A Sales Leadership Conundrum

Sales leadership has created a conundrum. In our sales people, we feverishly encourage aggressive competitive behavior - beat the competition, win, be the best, (you can fill in the rest). Then as the circumstances change, we persistently coach them to be passive, to fit in, to play as a team, to assimilate (from Star Trek – Borg). Most experienced sales professionals are accomplished at switching personalities type to work complimentary with their customers, so being either aggressive or passive as needed is as simple as tweeting on Twitter.

However, the challenge is keeping all the other support systems aligned with your desires. A compensation plan that dramatically rewards aggressive competitive behavior will understandably present a conflict when desiring teamwork behavior. A reward system that historically recognizes individual contributions, does not model a desire for teamwork. Strong identities built by separate organization can be good to fuel the benefits of identity politics, and can discourage fraternization outside of the organization

The leadership challenge is always to follow the corporate strategy and align all the business objectives. Each team and individual should understand and be able to confidently state their role in achieving those goals. This top to bottom alignment focuses every team and person on the behavior necessary for the entire organization to succeed, not just individual, teams or political entities. Address any misalignment, secure a commitment from every leader, and participate in a transformational experience.