Tag Archives: Verify

How Do You Encourage Managers to Work On vs. In the Business – Four Points

Situation:  A company’s CEO created five customer-centered divisions headed by Business Development Managers (BDMs) who oversee project management as well as business development in their markets. A year after implementation, the BDMs are more focused on managing their teams than on developing new business. How can the CEO enhance focus on business development? How do you encourage managers to work on vs. in the business?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • It appears that the BDMs are technicians. Business development (BD) isn’t their strength. People gravitate toward important/urgent activities in their comfort zone.
  • Supplement your staff with people who have a proven talent for business development. You may not need 5 people – 2 or 3 may be sufficient to support the BDMs.
  • What if our customers demand technical expertise in business development personnel? Make category expertise a requirement when hiring, in addition to experience in BD. There are specific traits that characterize successful BD personnel. Specify these traits in your hiring process and verify these abilities in candidates both by testing for these traits and through reference checks. Sandler Training has good tests for BD talent.
  • The BDMs are responsible for coordinating bidding and pricing. Should this responsibility be handed over to the new BD personnel? Not completely. You have two options. Option A – require BD personnel to coordinate with the BDMs when it comes to pricing and project delivery, or Option B – if you determine that the BD personnel need to be able to negotiate pricing on their own, tie their commission compensation 100% to margin on projects bid.

[Like]

How Do You Have a Fierce Conversation? Six Factors

Situation: A valuable tool for CEOs is Susan Scott’s book Fierce Conversations. This includes challenging conversations with staff. Scott characterizes Fierce Conversations as being robust, intense, strong, powerful and passionate. These are the traits that a leader must bring to challenging conversations instead of avoiding them. How do you have a fierce conversation?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • The first step is to master the courage to interrogate reality. This means confronting the difference between “ground truth” or reality and official truth or what we or others wish to believe. There is often a difference between the truth that we want others to see and reality. Jim Collins calls this confronting the brutal facts of our situation without losing faith in our ability to deal with it.
  • Be here, prepared to be nowhere else. The conversation must be your only point of focus when you are having it. Choose a location where you won’t be interrupted or distracted. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by texts, phone calls or anything else.
  • Tackle your toughest challenge today – you gain little by putting it off for another day. Prioritize your challenges, and tackle the most difficult ones first. Handling these will make the most difference.
  • Obey your instincts – but remember that instincts are subjective and must be verified through reality checks. Trust your gut, but verify it objectively with evidence.
  • Take responsibility for your emotional wake – what he or she will remember after the conversation. Keep the focus on factors that the other party can control, and offer to assist. But be sensitive to how you deliver the message and how the other party responds. Don’t leave more of a mess than you had before the conversation.
  • Harness the power of silence – silence slows a conversation and increases your chances of making it meaningful.

[like]