Every good Sales Leader strives to be their best for their team…to support them, to develop them, to grow their sales success but have you considered what each person actually needs from you to be their best selves?
Someone starting their sales career needs something quite different from you than your top achievers. The question is what’s the foundation of your leadership?
Do you focus on being the same fair leader for each person in your team…or do you consider the person’s circumstances and what they need to keep the development momentum going?
What’s the difference?
Equality is:
- Blanket emails to the team
- The same boundaries for everyone
- Everyone gets the same KPI’s
- Using the same language for every member of your team
- Telling everyone they are doing great…even when they are not
Equity is:
- Individual emails that focus on their performance and situation
- Boundaries that are created for each person based on their development needs
- KPI’s based on the person’s experience
- Thoughtfully chosen words and approaches based on their psychological preferences
- Shining the light on what each member of the team brings to the team
Get the picture?
What type of leader are you?
If your style is Equity leadership then congratulations. You will likely have a unique and positive approach for each member of your team. Keep yourself on track with regular check-ins on the impact you are having.
A red flag for you is people not doing so well either on the skills side or more likely their mindset. It’s a sign that they may not be getting what they actually need from you to be their best selves.
If your actions tend to fall into the Equality landscape, the first thing is not to give yourself a hard time. There’s still a lot of good stuff there so it’s not about getting rid of your approaches…it’s about refining them.
Steps to develop your Equity Leadership
- The first step is to evaluate where each of your team is in your opinion…that’s your starting point.
- Have a conversation with each sales person to assess whether your assumptions are correct…or your story of the situation.
- Agree the starting point with them…and the first steps they will take to develop their skills and mindset.
- Ask them what support they need from you and how they want you to deliver it…agree your next steps.
- Regular one to one follow up conversations to celebrate the wins – small as well as big…and agree next steps towards improvement.
You’ll have noticed that this is the basis of coaching and the more you incorporate this approach the better your sales people will do…because everyone is getting exactly what they need in the way they need it to be their very best selves!
Until next time,
