FROM HIGH PERFORMER TO HIGH PERFORMING LEADER

We worked with an industry sector director of sales, who was taking longer than he had expected to transition from high performing account director to leading a sales team. He had spent his first twelve months in post doing what he did best – being the best salesperson on his team. Unfortunately, this limited team member autonomy and slowed down the sales cycle. By the end of the year his team was well below target, demoralised, and the director was exhausted. He realised this wasn’t sustainable and that, if he wanted to succeed, he had to start thinking like a leader and develop new expertise and skills.

Through his Accelerated Success programme he was able to step back from operational issues and trust his very talented team to do their job. As a leader, he had to develop a sustainable vision and strategy which would enable long term success. The team needed to break out of the cycle of chasing every deal, just to make this quarter’s number, and the director had to stop micromanaging and start leading. With perseverance, he got to grips with formulating a vision and building a strategy. Then he cascaded this down to his team as clear goals, with milestones and a robust reporting framework. He coached and mentored individual team members in planning and problem solving but didn’t interfere with implementing solutions. And he made sure they had the necessary resources to do their job.

By the end of his programme he had more closely aligned team goals with wider business goals and established longer term targets. These weren’t just for revenue but for targeting new clients where there was a good fit and better prospects for long term and productive relationships. He also understood that he needed to pay close attention to retaining his high performers and to recruiting new people who could deliver to his vision.

It’s still early days for this director but he is getting results. He has a sound strategy for growth which is supported by his vice president. Team members are much more motivated, clearer about what they are doing and work with far greater autonomy. The director of sales is less stressed and confident he will learn to be as effective in his leadership role as he was as a team member.