A key step toward improving corporate culture, morale and an overall sales department’s motivation is to properly encourage and mentor team members to be all that they can be. Some managers take this strategy of personal mentorship too far, however, which can result in excessive employee coddling. Coddling doesn’t help anyone, least of all your employees, so it’s very important that mangers differentiate the difference between encouragement and coddling: What to do: Solid managers know how to properly balance employee mentorship with a hard, bottom line when it comes to managing their employees. Communication is crucial, whether good or bad, in the delicate dance between boss and teammate. According to Entrepreneur, when it comes to communication, good managers want to simply let their employees know what exactly is expected of them, both on the job and as a member of the greater company culture.
“Solid managers know how to balance encouragement with the hard, bottom line.”
It’s also extremely important to get excited about the good things your employees do or produce. Most employees truly desire to do a good job, so it’s very important that managers always assume this fact, and compound the growth of their desire to perform well through frequent praise when deserved, and by continually giving employees the tools they need to complete tasks to the best of their abilities. What not to do: In an article titled “7 Crippling Parenting Behaviors That Keep Children From Growing Into Leaders,” Forbes outlines many common mistakes of present-day parents, presumably reared themselves in the early 1980s. Similarly, these same not-so-great parenting habits outline issues that commonly plague frequent coddlers, many of whom shelter their staff from any intense problem-solving, praise too many micro-accomplishments, and frequently feel guilty themselves for drawing a hard line against issues faced internally. The employee/boss relationship makes a certain level of strictness absolutely necessary. The balance will be different for each and every relationship, but must be established in order to create a positive and productive corporate work environment for everyone involved. Creativity meets technology In an effort by executive management to establish such solid, balanced sales team leadership, many preach by the numbers, according to Salesforce. This is to say that lower-level managers are often told to rely only upon performance metrics and deadlines to inspire their workers’ productivity.
Corporate competition is healthier than you might think: With the right tools, managers can inspire good sportsmanship and improved performance simultaneously.
As we’ve found, there is so much more to managing than simply establishing goals, and pushing sales associates to meet them. Salespeople are competitive and driven, though often not without the appropriate level of encouragement or competitive contest. It takes managers willing to put in time to properly mentor, and grow their employees on an individual basis. It is a legitimate challenge to balance this desire while also maintaining a proper balance of strict, hard line management. Even the best managers can’t be in three places at once, but fortunately, new innovative performance and incentive compensation management is here to help. Iconixx provides unique commission software solutions designed specifically for sales teams. It lets employees as well as managers track individual and team progress, and allows for adjustable goals to reach individually Bonus compensation management – as defined by company management – is used as the carrot for effective, inter-teammate competition. Let Iconixx help revolutionize your metrics while you work to improve corporate culture and beyond.
