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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Coach salespeople into sales champions The secret to developing a strong sales leader isn't more training--it's better training. In Coaching Sales Leaders into Sales Champions, Keith Rosen answers the questions on how to coach, when to coach, and why training fails without it. Inside, you'll discover the author's updated L.E.A.D.S. Coaching Framework, which is used by the world's top organizations to get any sales and management team to perform better--fast. Winner of five International Best Book Awards and a #1 bestselling management book on Amazon, this is your tactical, step-by-step playbook for any sales leaders looking to get the very most out of their team. * Boost sales, productivity, and personal accountability * Achieve a long-term ROI from coaching by ensuring it's woven into your daily rhythm of business * Design, launch, and sustain a successful internal coaching program * Build deeper trust and handle difficult conversations by creating alignment around each person's goals and your objectives The best salespeople are the ones who never lose their drive to succeed--and this book gives you the tools you need to help them not only meet but surpass their goals.
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Seitenzahl: 446
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018
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Table of Contents
COVER
PREFACE: The Power of Why
CREATE THE UNIFIED
WHY
WHY ARE YOU A LEADER?
SUPPORTING YOUR QUEST FOR COACHING GREATNESS
CHAPTER 1: Preparing for the Cultural Evolution
WHAT'S YOUR BUSINESS DNA?
BURN THE BRIDGE OF MEDIOCRITY
EXAMINING CULTURE
PREPARING FOR YOUR CULTURAL EVOLUTION
PREPARING FOR YOUR CULTURAL JOURNEY
CAN'T CHANGE YOUR COMPANY'S CULTURE? CREATE A SUBCULTURE INSTEAD
STOP SELLING, START COACHING
CHAPTER 2: L.E.A.D.S.: Your Guiding Framework for Transformational Coaching
QUESTIONS ARE THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
A UNIVERSAL DEFINITION OF COACHING
THE REVISED L.E.A.D.S. MODEL FOR MASTERFUL COACHING
HOW TO COACH IN 10 MINUTES OR LESS
COACHING SIMPLIFIED: THE ONLY THREE COACHING GAPS YOU'LL EVER UNCOVER
CHAPTER 3: The L.E.A.D.S. Coaching Model at Work
DIRECTIVE COACHING IS NOT A THING
USING THE L.E.A.D.S. COACHING MODEL
THE COST OF NOT COACHING
COACHING VERSUS TRAINING: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
CHAPTER 4: How to Coach in 10 Minutes or Less
“COACHING TAKES TOO LONG”
THE FIVE PARTS OF THE 60‐SECOND COACHING QUESTION
IMPROMPTU SITUATIONAL COACHING—THE ABCS OF LEADERSHIP
TEAM COACHING OR TEAM MEETINGS?
CHAPTER 5: Tools to Manage the Coaching Process and Assess Results
THE REVISED COACHING PREP FORM
ARE YOU REVIEWING RESULTS OR PERFORMANCE?
CHAPTER 6: Transforming Critical Conversations into Positive Change and Measurable Results
THE HARD TRUTH
COACH AND BE HAPPY
RESIGN AS CHIEF PROBLEM SOLVER
CHAPTER 7: Creating Unity, Trust, and Buy‐In: The Art of Enrollment
WHAT IS ENROLLMENT?
EVERYONE LOVES CONFRONTATION
THE SIX STEPS OF ENROLLMENT
COACHING VERSUS ENROLLMENT: THE DIFFERENCE AND SYNERGY
HOW TO DESTROY TRUST AND ISOLATE YOUR TEAM
THE COST OF NOT ENROLLING
MANAGE EXPECTATIONS WITH PRECISION: A DIFFERENT KIND OF CONVERSATION
CHAPTER 8: Seven Essential Enrollment Conversations That Create Companywide Alignment
PREPARE YOUR PEOPLE FOR CHANGE
A SUBTLE DISTINCTION
CHAPTER 9: Coach Tracks: Turn Difficult Situations into Coaching Wins
CONVERSATION #1: ELIMINATING DEPARTMENTAL AND INTERPERSONAL SILOS
CONVERSATION #2: INHERITING AN EXISTING TEAM
CONVERSATION #3: PEER YESTERDAY, BOSS TODAY: CHANGING ROLES FROM PEER TO BOSS
CONVERSATION #4: THE REVISED 30‐DAY TURNAROUND STRATEGY FOR UNDERPERFORMERS
CONVERSATION #5: THE EVOLUTION OF THE 30‐DAY TURNAROUND STRATEGY: THE SUCCESS ACCELERATION PROGRAM
CHAPTER 10: Mindful Coaching: The Inner Game of Coaching Champions
ASSUMPTIONS IN COMMUNICATION
COACH THE WRITTEN MESSAGE
COACHING THE ELUSIVE TOPIC OF TIME MANAGEMENT AND PERSONAL PRODUCTIVITY
COACHING A TOP PRODUCER TO CHANGE THEIR TOXIC ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR
CAN YOU COACH FEAR AND CONFIDENCE?
