Teamwork is Crucial

Being in sales, I know the importance of results. If you are not hitting quota or exceeding goals, job safety becomes a primary concern. If you happen to be a salesperson who doesn't care much for competition and being a success among coworkers, a different profession may be worth a try. As important as results are, one of the biggest contributors to under performance is work morale. A decent majority of us are affected by the work environment including the attitudes of those who we work alongside. Sales is a lonely environment but that doesn't mean we are not part of a team. The strength of a sales team can be very significant to the performance of each individual. Personally, I would take a strong team with mediocre salespeople over a weak team with some hot shots and some slackers.
Given time, a strong team will cross train each other and outperform whereas a weak team remains stagnant, complacent and no better than when they began. So begs the question, how do you improve teamwork? The answer is dependent on the manager; either management will work to resist or it will help promote initiative. Everyone has their own sets of strengths and weaknesses; as managers, we need to let these strengths shine and become the foundation on how the team will be built.
One sure fire way to deter team building is to be solely focused on results. The main role of managers is to develop people; let me expand: a manager's sole focus should not be on numbers. Excel sheets and data manipulation will help guide your employees but it doesn't make them want to better themselves; increase their knowledge; find purpose; or deliver excellence. Numbers only provide justification.
Carrots and sticks may work for people in jobs but not for those pursuing careers. Managers need to take a step back and ask themselves if what they are truly doing is something which will eventually warp into a self sustaining machine. When you go to work next, begin to look at your employees and ask yourself whether you see a strong team or a team which can be stronger. Your mission is now to develop a strategy on how you can go from mediocre to exceptional.
A good place to start? Well, when was the last time you sat down with your employees in a one on one atmosphere to discuss their aspirations? The main thing when doing these one on ones is to separate current work from the meeting. The goal is to find
out what motivates the individual; I repeat: do not discuss current work performance. How can you expect to build a team if you don't know your people and where they see themselves in 10 years? Take time to get to know your employees on a personal level; there will always be time for performance reviews.

Do Not Let Monday Ruin Your Life

If you are looking to throw people a curve ball, go to work on Monday in a good mood. They key word here is ‘good’ and it is not ‘great’ mood. Great moods can be interpreted as being a ‘suck up’ or fake whereas a good mood is genuine and believable. Most people will begin to arrive and you begin to hear the Monday phrases: “weekend went fast;” “can’t believe I am back already;” or “let’s hope the weekend gets here quick enough.” It’s definitely a shame people spend five of the seven days weekly looking forward to, and talking about, the other two days. By my calculations, most employees do not enjoy 70% of their working lives. We now expect to walk in on Mondays thinking and talking about Friday, but do not take the time to give Monday a chance. Your job can’t be that bad because if it was, you should have quit by now. Therefore, if you are still walking in on Mondays, it means you haven’t found another job or you plan on being with the company for an unspecified amount of time. Rather than dragging yourself and others down, go into work in a good mood. Don’t complain or whine and don’t bring up the coming weekend. Focus on making Monday as productive and fun as possible. Who knows: other people may stop their negativity and the workplace may just be a better environment.

Employees In Numbers Can Take A Company From Medicore To Exceptional

Employees should be meeting with each other without management oversight.
Unions have been around for decades but most companies do not have unions anymore. Labor laws are in place to prevent too much workplace hardships and heaven is fully aware of the abundance of lawyers who are ready to sue a company on behalf of an employee who feels they are being mistreated. I still wonder why employees let managers meet together and make plans for everyone else but never meet themselves. It would seem beneficial for employee representatives to meet with each other once a month and discuss what is working or what is not working in their roles at the company. We spend so much time complaining about new initiatives or bashing certain performance metrics but spend little time empowering ourselves to take the reins. Perhaps we overlook how powerless managers would be if employees began to take more control.

Let Your Employees Have A Good Day

Just because your boss manages more doesn’t necessarily mean they’re managing better. I recall a recent day when the team of employees were getting ready to start their day. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits and excited for a productive day. Then, the first email came from our boss: “blah, blah, blah and do not do this again in the future.” Soon enough, the second email came: “from now on, I want to be informed when you blah, blah, blah.” And the third email: “I am going to be listening to your sales calls, blah, blah, blah.” Then the fourth, fifth and so on; after 7 emails of managing your staff, it should be obvious they are in a worse mood and feel like they are being babysitted (not to mention they probably stopped paying attention　after the third email　and now realize their boss is both micromanaging and scared to confront people face to face). People want to have a sense of accomplishment; no one wants to leave work and feel like a failure, yet managers continue to try and convince employees they are failing at something. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if a manager only focused on – and talked about – what the staff was doing right for a few months.

Acknowledge Results And Do Not Always Focus On The Bad

What is wrong? What is broken? What is not working? Employees are constantly put through the ringer by managers who are always looking for the flaws and weak links. I am not suggesting managers stop this practice because we need to analyze data to decide on how to make the organization better and more competitive. However, at what point is it counter productive? There are employees who are excelling in most areas but the manager will always find the one statistic which is below average while overlooking – and never praising – the other above average results. Management loves to read about motivation but who knows if they are aware of de-motivation. A great way to take a great employee to a worse employee is to pick the one area they are struggling and make them worry about their job security. The employee is offended because they dedicate all this time and effort to their results which for the most part are positive and respectable. Then a report is run which depicts one category (probably the focus of the month by the company which will be forgotten next month by management because they have a different focus) which you are facing obstacles. Rather than approach you, this ridicule and critique is sent out through email for everyone to view. Perhaps common courtesy is changing or maybe managers are becoming comfortable with hiding behind their walls, doors and desks where they shuffle through reports and data avoiding human contact all together.

People Are Successful - Accept It

You’re going to hear from two crowds when successful. One crowd is going to be prying to discover what actions you are taking to get the results and the other crowd will be ready to tell people the many reasons you are just ‘lucky.’ These situations are common and you may have been involved in both crowds at one point. When someone is exceeding expectations in their role, people begin to ask questions. What are they doing that I am not doing? Are they really better than me because I have been here twice as long? The people quickest to criticize are the ones who are not performing up to expectations; they are quick to judge someone else’s success as coincidence or luck. These people, which may include you (don’t take offense), have formed a habit of whining and complaining. It is easier to pass the blame but doesn’t make it the right decision. If you are successful, help those seeking advice and do not feel any ill will against those who do not believe you caused your success. Also, do not find yourself in the crowd of negativity and pessimism; people may deal with complainers but they are not going to feel any better about their job when they arrive or leave.

Managers Need To Let Go

Managers have a hard time of letting go and understanding that in a few months of being promoted, they will not be as good as their employees at the job they used to perform. There is nothing wrong with employees being better than management; for instance, if you are a salesperson who gets promoted to sales manager, you are not going to be as educated on the product or service as your employees will become. Listen, you weren’t promoted to management to be better than your salespeople. You were promoted to management because you have a leadership ability to help others be better than they would have been without your help. So for you employees, be aware of those managers who will not know the answers to certain questions and do not make it a big deal when they are wrong; you should really start asking other employees and begin to not rely on managers for product and service questions. For you managers, be aware you no longer will be the expert in what is happening in the marketplace and learn to trust your employees who are in the marketplace daily.