the compass is always spinning and no one can find true north.\u00a0 I didn’t stay long at the company since most tasks and accomplishments seemed almost pointless.\u00a0 All of us knew that any ground we gained (in sales) would be given back in the very near future.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Don’t be too serious.<\/strong> Make the business environment fun at times. While being professional and taking things seriously is important, nothing can beat the effects of a company-wide midnight round of bowling after you reach an important milestone, a lunchtime pizza party once a month, or a spontaneous Nerf-dart duel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nBeen there, done that.\u00a0 Work is serious enough so having the chance to deflate every once-in-awhile is a complete morale booster.\u00a0 Unfortunately, I worked for a manager who was a complete taskmaster.\u00a0 His view was that everyone should be working all the time and, worse yet, no salespeople should be seen having fun at the office.\u00a0 This was a young, vibrant technology company that had ping pong, darts and other games.\u00a0 No salespeople were allowed in the game area no matter what time of day it was.\u00a0 Nothing was spontaneous.<\/p>\n
Finally, a point that keeps coming up no matter what the position:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Listen.<\/strong> You have built a great team and are paying top dollar for it. Hold meetings with your management team at least every other week. Also have frequent informal ad hoc discussions with your partners, managers, and employees. Get their feedback, discuss the business and its strategy, and inquire every so often if there is anything that is frustrating them that you can help with. A few weeks ago I had a quick spur-of-the-moment meeting with the lead developer for iContact. After inquiring whether he had any job frustrations, it came out that he felt he was working in an environment in which he became distracted too often. We quickly devised a solution whereby he would work at home four hours a day until we could move into a larger office where the development team could work in a separate room, away from the distraction of the sales and support team. This small change has doubled the developer’s productivity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI love the line – “…away from the distraction of the sales and support team.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There might be nothing more important to a business’ success than strong management.\u00a0 When management struggles, the entire company pays a price no matter how large. ManageSmarter.com offers an article with 10 excellent tips for leadership.\u00a0 Here’s a taste: \u2022 Have a vision and communicate it. Make sure you clearly communicate your vision for the company. No one follows a leader who cannot communicate the way in which the company will succeed. The future of all your employees is tied closely to the success of your company. Make sure they believe in your company, what it stands for, and its products and services, and make sure they know that the… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31,4,11],"tags":[365,105,366,367],"class_list":["post-1441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","category-sales-management","category-team-management","tag-effective-management","tag-management","tag-management-lesson","tag-management-vision"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-nf","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1417,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/leading-out-of-our-status-quo\/","url_meta":{"origin":1441,"position":0},"title":"Leading Out Of Our Status Quo","author":"Eric Ramberg","date":"February 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Being in the final stages of strategic planning right now with my company (following the establishment of a Vision statement last year) I just can't leave Derrick's post alone. He is absolutely correct with his assumption that many \"visioning\" exercises are empty of real meaning or impact. As any good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Leadership"","block_context":{"text":"Leadership","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/leadership\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1714,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/08\/sales-managers-in-over-their-head\/","url_meta":{"origin":1441,"position":1},"title":"Sales Managers In Over Their Head","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"August 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Dave Stein has a provocative post regarding some recent poll data about sales executives.\u00a0 This is excellent: Top Five Reasons Executives Are Unhappy At Work Limited advancement opportunities (12.8%) Lack of challenge\/personal growth (12.3%) Compensation (11.7%) Stress Level (7.7%) Job Security (7.7%) For sales executives, I believe there is another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sales Management"","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":517,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/12\/a-failure-to-communicate\/","url_meta":{"origin":1441,"position":2},"title":"A Failure To Communicate","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"December 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"From salary.com: 82% of managers believe they provide clear goals to their employees prior to their formal performance review, but only 46% of employees say the same. Nearly half of the employees surveyed said their performance has at some time been reviewed against goals that were not previously communicated. A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Communication"","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":711,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/03\/communicating-your-sales-strategy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1441,"position":3},"title":"Communicating Your Sales Strategy","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"March 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"From Managesmarter.com's Crystal Clear Communication: To hear Scott Glatstein tell it, as much as three quarters of American companies \"do not broadly communicate their sales strategy\" to their sales teams. The result, not surprisingly, is a breakdown in the sales process. Aligning the sales compensation plan with the desired business\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Compensation"","block_context":{"text":"Compensation","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/compensation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":220,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/08\/reviews-and-development-plans\/","url_meta":{"origin":1441,"position":4},"title":"Reviews and Development Plans","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"August 8, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"CareerBuilder.com approaches an important topic that is often placed on the back burner - Why Do Quarterly Employee Reviews? I suspect most companies perform an annual employee review that is primarily tied to a salary review. Many companies may not even do that much. A scheduled, quarterly review is insulation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sales Management"","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1174,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/09\/telecommuting-retention\/","url_meta":{"origin":1441,"position":5},"title":"Telecommuting = Retention","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"September 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This isn't shocking news, but telecommuters are more satisfied with their work when compared to the traditional office worker.\u00a0 CareerJournal.com's Working From Home Fosters Job Satisfaction does provide some detail to this difference that I found noteworthy.\u00a0 First the background stats: Seventy-three percent of the remote and home-based workers surveyed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Retention"","block_context":{"text":"Retention","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/retention\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}