Leadership Tip # 1 – Coach Privately

Nothing demoralizes a team faster than a leader getting up on a soapbox and expressing frustration with something not being done by only part of the team.      When you do this, you waste your top performers time and dilute the coaching moment to the people who really need it.   Coaching performance is not a group effort, it’s a personal interaction between the Leader and employee.   When you Group Coach you damage your role and authority as leader of the team.    Don’t do it.

Here is the foundation of good performance coaching:

• Coach Privately – The moment should be between you and the individual, nobody else.   Face to face is best but a pre-arranged phone call works in a pinch.   DO NOT COACH VIA EMAIL!
  • Even when you are dealing with an group issue, like two employees doing something wrong together, you should separate the coaching

• Coach the Behavior not the person.    It’s what they did that was wrong, not who they are that is wrong.    Separate their actions from who they are, so you can reduce their defensiveness and resistance to change.

• Act immediately.   Discuss the behavior that needs to be changed now, not when you get around to it.   Waiting only makes the problem less important to the person who needs to change and allows them to reinforce the bad behavior.   The longer you wait, the more you are saying “What you are doing is ok with me”

• Don’t dilute the Coaching with other information.    Don’t dilute the message by making it an “…oh and another thing” or trying to sandwich it between two “atta boy/girls”.    Focus on the coaching and nothing else.
  • Most of the time you are just trying to make yourself feel better when you do this anyway.   Stop it.
  • Enhance their self-esteem while delivering the message, but don’t go overboard.

• Identify whether it is a Skill or Will issue?

• Skill – if the employee didn’t realize they needed to do something or doesn’t know how to do the task, then Train.   Teach them what they need to know and provide them direction on how to lea
  • Things to keep in mind with Skill Issues
    • If you are training and coaching more than once on the same thing, then it is not a skill problem.   It is either ability/capability to do the job or it’s a Will issue
    • Is it Ability to do the Job?   If no matter how hard they work at it, they just can’t get it, the its time to move on with a new person.    This was a bad hire on your part.
    • Is it the Capability?   They can do some but not at the level you need?     Time to change the person’s role and responsibilities.

• Will – if the employee doesn’t “want” to do it, then Command.     Be direct, gain their understanding of the issue and set a goal for immediate change.   No negotiating.  No sugar coating.   Clear, concise and with a deadline for immediate change.
  • Not willing to change the behavior?   Then change the employee immediately.  Resolve this issue on the same call.    Don’t wait.
    • It’s amazing how quickly their Will changes, when you immediately move to “Well since this job isn’t working for you, I guess I will have to find a new person.  Thank you for your hard work and I will start processing your final check”

• Be Direct and Clear. Don’t try to sugar coat the issue to make your employee understand it better.    Your employee did something wrong, they need to change and that change needs to happen now.   Be concise, check for understanding then get agreement on consequence and timeline for change.    Be firm, not wishy washy.    Every moment of “wimpiness” provides your employee with a reason to not take it seriously.

• Agree to Consequences and timeline for change. 
  • Ask your employee this “If you don’t change, what should be the consequences to you?” The stronger the consequences they state, the better they understand that they need to change.   Weak response?  You were not strong enough on your message or there is a Will problem.
  • Set a deadline for change.   Follow up on the deadline to reinforce the important in change and to check for completion.

• Don’t forget to recognize their improvement!   Reinforce their hard work on changing a behavior.    Changing behavior or learning a new process isn’t easy.   Reward their efforts by recognizing their results.   Publically, if it something that can be shared with the group without embarrassing the employee, but most often privately.

• Remember that You are Part of the Coaching Process and not just in the deliverer of the message.
  • You need to follow up with them on their progress.   Frequently and consistently
  • You need to recognize improvement.    The moment you see it.
  • Failure to participate in the process with your employee, makes you a manager, not a leader.

Coaching performance is hard work but following the above steps will make it easier to do.     The above steps will also help your team understand your commitment to helping them improve, grow and develop into better employees.

10 years ago I had the pleasure to work with  Bill Lowery.  During one of our conversations, Bill told me a story about defining leadership.   Bill was a legislative aide for Oregon Senator Brady Adams.   In Bill’s first meeting with the Senator’s team, Senator Adams sat his entire staff down and said the following…

“I respect all of you and very much value all of your opinions and ideas (or you would not be here…was implied).  In exchange for me respecting you and your right to give me (express) your ideas and opinions all I ask in return is that you respect my right to make the final decision… and that you all support and stand behind that decision.”  Senator Brady Adams

Bill paraphrased the speech,  but I think the essence behind Senator Adams message was captured.    As a your leader, I value and desire your opinion.   As my team member you need to respect and value my decisions on those opinions.     I will listen to you, but you need follow my lead.

To often, new leaders struggle with setting a tone during their first meeting that defines their role is in the organization.    Teams need to clearly understand the role of the leader.      Leadership means different things to different people and it is always a good idea to set clear expectations at the start. Otherwise, the leader will run the risk of their team creating a definition for him/her that will be counter to the leaders goals.

