Strategic Development

Strategic Decisions: Portal to the Future or Pathway to Confusion?

Fred was looking stressed as we sat down for a coaching meeting.  He was preparing for a critical Board meeting that involved “bet the farm” strategic decisions. 

“How will you make your decision about your recommendation?” I asked, looking for a portal into Fred’s decision-making process.

“We have run and re-run our models.  If we change one assumption slightly, the whole model goes negative!” Fred said, with a mix of frustration and fear.

My experience as a planning director, operations executive and coach/consultant helped me to broaden Fred’s perspective. I asked Fred to take a deep breath and step back from the models.

“What are the strategic options you are considering?” I asked, suspecting this line of inquiry would be more helpful.  Fred responded with a litany of problems and risks that made every option unworkable. 

Fred was faced with a strategic decision he was not equipped to make.

By the end our coaching meeting Fred left with a clear set of options and a plan for deciding on a recommendation.  We used a few basic principles that can be applied to all important decisions:

·      Decision making integrates the three centers of human intelligence—intellect, emotional understanding and gut knowing.  Most of us approach decisions with an intellectual or cognitive assessment. This is important because it helps eliminate dumb decisions and narrow the range of wise decisions. However, a purely intellectual assessment seldom, if ever, leads to a wise decision. Wise decisions account for the emotional forces that influence motivation and passion, bias and blind spots. Wise decisions also incorporate a gut understanding of what will and what will not be effective. In my discussion with Fred I made sure that I allowed for access to all three centers.

·      Manage the Three Decision Traps:  When faced with high risk, complex decisions, it is common for leaders to fall into at least one of these traps:

Ø  Impulsively make a decision to relieve tension and get into action, any action.

Ø  Retreat into more analysis looking for the “best” solution.

Ø  Refocus energy on more manageable and productive short term tasks.  

Navigating these pitfalls requires self awareness and self management skills. I helped Fred to see that his tendency was to retreat into analysis and then make an impulsive deadline-driven decision. Together we created a more effective strategy.

·      Take Problems and Risks Head On: Leaders often fall into three other decision making traps:

Ø  Ignoring or downplaying problems and risks.

Ø  Becoming paralyzed by the problems and risks.

Ø  Compulsively trying to account for “all” problems/risks.

I helped Fred understand that he was vacillating between ignoring risks and being paralyzed by them. He left our meeting with a plan for identifying the most important problems/risks and mitigation strategies for each.

After our meeting, Fred worked with his staff to develop a recommended approach that he took to his Board. His recommendations were adopted with some important modifications and he is now focusing on execution. As he moves into action, he has a new competency in the art of strategic decision making.    

Art Haines is an executive coach who works with leaders, managers and individual contributors to address tough, multi-dimensional problems. Art’s clients are often seasoned mid-career professionals who want to develop the capacity to reach a new level of development and accomplishment in their professional and personal lives. He excels in working with clients who are confronted with a complex mix of personal, interpersonal and business issues. His capacity to bring wisdom, objectivity and sensitivity to difficult situations is a great benefit to his clients. More on Art>

Sales Leadership: How We Approach Others

Did You Ever Wonder Why…

I recently worked with 32 sales leaders and managers, and we discussed three types of sales people and how they naturally approach people and clients. The first group is naturally more assertive and pushes to make things happen. The second group moves toward people, and are more concerned with boundaries, rules and responsibilities, and naturally do not “push others” to make things happen, instead earning their way. Our third group of sales representatives tends to withdraw and move away from other people, often finding life more exciting in their mind and imagination.

As a sales manager you might have all three triads represented on your team.  While this can create balance it can also be difficult to manage the three styles as each has their own strength and shadow side to manage in the sales process.

So what are some of the distinguishing factors between these three styles? As a manager, how can you help them play to their strengths and manage the shadow side of their unique approach and talents?

1.     Assertive Sales Representatives:  Focused on making things happen and quickly move into action—primary focus of thinking and doing while expanding self to move forward when faced with stress. This group views themselves at the center of attention and believes that everything meaningful (i.e. events, walking into a room, etc.) is in relationship to them.

Strengths in Selling: Prospecting, Proposal, Negotiating, Closing the Sales

Key Talents:  Persuasive, Competitive, Controlling, Outgoing, Achieving and Decisive

Areas to Monitor (Shadow Side to Talents):

1.     Focus on building relationships. This group is naturally focused on “tasks” and may miss out on developing key relationships.

2.     Slow Down!! Assertives tend to move quickly and may be “pushing” too hard versus letting the process unfold naturally. When do you feel yourself pushing versus inviting others into a conversation? Are you trying to force others to make a decision?

3.     Listen and Probe.  While this group is strong in persuading others they may miss key opportunities to learn more about their client by not listening.  Collaborative partners learn as much as they can about each client and probe deeper to form a strategic alliance based on value. Vendors tend to push and sell products, rarely learning what their clients really need. How well do members on your sales team ask questions (without already knowing the answer), listen and probe?

2.     Earning Your Way (EYW) as a Sales Representative: Focus on providing service to other people. This style has a very strong sense for responsibility and trying to find the right thing to do while meeting their own internal demands for rules and principles. Consequently, they learn they can help other people by seeing what is wrong and how to fix it, how they can support people or where future problems may occur and how they or their team can help.