CHAPTER 11: Know Your Players: Transforming Talent Through Observation and Feedback
THREE WAYS TO UNCOVER THE GAP
COACH THE PERSON, NOT THE SPREADSHEET
SHARING AN OBSERVATION VERSUS DEVELOPING SOMEONE: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
CHAPTER 12: 15 Common Coaching Killers That Sabotage Coaching Success
TOXIC TACTIC #1: NINE PAINFULLY STUPID, DISEMPOWERING WORDS TO STOP USING
TOXIC TACTIC #2: ARE YOU COACHING PEOPLE OR CLOSING THEM?
TOXIC TACTIC #3: COACHING IN YOUR OWN IMAGE
TOXIC TACTIC #4: LIVING EVERYWHERE BUT NOW
TOXIC TACTIC #5: COACHING MULTIPLE GAPS AT A TIME
TOXIC TACTIC #6: DOUBLE‐DIPPING ON QUESTIONS
TOXIC TACTIC #7: COACHING IS FOR LOSERS
TOXIC TACTIC #8: IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT COACHING QUESTION
TOXIC TACTIC #9: CARING TOO MUCH
TOXIC TACTIC #10: IS EVERYONE TRULY COACHABLE?
TOXIC TACTIC #11: THE COACHEE ANSWERS THE QUESTION—NOT YOU!
TOXIC TACTIC #12: GETTING SUCKERED BY THESE TWO COMMON PHRASES
TOXIC TACTIC #13: THINKING YOU'RE SUPER COACH
TOXIC TACTIC #14: LOSING PATIENCE IN COACHING
A GPS FOR YOUR PATIENCE
TOXIC TACTIC #15: DISHONORING THE ABCS OF LEADERSHIP
CHAPTER 13: Culture‐Shift: Sustaining The Habit of Coaching
SIX STRATEGIES TO NOURISH THE COACHING HABIT AND PRESERVE YOUR COACHING CULTURE
1. PEER‐TO‐PEER COACHING
2. CROSS‐TEAM COACHING AND OBSERVATION
3. MONTHLY COACHING MINDSHARE SESSIONS
4. GET YOUR OWN COACH
5. CREATE COACHING EVANGELISTS
6. LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY OR BUILD RECIPROCATED ACCOUNTABILITY
PART I: YOUR JOURNEY BEGINS HERE
CHAPTER 14: The Final Transformation
16 FINAL GUIDING PRINCIPLES TO BECOME A COACHING PRODIGY
APPENDIX: Seven Steps to Creating a Top Performing Coaching Culture
Become the Model of Exemplary Sales Leadership
BRING THIS COACHING HABIT AND FRAMEWORK INTO YOUR COMPANY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
INDEX
END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
List of Tables
Chapter 3
TABLE 3.1 Training versus Coaching
Chapter 4
TABLE 4.1 Situational versus Scheduled Coaching
List of Illustrations
Chapter 2
FIGURE 2.1 The L.E.A.D.S. Coaching Framework.
Chapter 7
FIGURE 7.1 Differentiating Between Coaching and Enrollment.
Chapter 8
FIGURE 8.1 Top Five Values and Priorities.
Chapter 11
FIGURE 11.1 Identifying Gaps and Offering Observations.
Chapter 12
FIGURE 12.1 The Vicious Cycle of Closing Instead of Coaching.