Far too many “managers” also don’t take advantage of the wealth of knowledge their teams may have to help solve challenges.     By using the message above, new managers can become true leaders and make it clear that they value the teams opinion.    A leader without the help, collaboration and support of his team is simply a individual contributor who manages the tasks of the people that report to him.

Define your role as leader of the team and you have greater success in accomplishing your team’s objectives.

From a  great quick post talking about hiring Hiring for Attitude, Not Just for Skill.

Ben was walking down the street and saw this sign in the a window.  It is a help wanted sign from a Tea company store in Chicago which asks “Are you passionate about tea?”

The sign effectively communicates that if you don’t have a passion for what we are selling, then you probably won’t be a good fit for the job.    And I bet those trying to fake passion during the interview are quickly exposed.   Passion can’t be faked.

What sort of message do you send to your potential applicants?  Are you just looking for someone to take over an empty position or are you trying to find a Brand Champion to help drive your business to the next level?

In my years of hiring employees, I always hired passion first and knowledge second.    Even now I tend to hire people who have tons of enthusiasm, a general excitement about working with the public and that are passionate about the products I am representing.     I can train anyone to be successful in sales, but I can’t teach passion, enthusiasm or a love for your fellow man.

Walk into any retail outlet (even Starbucks on occasion) and you will find people who are just “doing time” until they find a better job.    The managers who hired them were hiring to fill a spot.    Unfortunately for the manager, they will eventually have to hire for that spot again, or ultimately not have to worry about hiring for that spot due to their business closing.

I challenge you to rethink the way you are interviewing and hiring for your retail staff.   The people you hire are directly responsible for how the public views your business.     Passionate people are contagious and will rub off on your customer, creating passionate customers.    Passionate people are fun to listen to and are amazing to watch in action.    Retail is all about the experience these days and your people are a big part of the experience.

Or you could just keep hiring the people you are hiring now and retire early as your competition grows bigger and the door bell on your shop door stops ringing.

Seth Godin had an interesting post on the failure of systems.

The problems with systems?

1. if you rely on them too much, your people stop trying, and your hiring people realize they don’t have to get such great people.
2. sooner or later, it’s going to get copied by the competition. It’s a lot easier to copy a system than it is to get great people.

Systems are meant to control something.   In sales, while you want a little control as possible to provide your sales people the ability to be able to close the sale.   The more control or structure you add to the sales process, the less likely your sales people will be able to close the sales that fall outside that structure.  So what does this have to do with retail?

Go shop at a big box retailer and I guarantee that you will experience the following:

• You will be offered an extended warranty plan
• You will be offered a credit card plan
• You will be offered at least 3 accessories that match with your product.

Retailers have created a system that they train each and every new employee to follow with every customer.    A series of steps that is supposed to take the customer from initial greeting to the end of the transaction.

As Seth stated, the biggest problem with a system like this is that it creates a lack of creativity in the sales process.   Instead of trying to hire people that can be dynamic in the sale process and manage the sales process, they hire people who can follow the sales process.     I call these people Glorified Clerks not sales people.   They don’t understand what they are doing, they are simply following the steps.  With the right management, some of these may turn into good salespeople but more often than not Glorified Clerks burn out and move on.

Here the typical sales system in retail doesn’t work

• Customers are not dumb.  They will figure out your sales process after they shop a few times with you an start avoiding the steps.    This will result in your sale people losing sales because the customer isn’t following the rules anymore.
• Customers don’t know your sales process and will often move out of the path.  A poor salesperson cannot react quick enough and you end up losing the sale.
• And to Seth’s Point, it is easy to copy so your competition can create a sales process that counters yours, at take the sale away from you.

My recommendations:

• Create a process as a path, but allow your sale people to make dynamic decisions based on each transaction.   Give them guidelines not rules.
• Don’t manage to the process, manage to the sales persons behavior.  Your salesperson is the best judge of when something should be offered to the customer.   Manage to the results at the end of the month.   Use the steps in the process as guideposts not as a track that the there is deviation from.
• Don’t micromanage a process but do perform on the spot or curbside coaching.
• Reward creativity in the sales process.  If it is ethical, moral and legal and accomplishes the ultimate goal of making a sale, is it really a bad thing?

Does this mean that all sales systems are bad?  No, it just means that you shouldn’t create a sales strategy that is based on your team following the steps of a system.

Recently, I read a book that should be on every managers reading list today.   Drive by Dan Pink.     In his book, Dan discusses the fact that everything we believe about motivating today’s worker is wrong.   Carrots and Sticks don’t drive better performance, in fact they drive lower performance in your top producers.        Over my last 20 years of managing teams, I was never a big person for sales contests and rewards for top performers, and now I know why.      This is great book that discusses the differences between today’s knowledge worker and yesterday’s factory workers and how to manage their success without killing their motivation.    This book can help you exceed your goals and possibly save your company some money that is being wasted trying to drive higher sales performance.

Buy the book and read it.    And if you don’t have the time or are itching to learn more, please watch the video below.    It was created based on a talk that Dan Pink gave at RSA and animated in a way that brings the talk alive.