Leading an Executive Team Effectively (and Growing your Sales in the process)

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Leading an Executive Team Effectively (and Growing your Sales in the process)

Written by Danita Bye

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Cases in Sales Management: Coaching the Self Doubter

Joe has been Tom’s manager for the last 2 years. Tom is a hard worker; “every time I go out with him we have a full and busy day”. Tom has an excellent understanding of his products, his customers like him and appreciate his clinical ability. Not only does he doubt his value, Tom constantly apologies to customers and rarely asks for the business.

If you’ve ever tried to tighten a bolt using an adjustable wrench or hammer a nail with a screwdriver handle, you know the value of using the right tool for the job at hand. And if that job is of any size at all, you know what happens when you don’t have all the tools you need to do it right: you start hammering nails with screwdrivers, bruising your knuckles, and, when the job looks hopeless, calling in the professionals.

Leading a sales team effectively is not an adjustable wrench sort of task – not if you don’t want bruised knuckles, black-and-blue egos, and bleeding sales figures. To do the job right, your executive team will need ready access to nine very different, yet complementary, management styles. And while any given team member may excel in one or two of these areas, the manager who can do it all doesn’t exist –and never will.

Nine Management Styles. One Well-Rounded and Supremely Effective Executive Team.

Objective Management Group’s Key Management Dynamics Assessment classifies executives according to nine inborn areas of giftedness that are necessary for an executive team to effectively handle any management task. When all nine are represented in an executive team, that team is like a fully stocked toolbox with the right tools at hand for any job.

As mentioned earlier, it’s rare that an individual is highly rated in more than one or two of the styles, but as you’ll see, the synergies made possible by a team with complementary strengths are considerable. Here are the nine management styles in brief, what happens when the style in question is present in at least one member of your team, and what happens when your team lacks it.

Visionary
Future-focused, the Visionary sees what is and extrapolates what can be, though these executives are not always able to properly evaluate their visions.

When the Visionary is missing from your team: You’re continually one-upped by the competition, and when you try to respond, they’re already on to the latest and greatest thing. By not seeing what could be, you’re stuck with what is – and much of that is dictated by someone else. Without vision, morale suffers, turnover increases, and a profit-killing malaise sets in.

When your team has at least one Visionary: Your sales team is excited and motivated to achieve what could be. Instead of plodding along a well-worn and dull path, you make intuitive leaps that leave the competition in the dust.

Strategist
If the Visionary sees the destination shining in the distance, the Strategist is the one who’s busy mapping the journey.

When the Strategist is missing from your team: If you have strategies, they’re likely to be easy and appealing, not necessarily what’s best for the business.

When your team has at least one Strategist: Visions become reality without unnecessary risk or deviation from corporate values.

Innovator
Ever the tinkerer, the Innovator is always looking for ways to do it better, faster, and cheaper.

When the Innovator is missing from your team: Without innovation, your offerings and your sales process stagnate. Customers and your competition move on, and your ROI steadily drops.

When your team has at least one Innovator: ROI improves as your sales process, offerings, and sales tactics continually evolve. Customer interest remains high, the competition is forced to stay on its toes, and efficiencies grow.

Developer
Developers have a sharp eye for what’s best in your salespeople and a talent for bringing it out.

When the Developer is missing from your team: Operating an executive team without a Developer is like owning a race car but never leaving second gear – wasted sales talent and lost opportunities are the result.

When your team has at least one Developer: When a Developer finds and nurtures hidden talent, your sales team works at its real capacity.

Motivator
Motivators are fire-starters and stokers, keeping morale high in even the stormiest business climate.

When the Motivator is missing from your team: Small, easily solved morale problems quickly become big, intractable ones without at least one Motivator.

When your team has at least one Motivator: Rather than dropping dangerously, morale is continually managed and performance is more predictable.

Executor
The Executor is all about GTD – getting things done.

When the Executor is missing from your team: You may have great ideas, but they seem to run out of gas. When they do, no one seems to be responsible.

When your team has at least one Executor: People are assigned to get things done, and because they’re expected to get them done by someone whose sights are firmly set on desired business outcomes, they get them done.

Risk Taker
The Risk Taker is a gambler and knows that you can’t win if you don’t play.

When the Risk Taker is missing from your team: Business is risk, and without a Risk Taker’s willingness to gamble, you miss out on opportunities.

When your team has at least one Risk Taker: Assuming the speculative energy of the Risk Taker is held in check, you take calculated risks that can take your company from good to great.

Negotiator
Instead of shying away from confrontation or forcing round-peg solutions to fit in square holes, Negotiators work to create consensus and win-win solutions.

When the Negotiator is missing from your team: Without the Negotiator as a trusted go-between, disagreements impede progress and relationships with customers, vendors, and other outside parties are out of balance.

When your team has at least one Negotiator: Best-fit solutions are more likely when all parties’ interests are mediated by a Negotiator.

Problem Solver
Though they may or may not generate the best solutions, Problem Solvers excel at working through complex problems.

When the Problem Solver is missing from your team: Without problem solvers, solutions generated by other members of the team may be half-implemented or drift away from organizational goals.

When your team has at least one Problem Solver: Problem Solvers relish working through complex problems that may be overwhelming to executives with other strengths, making for solutions that are more complete and more completely implemented.

The ability to improvise is a boon when the right tool is not available and the situation demands emergency action. But how much better would it be to stock your executive toolkit with all the tools you’ll need to properly – and profitably – manage any situation well before it reaches emergency status? Led by an executive team that embodies each of the nine management styles identified by the Key Management Dynamics Assessment, sales teams have all they need to build a foundation for lasting sales success.

Danita Bye
		About the author:
		Danita Bye, speaker, sales turnaround specialist, sales acceleration guru and author, believes "Timing doesn’t have as much to do with business success as learning to deliver and committing to results at all times – regardless of competitive landscape or economic conditions." Behind her Fortune 100 experience, discipline, expansive entrepreneurial spirit and drive, she delivers uncommonly profitable results - like 8% new business growth during a recession and 40% higher margins. Bull or bear, bust or boom, recession or recovery, Danita gets results for her clients. But more importantly, she teaches them to get results for themselves – without compromise, without excuses, without fail. .