Effective Managers Stand Up And Go First

I recently conducted an ad hoc survey in which I asked a number of salespeople what they thought about the managers in their company. While many said they like their immediate manager, and other managers in the firm, they reported that, in general, all managers are too busy doing other things (selling, administrating, reading reports), and do not take the act of managing (developing people) seriously.

The replies were not encouraging; those who work in large companies were particularly harsh in their criticism. The survey respondents craved a culture of accountability, in which managers who proclaim their commitments to standards of excellence and mission statements follow through on their pledges.

If you want others to perform their roles at a higher level, you must ensure that they know and believe that you accept the responsibility to perform your managerial tasks and duties effectively.

Here are four powerful ideas that could help you radically improve your and your team’s performance (and revenue generation) in the coming year:

1. Create a questionnaire

Examine the following statements, one by one, from your salespeople’s point of view. Do you consider each of these principles of good management an important part of your role?

As a manager, you:nn * Act and live by the principles you advocaten * Act as a role model that people want to copyn * Are a person of integrityn * Enforce the company valuesn * Are ‘part of the team’ as opposed to a detached bossn * Motivate your people to stretch to meet performance goalsn * Are conce
ed about long-term issues, not just short-term profitsn * Provide timely, balanced feedback that helps your people improve their performancen * Are a source of creative ideasn * Help your people grow and developn * Have regularly scheduled, one-on-one meetings, with each of your people every two weeksn * Make your people feel that they are members of a well-functioning teamn * Emphasize cooperation rather than competition between work groupsn * Are prompt in dealing with underperformancen * Arrive on time for meetings, and expect others to be promptn * Keep your people informed about things they need to know to perform their jobs properlyn * Encourage your team to initiate tasks or projectsn * Are more often encouraging than criticaln * Are fair in dealing with all employeesn * Consult others when making decisionsn * Run interesting, results-oriented meetingsn * Act more like a coach than a bossn * Are publicly generous with creditn * Are an excellent listene
* Ask thoughtful, curious questions

Examine your priorities seriously … and slowly. Carefully think through which of these principles could really help you make a difference, and how effectively you currently practice them.

Then check your assessment against the opinion of the people with whom you work. Create a questionnaire on which people can rate you from 1 to 5 on how well you deliver on your management goals.

2. Circulate the questionnaire

Give the questionnaire to everyone you deal with in your organization. Have a third-party (can be someone internal) tabulate the results and calculate an average rating.

3. Publish the average ratings

Circulate the combined ratings to everyone who filled out the questionnaire.

4. Call a meeting of those you manage and give the following speechnn“I have sent you a copy of your current collective assessment of my managerial performance. We will repeat this survey a year from now. Meanwhile, I promise to get better at the management priorities for which I am responsible. Don’t expect me to be perfect. Perfection is not a standard you can hold me to, and it’s not a standard I expect from you.”

“But here is my commitment to you. If I have not improved in my management performance over the next year as identified in these priorities, then I will step down as manager of this group and I will find you a new one.”

“You have a right to expect that I will get better at the tasks and duties that are my responsibility. And I have a right to expect the same from you.”

Transparency and accountability go together and create tremendous trust in an organization. Good luck with this!