Think about you’re on the grocery retailer together with your three-year-old son. He’s promised you he’ll behave, and also you’re planning to shock him with a deal with on the checkout counter.
You’re roughly midway by means of your grocery checklist when he begins to get antsy. He desires out of the cart and promptly begins pulling issues off the cabinets, so you place him again within the cart, and he begins throwing a mood tantrum. You take a look at your watch – it’s getting near lunchtime, which is intently adopted by naptime. It’s changing into obvious that you’ve a choice to make.
Do you select to make use of empathy by giving him an enormous hug, telling him you’re keen on him, and letting him know you perceive it may be robust to be affected person—or do you select to carry him accountable to his promise of excellent habits? And which one is the fitting factor to do?
Gross sales managers battle with comparable questions: Ought to they be the empathetic supervisor who helps and grows their salespeople—or ought to they be the type of supervisor that holds their salespeople tightly accountable for outcomes?
The reply is each. Dad and mom don’t select between loving their kids and anticipating good habits. Gross sales managers shouldn’t select, both. Efficient managers use a mixture of empathy and accountability to construct belief of their groups whereas constantly driving outcomes on the similar time.
The Empathetic Supervisor
Empathetic managers are heat and pleasant. They know their salespeople properly—not simply the main points of their private lives, however they know what makes them tick and what their key skills are. They care about their individuals, assist them construct their skills into strengths, and work to advance their staff’ careers.
The Accountability Supervisor
Managers who concentrate on accountability are extra performance-driven. They monitor the numbers, analyze what they imply, and use the information to set particular targets and expectations for his or her individuals. They create an atmosphere primarily based on measurement and efficiency requirements, and everybody understands there are penalties for falling under requirements too regularly.
Which Path Do You Lean?
Each supervisor both leans towards being empathetic and will due to this fact construct their accountability muscle, or they lean towards accountability and will discover ways to be extra empathetic. Take a second to mirror in your administration fashion. Odds are, you already know which course you lean.
In the event you lean in the direction of empathy, clearly define your targets and expectations for every of your salespeople. Use your empathetic aspect to mirror on how every particular person you handle might want their targets outlined to them and the way usually you could must verify in with every one among them. Guarantee everyone seems to be making constant progress, and ask them what you are able to do to assist them alongside the best way.
In the event you lean in the direction of accountability, use your goal-setting mindset to set relationship-building targets. Implement a software just like the Progress Information to deepen your relationships together with your salespeople. Perceive what their targets and motivations are, but in addition perceive the kind of assist they need from you to be able to assist them achieve success.
Simply as in parenting, nice gross sales managers shouldn’t select one path or the opposite. Salespeople have to be nurtured and grown, however in addition they have to be held to excessive requirements of efficiency. Take into account whether or not you’re extra of an empathetic supervisor or extra of an accountability supervisor, and take motion to develop the opposite aspect.
*Editor’s Observe: This weblog was initially written in 2014 and has since been up to date.