Strengths in Selling: Prospecting, Qualifying and Service

Key Talents: Conventional, Details, Rule Following, Democratic

Areas to Monitor (Shadow Side to Talents):

1.     Relaxed: This is a group that likes to complete what they start and has a very high sense of responsibility.  It will be important for a manager to help them create fun and find ways to leave work at the “office.”

2.     Pushing to Make it Happen: EYW sales people might find it difficult to “push” forward the process as they focus on internalized rules and doing things the “right way.”  When does this need to earn your way with others slow you and the process down?

3.     Innovative: Overall this group likes to stay within the rules and utilize proven methods when selling. There may be a time, especially during changing markets or internal cultural changes that new methods and creative ideas are needed to succeed. How can you help influence this change and deliver clear expectations of what is needed as a sales manager?

3.  Withdrawn Types: While they participate and engage, this style finds it easy to “tune out” others, and find it more peaceful and exciting to stay within their imagination and mind. They focus on knowledge, creativity and keeping harmony while withdrawing into the safety of their mind.

Strengths in Selling: Needs Analysis, Negotiating

Key Talents:  Modest, Adaptable, Forward Thinking

Areas to Monitor (Shadow Side to Talents):

1.     Persuasive: Overall this group is not as comfortable changing or influencing other people’s viewpoints. As a key talent to sales, how can you help them overcome their tendency to withdraw and make the effort to influence others?

2.     Controlling: Numerous studies by SHL show that sales representatives that achieve high ratings like to be in charge, take the lead and do not mind telling others what to do. This group’s tendency is to remain modest and be adaptable. While clients may appreciate this style as less offensive, how does it hurt or slow your progress in the sales cycle?

3.     “Less Modest”: How does remaining modest and humble not serve you as it relates to being competitive and achievement oriented? Do you possibly lose sight of winning and achieving when your behavioral tendency is to remain modest?

As a manager one of our primary goals is to have our team members play to their strengths and talents. As an executive coach, I find myself working with clients who may not be aware of their own behavioral tendencies. While their talents to push, help or withdraw might serve them well, each has a shadow side to be managed. Often this is the blind spot that creates challenges or obstacles in our own growth and success. As a manager, how can you help each member identify and grow?

John Brambert is the President of Trinity Performance Group, a team of seasoned Executive Coaches trained in the leading worldwide coaching programs. Trinity Performance Group’s goal is to provide a wide range of executive coaching, leadership and team development, and related services to our clients.  See More in John>

Leadership: Being the Leader is Cool

Being the leader is really cool! The leader has a nice office. The leader has very flexible hours. Leaders can come into work late and leave early. After all, who is going to question when the leader comes to work or goes home? They can take long lunch breaks without having to worry about clocking-in. They sometimes get a parking spot and the car to park in it. Yeah, being the leader is very cool.

Sadly, this is how many executives are viewed by their work force. No one realizes the hours they put in during any given work day, which can and often does, exceed 10 to 16 hours. No one realizes that many executives have already had two phone conferences before arriving at the office, and leaving the office 
early is an effort to get to a dinner on time with an unhappy client. 

Before I go any further, note that I started this scenario referring to the leader. I went on to refer to the executive. Are they not one and the same? What is your opinion? 

The work force looks to its leadership for establishing the direction, the vision of the organization. The leader is looked to for setting the standards of the organization. Setting the standards range from the simple, e.g., what are the core work hours to the complicated, e.g., fair treatment of all employees; I think all will agree “fair” can be a relative word. Leaders are expected to know not just what the organization does, but how it’s done. Leaders are expected to have a conduct that exemplifies what the organization is about. 

Many executives find themselves in leadership positions quite unexpectedly. Some have been promoted into a supervisory position as a result of having good personal sales numbers, others as a result of years of service in the organization. In relatively young organizations, the chief executive and the senior executives were members of the organization at the start. These executives have the full understanding of what the organization does, but may be lacking when it comes to leadership.

 

The ability to lead does not come miraculously with the position. Successful leaders exhibit certain traits and principals that seem to be common among successful leaders, with one of the most important principals being—“know yourself.” The executive leader must shoulder wide ranging responsibilities from providing a vision to establishing work standards as previously noted. There are many expectations of the executive leader. There are expectations from the work force, some of which I have noted above.

Additionally, there are expectations from stock holders, board members, customers, and vendors. The astute executive/leader will also realize there are expectations from the community they operate in and from the families they go home to daily.

Being a leader is cool. It is also hard work. Anyone can become a leader. It takes the desire to do so and development. I referred to traits and principals of leadership, and in future blogs I will begin to address some these and the impact of sound leadership on the organization as well as the individual.

John Boggs, has provided executive leadership and strategy for large, complex organizations and operations throughout his career. He has commanded Marine units at every level of his career and served in numerous key staff positions including the positions of Senior Marine Readiness Analyst for the Secretary of Defense, Dean of Faculty and Academic Programs at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and the Chief of Staff of the National Defense University, the largest Defense University System in the world.  See More...>