 |
Sales Training Consultancy Sales and Sensibility Coaching Limited |
Sales and Sensibility
The Tower, 2 Stable Cottages
Pangbourne
Reading
Berkshire
RG8 8HN
Tel: 0118 9767658
Email
View map
The Tower, 2 Stable Cottages
Pangbourne
Reading
Berkshire
RG8 8HN
Tel: 0118 9767658
View map
|
Retaining your key talent
|
Retaining & developing your key Leadership talent.
Recognising and retaining your key leadership talent in your organisation is what will take your business through these challenging times if managed strategically. Leaders are incredibly valuable to your sales organisation however they are even more valuable to your competitors as each organisation sets it sights on recruiting the best leaders to take their team through this economic storm. Organisations will be looking to senior management and leaders to steer their organisation away from slumping profits. Many senior management and leadership priorities will now be people development related – from potential staff losses, redundancies, managing under performance to communicating change. In challenging times like this is not enough to assume that leaders are natural people managers and that they have the required skills, tools and techniques to successfully lead your organisation through the predicted change. The winter CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey has found that almost two-fifths of employers (38%) are planning redundancies this quarter – clear evidence that gloomy economic conditions are starting to bite hard. Feb 2008 With many sales organisations facing budget cuts, the first budgets to normally get reduced are marketing and training. Learning and development investments need to be made in the right talent and people and the development of your leaders needs to be focused on real and current business needs. Therefore if your training budget is being reviewed ensure that that the one aspect you do plan for in your budget is the development of your key leaders; the face of your organisation that can bring clam to the storm. Which leaders should you retain & invest in developing? Many leaders faced with the additional pressure of re submitting budget projections, cutting costs, cutting headcount, deciding which key talent they should keep and still achieve targets will definitely have their jobs cut out for them this year. Some leaders will manage the change as a cost cutting exercise however the strategic leader who has the objective of recession proofing your business will be inspired to stay and learn from this incredibly valuable experience they are just about to get. They will increase and develop their people management skills as they recognise that the best strategy to developing their organisation is to develop their people and engage their people in the forthcoming changes that they will need to make. These are the leaders that a sales organisation should retain and develop to recession proof their business. The 5 Steps to developing your key leadership talent The 5 key steps to developing your key leadership talent is to support and provide your leaders with the tools, techniques and skills they will need to: • Effectively lead change and reduce conflict • Understand the art of effective communication, the perception that the team may have of them on how to adapt their style of communication to ensure your organisation has clear and open lines of communication. • Successfully coach their people to achieve results and gain the very best performance out of each individual in your team. This is time for coaching sales people not telling them or dangling carrots to achieve results. • Recognise the individual strengths in their team so that they can build on them to maximise your teams potential • Create your organisations timeline to success, identify the key business priorities within each team and inspire their employees to take responsibility and action every day towards achieving a shared goal and vision. How can I successfully equip my leadership team to recession proof our sales organisation? Managing change Sales organisations primary objective is to hit target and grow their business. In an economic downturn this becomes incredibly difficult to achieve and will mean that there may have to be some changes in how your sales team is set up and how they manage their business. Change is feared by many sales people as it takes them out of their comfort zone, they worry that will stand out and they fear that they may not be able to step up to the mark. Helping your leaders to understand the cycle of change that both they and their employees will go through before accepting and embracing change will ensure that the transition of change is quick and effective. Effective communication Communication is to key to making change successful. Helping leaders to understand the different methods of communication, how they are perceived by others and how the may have to adapt their preferred style of communication to ensure that communication is effective is the key to successful communication. Don’t assume that your managers are aware of their communication style, instead equip them with the tools to successfully identify their preferred style and provide coaching on how they can adapt their style. This may mean investing in training your leadership team on communication styles however the cost of the investment is miniscule in comparison to the cost and negative impact that the wrong style of communication can have on your organisation. Coaching If there is ever a time that a leader needs to learn the art of effective coaching it is now. As times are tough some leaders may revert to telling employees what to do and managing by fear however throughout a downturn employees working under this style of leadership will only get worse not better. Throughout difficult times employees need to feel valued, supported & inspired if they are to produce results. Therefore ensure that your leaders are provided with the tools, techniques and skills they need to effectively coach your team to success. Recognising Strengths We are faced with the doom and gloom of an economic slowdown however if we constantly remind our teams of all the areas that we need to improve in without recognising strengths along the way you could be in for a bumpy ride as your teams confidence, commitment and attitude drop to an all time low. We all have so many strengths, by recognising team’s current strengths in team meetings you can build on your team’s strengths to maximise their potential. Providing Direction & Inspiration In a recent DTI survey “Inspiration” was the most popular response from over 55% of managers when asked what they most wanted from their leaders….but only 11% said they were getting it! Inspiration comes in many forms, you can inspire people by involving them in the decision making process, helping them to set realistic goals on where you will both get to at the end of the year and showing them that you believe in their ability will all provide inspiration. The best way to inspire your leaders in a downturn is to demonstrate how valued they are in your organisation by equipping them with all of the tools, techniques and skills to successfully lead your team through change. Leaders have the responsibility of ensuring that your team ride this economic storm out, however it is vital to remember that as they support your sales organisations they will also need support for themselves. Therefore provide regular one to one coaching for your leaders to ensure that feel supported and have the confidence to lead your organisation forward. At Sales & Sensibility we create a tailor made leadership development program which can successfully equip your team with all of the tools, techniques and skills they need to recession proof your business. Click here for a free consultation to discuss how we can create a tailor made sales coaching program from as little as £99 per delegate. or phone Fiona Challis on 0118 976 7658 |