FIGURE 12.2 Coach One Gap at a Time.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
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E1
PRAISE FOR SALES LEADERSHIP
“This book will open your eyes, your mind, your time and your calendar, so you can get control of your day, create company‐wide alignment, and focus on the most important activity for every sales leader – the ongoing support and development of your team through consistent coaching.”
Tony Owens, President at Salesforce
“Keith guides you on the path to become an exceptional leader who communicates, coaches and creates sales champions, as well as the future leaders of your organization. Read it. Practice it. Apply it. Then, keep it on your desk as your personal playbook to continually develop your most important leadership habit – effective coaching.”
Nathan Stone, Country Manager – Canada, New Business Sales, Google
“A succinct and practical guide for getting the best from others and yourself that every people leader needs to refer to daily. If you want to become a transformational leader, this book paves the path for you.”
David Jullo, Country Leader EMEA, Microsoft
“Keith focuses on both the skill set and the mindset to create a simple, clear and intuitive path to become a transformational leader, and provides simple, yet highly effective questions that are sure to deliver value in every interaction. His intuitive, LEADS Coaching Framework needs to be the starting point in every conversation, and can easily become your entire organization's rhythm of business so coaching becomes a natural, healthy and essential habit for every leader!”
Channing Ferrer, VP, Sales Strategy and Operations, HubSpot
“Culture is not just important, it is everything. It is the code that binds every company together in the toughest of times; when our true character stands out. Sales Leadership is your fundamental guide to the journey of becoming a great leader that will lead to building a top performing team. This book is a compelling – comprehensive manual guide for building a high performance commercial team. I felt like Keith was reading my mind, as the content answers my most relevant leadership questions.”
Julio Cesar Silva, Head of Sales, AstraZeneca
“There's the typical communication that dominates most organizations, then there's communicating like a compassionate, influential leader. Keith's book teaches you to become not only a strategic, coach and thinker, but a strategic, intentional communicator who truly inspires positive change. Even after decades of my own experience as a senior executive, Sales Leadership has provided new insights in how to best support my team and organization to more effectively achieve our business objectives.”
Scott Bell, Regional Vice President, Volkswagen Group of America
“Keith's framework around the ‘Art of Enrollment' particularly jumped out as a critical conversation to creating the alignment and buy‐in needed around sales coaching, as well as the company vision, business objectives and agile change. By weaving in some proven leadership strategies through artful storytelling and practical examples, Sales Leadership is a book for the sales manager who truly wants to create a thriving sales culture and make a difference.””
Robert A. David, Berkley, Director of Corporate Education, University of California, Berkeley
“Sales Leadership is not just for sales leaders. This is a visionary book for every leader and salesperson. Keith is spot on regarding how the next generation of top salespeople are going to coach their customers, and this book shows you how. It's packed with concrete steps on what it takes to transform from a spreadsheet manager and into an authentic sales leader, how to effectively coach to each person's individuality and motivations that align personal goals with our business objectives, and so much more. Truly a game changer.”
Al Guido, President at San Francisco 49ers and CEO of Elevate Sports Ventures
“This book is even more insightful, more specific with the “how to's”, and even more enlightened. Keith's global tours and vast amount of direct experience in this coaching arena have made him an expert and a bit of an oracle on the concepts. One should not doubt him, one should pay attention and execute to what he offers.”
Mitch Little, V.P. WW Sales & Applications, Microchip Technology Inc., Author of Shiftability
“Keith's personal experiences made the book relevant, and accurately reflected a global leadership point of view that is refreshingly effective.”
Thomas de Buhr, Managing Director, Twitter Germany
“As a sales leader, I have sought to help my teams in a simple direct and pragmatic way to guide them to their success. But coaching sales organizations that is simple conceptually is not always easy to implement, or at least until I met Keith Rosen. With this new book and the evolution of Keith's approach to sales coaching, this complex but necessary skill is even simpler and easier to implement and use all day, every day, supporting your sales teams to be motivated and successful.”
Giuseppe Rossi, Vice President, Solution Sales EMEA, CA Technologies
“Anyone who wants to help their team do the best work of their careers not only needs to read this book but should have it on the corner of their desk for daily reference. If you want to know how to exponentially transform your team, culture and results, follow Keith's prescriptive coaching advice and templates without hesitation. I have, and it's evident in the success of our company's results and engagement scores. With this follow on to Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions, the new playbook is complete, thorough, exact and off‐the‐chart insightful.”
