Did I Provide Value The 8 Disciplines Of The Value Added Leader

Did I Provide Value? We’ve had the great fortune of working individually with thousands of managers on a similar quest − discovering the fundamentals of efficacious sales leadership. Each of these cherished encounters has provided additional insight into the essence of what separates effective leadership’s “best from the rest.” Through these interactions, we have discovered that the lowest common denominator of effective sales leadership is always providing value from the recipient’s perspective. Managers who relentlessly provide value to every individual in each interaction achieve success no matter how it’s defined. A direct correlation exists between managers who passionately work at providing value and employee respect and appreciation. Leadership involves guiding others to important destinations which sometimes call for going beyond the realm of comfort and experience. This push forward, though necessary, is not always popular. However, great coaches drive others forward despite the potential friendship risk. An example of this leadership can be found daily in American classrooms. It’s not easy to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, yet some teachers do this exceptionally well. They make each encounter with subject matter a memorable and valued experience. They utilize multiple methods to expose us to valued experiences which guide us www.businessefficacy.com | Did I Provide Value? - A Sales Management Effectiveness eBook Series by Business Efficacy 1

along the journey of “I can’t” to “I did it.” Great educators aren’t concerned with making friendships. Instead, their passion is to help each student learn and effectively apply the unknowns needed for success. Managers must also have this mindset to be effective leaders. Regardless of experience, talent, age, or gender, employees cherish leaders who strive for their growth and success by providing an individualized approach. Providing value is the foundation of leader- ...we’ve discovered the lowest common denominator of effective sales leadership is always providing value from the recipient’s perspective. ship success. Effectively providing value from another’s perspective is not easy to execute. Eight compelling drivers are required to provide individualized value. Great leaders effectively apply each driver to ensure coaching excellence. A summary of each critical and fundamental driver is provided below. Each of these drivers will be further addressed, including a complete “how to,” in upcoming eBooks. Although they are listed in no particular order, each is equally important in providing maximum leadership value. www.businessefficacy.com | Did I Provide Value? - A Sales Management Effectiveness eBook Series by Business Efficacy 2

Accountability – Take It On Everyone has a behavioral comfort zone. Moving beyond this comfort zone takes motivation, courage, and persistence. All the unfulfilled New Year’s resolutions are compelling evidence of how tough this can be. It can be extremely difficult to get there on one’s own initiative. Helping an individual move beyond limiting performance beliefs is sensitive and difficult stuff. Exceptional leaders are not afraid to assume the role of pushing and challenging individuals to go beyond their behavioral comfort zones. They do so by employing multiple methods to determine if the right activities are happening with the appropriate frequency. They never miss a chance to tackle an opportunity for improvement or reinforce- ment. Even though it might be easier and less risky to ignore the opportunity, the passion for improvement, execution, and mastery compels action. People often resist being pushed beyond their behavioral “happy place.” Valued leaders are not constrained by a desire for popularity. Instead, they just take it on. They realize respect is earned by helping others to achieve more than they believe possible. Remember, the biggest enemy of best is good enough! www.businessefficacy.com | Did I Provide Value? - A Sales Management Effectiveness eBook Series by Business Efficacy 3

Timing, Not Time Great coaches rarely miss an opportunity to make an impact. They are almost manic about seizing every opportunity to provide help to the individuals they coach. No matter what is being done, they never waste a learning opportunity. Timing is more important than time in making this happen. Coaching time should only be proportional to what is needed to accomplish progress. Effective coaches are always cognizant of what coaching activity can provide the maximum amount of help in the least amount of time. They know a “just-in-time” coaching action is almost always superior to a planned, yet delayed response. Employees value coaches being present at precisely the moment of need; effective leaders deliver this regardless of other demands. Effective coaches do not base their actions on time or time management. Instead, commitment drives their priority management. They find a means to always be in the game. Employees value coaches being present at precisely the moment of need; effective leaders deliver this regardless of other demands. www.businessefficacy.com | Did I Provide Value? - A Sales Management Effectiveness eBook Series by Business Efficacy 4

It’s All About Them Effective coaches must possess a passion for helping others. Personal gratification for a coach is achieved by ensuring others reach their full potential and are enormously successful. Great coaches make sure they know what motivates each individual they coach. They then use this knowledge to make each required behavior make sense from the individual’s perspective, and show how it ties in to his or her personal motivations. When done effectively, employees quickly trust their coach is dedicated to their success. Great coaches eschew the notion of “one size fits all” and tailor their communication style and learning methods/activities for each individual. This leadership “versatility” ensures communication; positive and negative feedback is effective for each employee. A coach’s first objective should always be to remove barriers to listen- ing, comprehension, dialogue, behavioral change, and skill mastery as quickly as possible. www.businessefficacy.com | Did I Provide Value? - A Sales Management Effectiveness eBook Series by Business Efficacy 5

Stay With It Until They Get It High performers achieve success under most circumstances. They know what to do and call upon the knowledge and skills required. Effective leadership pursues the development of this performance level in each individual and always keeps this end in mind. Great coaches understand execution excellence comes from developing high-impact performers. It is pretty basic − the more people there are doing the right activities, the more effective the execution is on what matters. This results in a competitive advantage. Repetitive practice and action is the building block of mastering any concept or task. In today’s world of multi-tasking and conflicting agendas, it’s difficult to develop mastery. Adequate (but not great) performance is often accepted. Repetitive practice and action is the building block of mastering any concept or task. Unfortunately, personal tolerance for this effort wanes under the burden of our “get it done now” mentality. Great leaders ensure their people keep doing high-impact actions and drive task mastery. They always find creative and brief ways to get in more www.businessefficacy.com | Did I Provide Value? - A Sales Management Effectiveness eBook Series by Business Efficacy 6

