3 Leadership goof-ups that would make you look dumb in front of your subordinates

Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men -- the other 999 follow women.

Starting off this article on a funny note. But seriously what does this one man do that the others don't? And its not the point mentioned above.

At a recent conference in Goa for a finance company, we were talking to the business head. He was describing a recurring issue that he has every time he promotes his atr people. The story was familiar, we have seen this scenario play out a number of times. We have a star salesman, a star performer. He does well, meets his numbers, gets praise from the bosses, is the toast of everybody, also attracts jealous comments from others.

We promote him to the next level.

And then what?

Not only do we lose a star salesman, we also get a lousy sales manager in the process.

Why does this happen? How can a star suddenly lose his form? Or is he getting the basic concepts wrong?
He doesn't lose his form. But he does not do some basic things that would make him more effective in the new role.

Mistake No 1: Doing the same things that made me a star salesman would make me successful as a star manager.

Sachin was a superb batsman, though he could have been a better leader. Javed Miandad, another great individual player, pathetic as a captain.

what does a young leader do when he gets promoted? What is the message he gets when we reward him for his sales performance?

He gets the message that doing the tasks of a sales person (individual contributor) got him the success so all that he has to do is do more of the same thing. And that is exactly what he does.

Even though he has got promoted and is now handling a team, he continues to behave like an individual contributor. He continues to "sell" or "be a mechanic" whereas what he is supposed to do is be a "sales manager" or a "works manager". His new role now requires him to manage his team, coach the average and below average team members and inspire his best. If he has moved from a "manager of work" role to a "manager of managers" role, his new role means he cannot direct but he now has to develop a more participative style because his team members are no longer newcomers but more a group of experienced, matured people.

Recommended action is therefore to behave as per the new role because the activities expected are new. Manager's who make this transition succeed, those who can't get stuck at this level in their careers.

Mistake No 2: Spending time only with the star team members, others are ignored. Because the new promotee is behaving like a individual contributor, he wants to take charge, be wherever there is the highest probability of success. He therefore has a tendency to spend more time with the stars who tend to make more sales calls, talk higher in the clients and have better sales ratios. As a manager, since the job is to coach, a good manager would need to spend more time with his average and poor performers, coaching and guiding them. With the stars, he would need to inspire them and involve them in generating solutions to day to day challenges so they continue to be motivated. But basically the idea would be to delegate tasks to the stars & leave them alone, though keep track of them and spend more time with the other members of the team. They say a team is only as strong as its weakest link. a good manager works on and improves this weak link to make it stronger.

Mistake No 3: Taking control of a situation when things are going wrong. Manager is out in the field on a sales call with his team member. Manager takes control of the sales call. Team member is completely silent throughout. Effectively the manager is behaving like the subordinate and is therefore grossly overpaid. If Team member says something wrong, is not able to handle the situation, manager steps in and takes control, prevents mistakes from happening altogether.

What happens overall in the company? A manager is behaving like an individual contributor. But a manager's job is do analyse, manage and coach. That job is not happening. But somebody has to do that job. Who does it? It is done by the Regional Manager. So we now have a Regional Manager behaving like a first line manager. Who does the Regional Manager's job? Somebody has to do it. The Business Head does it.

So a non functioning First line Manager effectively pulls down the entire organization with him.

But what is supposed to be done, you might ask? Should we allow the mistakes to happen?

well - yes and No.

Yes, because nobody learns swimming by watching other people swim. One has to get into the water!!!

No, because the mistakes have to be observed and corrected immediately after the sales call is over. And to ensure that the sales do not get affected, involve the customer into this training process. Mistakes are an essential part of the learning process and the manager needs to ensure that happen in a controlled risk free environment.

One of our sales managers used to call the clients after the sales rep has finished his call to take a feedback - "how did he present? What are his strengths? Areas for improvement?"

So how do we look terrific in front of our team members?

1. Behave like a manager, not an over-promoted individual.
2. Spend more time with your average performers, delegate to stars.
3. Develop the emotional maturity to watch mistakes happen, ensure learning is fast and immediate. Ensure mistakes are not repeated again and again.

Looking for more such solutions to your everyday leadership challenges? Follow us on Young Leaders at Every Level now.

To connect your team to these ideas and enjoy the resultant productivity gains, call us for a training or a conference now at +919820503710 / info@directiononeonline.com

Maneesh Konkar