David Turner, CEO, Contegix
“Every leadership book does not apply to sales leadership. Salespeople are uniquely special, and the lifeline of every business. They need to be trained, coached, respected and supported in a way that aligns with their sales DNA and individuality. Keith has created a coaching code designed by and for salespeople that's sure to optimize performance, loyalty, and retention. Clearly the best book on sales leadership I've seen in a decade.”
Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder and CEO, Selling Power
“This is the most practical coaching framework I've seen, especially for busy sales leaders. No filler, or abstract theory that you have to decipher to apply. You'll find the questions and tools can be easily applied in every conversation, every day. An insightful and knowledgeable guide, full of everything you need to know on how to coach your team to excellence – and become the leader you want to be.”
Frédéric Chauvire, Vice President EMEA North General Business and Channel at SAP
“Keith has beautifully captured what caring, busy managers can do to avoid impatience, frustration and instead, to make coaching actually easy and impactful, and their own jobs more fulfilling. Exceptional companies and leaders realize that to ignite engagement, innovation and growth, the ability to execute and over‐perform requires the right coaching conversations and a supportive culture. Keith lays out in practical detail, not only how to implement a successful coaching initiative but also provides practical guidance to ensure you and your company are adequately prepared to do so.”
Simon Frewer, Global Director of Sales & Marketing Solutions (“Challenger” practice) and Talent Development Practices at CEB/Gartner
“Implementing Keith's Sales Leadership playbook will drive the success and scalability of your team to achieve superior results, while making every manager's job easier. The templates and coaching talk tracks to handle the essential management conversations, especially the difficult ones, will help you develop happy, productive people who enjoy coming to work.”
Colleen Honan, Chief Sales Officer, Brainshark
“Keith Rosen has written a must‐read guide for every sales leader regardless of industry or organization. In our fast‐paced business, being able to productively coach anyone in 15 minutes, 5 minutes or using just one defining question, Sales Leadership accelerates greater results.”
Vincent Lombardo, Chief Sales Officer at Heartland Payment Systems
“When everyone is effectively coaching and unconditionally supporting each other That's when you know a healthy coaching culture has emerged. Sales Leadership is the best book ever written on how to do it well. This book is the ultimate reference guide to drive maximum performance and engagement.”
Conor Gleeson, VP Alliances and Channel, Oracle Direct, EMEA
“The days of, “I promoted my top rep to manager and they're struggling” are over, when you make your salespeople great coaches. The way companies make purchasing decisions is continually evolving, which is why your salespeople and managers need to transform into influential, outstanding coaches. Keith shares a simple, yet effective strategies every leader needs to become a great coach, and his magic is in showing the how around what great coaching sounds like – with proven tactics and techniques to make you a better leader, whether you're a salesperson, new manager or a seasoned veteran.”
Tony Rodoni, Executive Vice President, Salesforce
“As a Vice President of Sales for both Oracle and Microsoft for over 20 years, I've had the fortune of leading the greatest sales teams in the technology industry. I've read all the sales leadership books you can think of and have sponsored all the sales and leadership trainings you can imagine. Many of these books and workshops were written or delivered by people who never lived in the trenches. Zero scars. Keith is different. He gets it. As VP of Sales at Microsoft, I hosted Keith multiple times to work with my sales leaders. He connected with them with his unique approach that inspired and motivated them into taking action. Results? He turned my sales leaders into great coaches that developed sales champions. Our C‐ level relationships and revenue results during this time speak for themselves. Number one team in the country multiple times. His new book, Sales Leadership, takes this critical role and coaching conversation to another level. I'm proud to say that Keith has been an Executive Sales Coach for me. I strongly recommend this book. His coaching and workshops changed the game for our teams at Microsoft. Lastly, his approach is not limited to sales Leaders. Keith's approach is for anyone who has the honor, privilege and responsibility to help others grow and succeed.”
John Fikany, CEO The Fikany Group, previous VP of Sales for Microsoft and Oracle
“Being a great leader takes much more than leveraging a coaching framework and developing your coaching acumen. It's the inner game of leadership, the mindset and way of being that expands your thinking to create that coaching magic and exceptional results you never thought possible. Before you change your behavior and the outcome, you need to change your mindset, and this book coaches you to do so flawlessly. Keith's authentic, honest, candid and caring approach to coaching is exactly how to coach individuals rather than manage a team uncover powerful coaching moments that often go unnoticed.”
