He shared with us that he spent 80% of his time and attention managing underperforming sales people. After spending considerable resources on coaching, training, and workshops, the ROI was the same poor results. Meanwhile his high performing sales people felt underappreciated and over burdened with having to take up the slack.
The truth of the matter was he knew he could count on his high performing sales team to keep performing at a high level, so he did not spend much time with them. The result was several of his top sales people left the organization. The reason? Feeling underappreciated and letting underperforming team members get by with lackluster results.
As the dynamics of his team changed, he had to change how he led his team. He realized that he needed to nurture, acknowledge, coach and listen to his top performers.
The underperformers were given a certain timeframe to improve their performance, and if they did not, they would be separated from the company.
After a time of realigning his team, the overall results took a dramatic upswing. The entire team was focused and energized.
While reflecting on the actions he took to turn the team around he distilled them down to the following key actions:
- Hire good people. No short cuts, hire smart and slow.
- Set the right expectations, they need to know what to do each day they come to work.
- Challenge and coach every team members to be better.
- Separate from the company individuals who do not accept coaching and continue to underperform.
The wise and effective leader invests consistently in their people to help them to grow, develop and achieve their goals. While the underperformers will either “get it” or self-select out of the company.
Making wise decisions regarding your staff is essential not only to employee engagement, but to the profitability of the company.
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