practice. They create opportunities to keep working on essential skills, even when dealing with a conflicting emphasis. In addition, they check to make sure required skills are being used. If they aren’t, they quickly take action to find a way to get these essentials in motion. Management’s pursuit is to be the best. This pursuit isn’t over until execution excellence occurs at all times and under all conditions. Good is not good enough. Clear Expectations Employees need to know specifically what should be done and how to accomplish it − vagueness is not an option. Workers want success, and it’s essential that management provide a clear pathway and the necessary tools to achieve it. Expectation clarity requires thoughtful determination of each essential behavioral requirement. Clear expectations provide certainty; they are tangible and readily measurable. Used effectively, they can be the secret to improving personal accountability. Coaches who consistently provide clear expectations make it easy for their www.businessefficacy.com | Did I Provide Value? - A Sales Management Effectiveness eBook Series by Business Efficacy 7

employees to self-evaluate and determine if work is being done well. This, combined with a manger’s ability to reinforce expectations through multiple communication techniques, provides the foundation for driving personal accountability. High-Impact Few Achieving success requires executing a few fundamental activities exceptionally well. First, management must determine which activities are critical. This is done by defining an ultimate target and then establishing the significant milestones in the process required to achieve it. After milestones have been selected, managers must maintain focus on each milestone individually and ensure it is pursued logically and completely by applicable staff. Activity for activity’s sake must not be allowed. Focus is the objective − distraction is not an option. Remember, the mission is to do a few common things uncommonly well. www.businessefficacy.com | Did I Provide Value? - A Sales Management Effectiveness eBook Series by Business Efficacy 8

Ask More Than Tell Learning is dependent upon critical, reflective thinking. Increasing understanding is best accomplished by determining what, how, and why something is happening. When purposeful questioning is combined with timely, useful suggestions, a manager becomes a virtuoso of providing valued assistance. Managers can best facilitate the discovery process by asking great questions and telling less. When an individual is learning something new, establishing direction and explaining how something should be done requires telling. However, from that point forward the goal is effective application of the information provided. This requires conscious understanding, practice, and personal discovery. Managers must be the facilitators of this process; they must value helping others understand new concepts for themselves − as self-discovery is a staple of the learning process. www.businessefficacy.com | Did I Provide Value? - A Sales Management Effectiveness eBook Series by Business Efficacy 9

Questions drive self-reflection and understanding. When purposeful questioning is combined with timely, useful suggestions, a manager becomes a virtuoso of providing valued assistance. In essence, talk less and say more. Learn From Each Win Success is infectious. People love to repeat what they do well. When someone “has it down,” you can rest assured that the action will be completed correctly again and again. Great coaches love to catch their people when they are doing something right. When they do, they make a big deal out of it. They want each individual they coach to know when they have done well. They know doing so will cause the action to be repeated, simply because it feels right to the individual to do it again. Effective leadership requires coaches to be in a position to create and recognize success. It involves knowing how each individual prefers to receive recognition. It means establishing opportunities for each individual to exhibit the proper behaviors. Finally, it requires each coach to demonstrate an enthusiasm for success. www.businessefficacy.com | Did I Provide Value? - A Sales Management Effectiveness eBook Series by Business Efficacy 10

Unfortunately, many of today’s managers do not focus on finding success. They seem to dwell on communicating only what either is not being done or what is being done incorrectly. It’s important to address performance issues; all great coaches do. However, instead of criticiz- ing, they utilize everyday wins to help develop confidence, composure, and concentration. Effective leaders understand an individual without the confidence to pursue success is destined for mediocrity. Valued leaders invite people to enjoy the process, have fun, and celebrate a task well done. They understand doing so encourages the characteristics in their people which will help to achieve results. www.businessefficacy.com | Did I Provide Value? - A Sales Management Effectiveness eBook Series by Business Efficacy 11

Putting It Into Action We challenge all managers to ask if they always provide value to each employee during every interaction, and to make sure they provide value from the employee’s perspective. Get in the habit of asking, “Did I provide real value?” after each interaction. To those managers who consistently provide value, we say bravo! Keep going and strive to become 100% better as a result of each opportunity. Remember, the biggest enemy of best is good enough. To those managers who need to improve their ability to provide value, start by analyzing current performance in each of the eight coaching effectiveness areas detailed above. Decide which require the most improvement and, one at a time, “Take it On.” Then, “Stay with It” until you can apply each fundamental concept in any circumstance with any individual you are coaching. Half done is not an option. After all, nobody forgets those who truly help. www.businessefficacy.com | Did I Provide Value? - A Sales Management Effectiveness eBook Series by Business Efficacy 12

About Business Efficacy Business Efficacy helps B2B sales organizations “deliver the numbers” by simplifying the complexity of sales management. For 16 years we’ve witnessed organizations spend countless resources on traditional training approaches, “silver-bullet” technologies, and product mar- keting campaigns with little to show but short-term “blips” in performance. We believe sales performance boils down to executing what matters for your business, and driving the few, highest-impact actions to get you there. We help sales management define − down to the most fundamental actions − what their true performance outcomes are, get the right actions happening in-the-field, and equip managers to sustain true performance over time. Visit our website: www.businessefficacy.com Email us at: info@businessefficacy.com Business Efficacy, Inc. 6130 Blue Circle Drive Minnetonka, MN 55343 952-217-0425 www.businessefficacy.com | Did I Provide Value? - A Sales Management Effectiveness eBook Series by Business Efficacy 13

Did I Provide Value The 8 Disciplines Of The Value Added Leader

by Business Efficacy, Inc. on Jun 23, 2009

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Did I Provide Value The 8 Disciplines Of The Value Added Leader — Presentation Transcript