Vala Afshar, Chief Digital Evangelist at Salesforce
SALES LEADERSHIP
The Essential Leadership Framework to Coach Sales Champions, Inspire Excellence, and Exceed Your Business Goals
KEITH ROSEN
Copyright © 2018 by Keith Rosen. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
If you want to buy a bunch of these books to share this gift with others, we can help. We can also co‐brand and customize this book specifically for you or your organization and you may even qualify for a complimentary workshop with Keith.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per‐copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750–8400, fax (978) 646–8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748–6011, fax (201) 748–6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762–2974, outside the United States at (317) 572–3993 or fax (317) 572–4002.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print‐on‐demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e‐books or in print‐on‐demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com. For more information on Keith Rosen, visit www.KeithRosen.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data:
Names: Rosen, Keith, author.
Title: Sales leadership: The essential leadership framework to coach sales champions, inspire excellence, and exceed your business goals / Keith Rosen.
Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2018] | Includes index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2018022526 (print) | LCCN 2018025346 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119483243 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781119483274 (ePub) | ISBN 9781119483250 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Sales force management. | Employees—Coaching of. Classification: LCC HF5439.5 (ebook) | LCC HF5439.5 .R669 2018 (print) | DDC 658.3/1245—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018022526
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: © kyoshino / iStockphoto
To my extraordinary wife, best friend, and soul mate, Lori, and my three miraculous children, Jessica, Nicole, and Jett, you are the center of my universe and fill my life with meaning, laughter, joy, fulfillment, peace, and purpose. My life is truly perfect because of you. Thank you for your patience, support, and for tolerating me through this writing process so that I can honor my commitment and passion to making the world a better place, one person at a time.
You will forever be my guiding light, my inspiration, my reason for living, and what keeps me focused on the priorities that truly matter most in life. I love you deeply and forever.
PREFACEThe Power of Why
Years ago, there lived a wise and noble king. The king lived a happy life with his beautiful wife. A few years after their marriage, his wife got sick and died soon after. Unfortunately, this tragedy occurred before having children, leaving the king to rule the kingdom alone.
While devastated by the loss of his wife, the king stayed true to his commitment to rule with honor and take care of the people in his kingdom.
The love for his wife was so strong, the king couldn't bear the thought of ever getting married again. As the years passed, having no children of his own, the king knew the time would come when he would have to find the right man who, upon his death, would take his place as king. Since there was no bloodline and no son who could rightfully take the king's place, he called upon the people of the kingdom to help him find a suitable heir to the throne. The king knew there would have to be a test of some sort that would help identify the most promising candidate.
One day, while the king was taking a stroll through the countryside, he came upon a massive sinkhole that must have been about 750 meters long and 100 meters wide. “I've got it!” exclaimed the king. “I know the test that would help me identify the next king.” And with that, he quickly returned to the castle to share his idea with his advisors. The very next day, the king issued a decree throughout the kingdom. “Come one, come all. In three weeks' time, those who feel worthy enough to take my place will meet in the town square to demonstrate why they should be heir to the kingdom.”
The day finally arrived. Thousands of people had traveled for miles from every corner of the kingdom to reach the town square, each carrying the dream of being chosen as the heir to the throne.
The king took these promising candidates out to the countryside to show them what he had found. “Here is the question that, if answered correctly, will earn you the rightful place as our next king.”
Pointing to the massive hole, he simply asked, “What should I do?”
After several days and hundreds of responses later, no one had yet to come up with the right answer. Repeatedly, the king would hear the same responses. “Fill it with rocks and dirt.” “Fill it with water.” “Build a bridge across the sinkhole.” “Build a wall around it.” “Put warning signs around the sinkhole.” “Make it a graveyard.” “Fortify it.” “Camouflage the sinkhole to protect us from our enemies.” While some of these may be interesting ideas, none of them were the answer the king was hoping for.
