The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

If you open an underwater door and let a fish out of an aquarium into the ocean, he is free. Free to swim around the sea! But if you let him out of the water completely, he is not really free. The fish needs water to live — this restriction is a good one. The fish also needs room to swim — the restriction that keeps him caged is not a good one.

I was talking to a client last week who was feeling defeated because his team was not meeting every goal he had set out for the year. I get it, good sales leaders hate to lose and should be upset when they don’t deliver the number. But this is a very strong team, delivering strong performance. And they keep setting tough goals in lots of different areas. They have a big vision for where they are going! They aren't going to be able to hit every goal, every time.

Here’s why. When you have a passion or burden for something, there are fears that come with it. You can only be a fearless leader if you are leading in an area that you don’t have a passion for or don’t really care that much about. So rest assured the fears are normal. The real question is, what do you do with the fears you have? I have a two-step plan that I think will help.

I have noticed that many leaders I work with tend to retreat, decide, and dictate when the stakes are high and the stress is intense. True confession: I actually do this as well, but it’s easier to see how screwed up it is when I see others doing it! Right. I’m talking about times like budgeting for the new year or creating a new compensation plan to drive intended behaviors.

Here’s the irony. One of the common needs I hear expressed by those in the top sales leadership role in a company (business owners, VP Sales, Director of Sales, etc.) is how to develop the other sales managers in their organization. The ironic part is the greatest growth opportunities are these high stakes moments that fall on the top sales leader. Instead of retreating, deciding, and dictating, consider Socraticship. I know Socraticship is not really a word, but maybe it should be. Socraticship is Leadership that leads with questions, instead of answers.

As a leader, I am regularly called upon to make clear, focused decisions. I am also called upon to constantly survey new information to determine if anything might call recent decisions into question. I bet you find yourself in the same situation. Leaders have to learn how to live in this space.

Great leaders need to learn how to start an argument they don’t care about winning.

If your leadership team never argues or debates, that’s a good sign of harmony.

False harmony. It takes time and energy to argue well. It’s easier to avoid it. But the best leaders don’t—they ignite it.

When we think of harmony, we think of calm. But if arguments are rare in your organization, that calm you’re creating just might be the calm before the storm.

It’s healthy to challenge one another’s thinking. It forces you to own your opinion well enough to make a case for it (even if you’re wrong). The final decision will be a better one if you hear more viewpoints and a greater number of options.

I have been enjoying short stories from Twitter lately. The latest comes from Sean Hill, @veryshortstory.

I love this story:

Jack threw a piece of candy on the floor and watched his three children fight for it. The winner was groomed to protect Jack as he grew old.

Over the last few years, I have been helping one particular client completely transform their sales department. The change has been challenging to many in the organization. Some didn’t make it. Many of those who did make it struggled at first, and even after some time, they only embraced the change as much as necessary. But one person on the team embraced the change wholeheartedly. He was able to thrive—and even helped others on the team get on board.

If it’s been a long time since you admitted ignorance, you might want to be worried. I was talking to a client the other day asking questions about their plans for sales enablement and he said he had to admit his ignorance on the topic.

Wow. How refreshing. You have to be smart and confident to admit ignorance. Get the irony? That made me stop and try to remember when the last time was that I was willing and able to admit ignorance. I hope you stop and do the same now.

If you have not had this experience lately, you probably fall into one of two camps:

1. You’re not challenged—not talking to enough smart people or reading interesting books and articles.

I heap a lot of praise on my kids. I point out when they do something I haven’t asked them to do, and I make a big deal about it. When they are extra helpful, I heap it on even more. Sometimes I wonder if they hear me because they may or may not even say thanks. And I’m okay with that. 

The other day I asked my 12-year-old son to take out the garbage, and when he came back in the house, I said to him “I want you to know, I really appreciate you.” And he stopped and said “Mom, I like it when you tell me that.” I was taken aback. I pointed out that I give him lots of praise, and he said it was something about the words “I appreciate you.”

Can you complete this statement? We exist to…

If you run your company or a business unit, or even just a sales team, there is surprising value in completing that statement—it helps define your reason for being. I have experienced first-hand the benefit that comes from knowing our reason for being. Here’s how we complete the statement at The Center for Sales Strategy:

We exist to turn talent into performance.

It wasn’t a forgone conclusion that we would define our corporate purpose in that way. We considered other possibilities. We could have said we exist to help companies hire the best people and train them well. Or, we exist to help companies increase sales. Both would have been pretty good, but not as good as the one we landed on. Our final choice got to the essence of who we are, what our passion is, and the greatest value we deliver.