Sometimes as a business coach you start working with an organization an immediately come to realize that you have two options:
- change the person (not easy)
- change the person’s title (easier)
Adjust Team Members’ Roles
By bringing in a consultant, you get a clear view of the internal issues that may be keeping your organization from reaching its potential.
Road blocks may include:
- Operations manager who does not delegate
- Sales director who is not aggressive
- CEO who does not hold employees accountable
Let’s dig deeper into scenario #2. I see issues arise in many technology companies because talented engineers are forced to double as sales associates. You may have a strong employee that may just be in the wrong role.
Analyze the situation:
- Does the engineer really believe in his role?
- Do you as the executive believe his role is vital?
- Can he smell a deal a mile away?
- Does he live for that big presentation?
- Does he get all ramped up when he is about to close a big deal?
- Is he dedicated to discovering potential clients’ pain?
- Does he hate the follow up process?
- Does he do everything at the last minute?
- Does he only start working hard at the end of the quarter?
Sometimes what I perceive from some technical people in the sales role is resentment for the sales process. “Sales” becomes a necessity when their passion lies within creating a new solution or improving the scalability of a current product.
True sales people need the wins. They are competitive. They will leave organizations that ask them to add non-sales roles to their plate. Or worse, they will agree to pick up the support in client support and lose clients because they suck at it.
The bottom line in managing engineers and sales people is they need to fill comfortable; they need to use their innate qualities for the betterment of the company. One cannot be forced to “act” as the other. People who are in the wrong role are those that are always making excuses or calling in “sick.”
You can spend a lot of money and waste a lot of time by trying to mold an employee into someone they aren’t. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Some strengths we are born with, some weaknesses we can improve on or even get worse at. They key is to get to know your employees well enough that you can decide where they will naturally succeed. And, if they succeed, you succeed.
Cover your belly button:
You need to “cover your belly button” as CEO. You need to decide what your plan is and execute it. Assigning the best people for the right jobs does not make them better or more deserving than anyone else. It’s just good management.
It is not passing judgment – its reallocating resources. Your employees will always think they understand the ins and outs of their industry and the organization just as well as you. It’s inevitable; human beings get their egos wrapped up in their job.
Personal awareness is the best step to getting people to leverage their talents. Kolbe.com Index A can be the best enlightenment to talent and strengths any person can take. It shows you very quickly who and where their talents lie. It takes very basic questions and can help people discover their talents, why they are bad at others and even why their pattern of thinking sometimes causes conflict.
