torecigar.blogg.se - First time manager challenges

And they have a tremendous need for quick creative ideas. In almost every case, the sales manager was new and hadn't been trained on all aspects of sales leadership. New managers get SLAMMED! with many new challenges. KEN THORESON: At Acumen, we've worked with hundreds of clients in trouble because of a previous or existing one sales manager. Tell me why you chose that description? And this topic? If you've recently moved into a sales management position, or are hoping it'll be your next career move, read on. I was working harder than ever, but barely seeing the results. It was a real wake-up call – and very frustrating. I'll never forget when I was first promoted into management.

He just came out with a new book called, SLAMMED!!! For the First Time Sales Manager. Any accessible document like GoogleDoc would do, as long as you supplement it with more detailed insights of their performance.Recently I sat down to talk with Ken Thoreson, president of Acumen Management.

From the start, keep track of the team’s progress.

People should be given an opportunity to course-correct, and on-the-spot feedback could help them with that. Frequently, managers wait for too long and use performance review cycles to do it.

When you need to deliver negative feedback, don’t prolong it.

I was initially unprepared and thus was not able to help my team as much as I wanted. To be a successful manager, you should excel in your soft skills.

Soft skills are people skills, and managing a team equals managing people.

Also, I was torn between supporting team members to be autonomous and figuring out how to keep track of all their activities. Before I started to track what they were doing meticulously, I was often left to my own guessing. I was initially quite perplexed with finding a way to gather accurate information on people’s performance. You have to learn how to deal with people, have them accept it as a gift, and help them overcome being defensive and argumentative. However, my practice involved other people. As it turned out, delivering negative feedback is never easy, no matter how much you practice it. I had to learn it on the fly, and though I read some books and articles, nothing could replace the firsthand interaction with people. I am naturally not a person that finds hard conversations pleasant, but what made my acquiring of the skill even more difficult was a lack of guidelines. It took me some time to understand how to advocate for my team’s interest, how to discuss priorities, and become more vocal in demanding visibility and recognition. Furthermore, I had to learn to communicate with other teams, ensure alignment and encourage collaboration. I barely knew what they were doing and how my work was impacting theirs. When I was an IC, I was only focused on the task at hand, without worrying how my work would impact other teams.

Only by stepping into the manager role was I able to start practicing and honing some of my soft skills. Most engineers lack adequate opportunities to develop their soft skills, and my situation was no different. Surely, they were important, but being a manager requires a different set of skills. I was surprised that my technical competencies were not of much use in my new role. I somewhat put myself in that role without much understanding what were the things I should pay attention to or deal with first. I started to do one-on-ones, and as I was trying to help my teammates, I gradually started to communicate with management and lateral teams, asking for their support and guidance. Then, as always, hiring an EM externally was anything but easy, and being the most senior one, I stepped in during the interim period. When my former manager left the company, I remained the most senior person on the team.