Two days went by. The king was getting discouraged, wondering if anyone was capable of thinking and acting like a successful king. As the number of candidates dwindled to a remaining few, it was time for one young man to answer the king's question; a poor farm boy from the countryside who was ridiculed by those older and wiser than he for even considering the possibility of becoming king. “So,” the king began with a disheartened and skeptical tone. “What should I do?”
The young man hesitated for a moment and then responded with, “Why do anything?”
Suddenly, the king's disposition changed. He looked at the young man and asked with hope, “Why? When everyone else advised me what I could do with the sinkhole, why are you the only one not to advise me at all, nor tell me what I should do? Why do you come to me with only a simple question?”
The young man respectfully answered. “Because I cannot answer your question, my king. I don't know your why. Until I understand not only what you want to do, but also why you want to do anything and what your intentions are, only then can we start to formulate the vision of your desired outcome and how we can go about creating it, even if you decide to do nothing.”
How insightful! Instead of telling the king what he would do, this young man simply presented the king with one question, a question so simple yet so powerful and often overlooked.
Why? After all, how could this young man align and collaborate effectively with the king if he didn't understand the king's motivations, intentions, and the why behind his beliefs, actions, opinions, decisions, behavior, goals, or values?
“Congratulations,” exclaimed the king. “You are the next heir to the throne of our kingdom.”
The town was shocked. The elders of the town questioned the king. “Why this boy?”
To which the king replied, “I never wanted to fix anything. That was not my intention. Everyone came to me with a solution to fix what they assumed was a problem that needed fixing. They never took the time to uncover and understand my why or my desired intentions and point of view.
“This young man was the only one who was insightful enough to seek out my intention—my point of view—and uncover my why,” the king concluded.
CREATE THE UNIFIED WHY
The key to being a great leader is understanding what your people want and expect from you, but more important, why they want it. When leading your team to a shared goal and vision, they need to understand not only what they need to do but also why they are doing it and what's in it for them, so they can see how they personally benefit.
To set and manage people's expectations and create alignment in thinking and action requires understanding people's why, who they are, their values, goals, and their intentions, while ensuring they are aligned with the company's why. This is what it takes to transform the culture and performance of any organization. What would it mean to you, your team, and to your organization if you could achieve companywide, unified alignment in thinking and action?
These leadership principles apply in every area of our lives. And when leading an organization or a team, when you can discover and articulate your collective why, only then can you harness the power of coaching as a cornerstone to develop your champion team and create a shared vision and a healthy, top‐performing culture.
What you do, what you sell, and what value you provide is the by‐product. The journey to cultural greatness begins with why, your one clear thing or vision. Your beacon. Why you do what you do is the essence of who you and your company are—your values, goals, and priorities as an individual and as a unified organization.
Which eloquently transitions our conversation to the first of many self‐reflective questions I'll be asking you.
WHY ARE YOU A LEADER?
It's one of the first questions I ask when working with a management team. On one end of the spectrum, managers tell me, “Keith, one day my boss came to me and asked if I wanted to be a manager. And poof! Just like that, I became a manager. No training or onboarding, of course. Just a scorecard, a quota, and a whole bunch of responsibilities.”
On the other end of the spectrum, regardless of what country or company I'm in, managers in every position report that they became a leader because the following priorities and core values are important to them.
Making an impact by being a trusted advisor and guiding people down the best path for their career.
Developing people to help them succeed and observing them advance in a career they love.
Achieving team goals that are bigger than the one.
Family, contribution, life balance, integrity, patience, living in the moment.
Helping people achieve things they didn't think were possible.
When asked what values they compromise most due to the pressure to perform and do their job well, they listed:
Making an impact by being a trusted advisor and guiding people down the best path for their career.
Developing people to help them succeed and observing them advance in a career they love.
Achieving team goals that are bigger than the one.
Family, contribution, life balance, integrity, patience, living in the moment.
Helping people achieve things they didn't think were possible.
There's a big problem. Managers are super conflicted in their role between what's asked of them and what's expected, while honoring who they are and their values.
New systems, processes, or technology do not transform your organization; they help manage it. That's why you must start by transforming your people. To create collective alignment and a shared vision and direction, you need to understand, respect, and support everyone's why. It is the impetus to a successful cultural transformation and to opening the door to your ideal kingdom. Here's to becoming the king of your domain. Well, maybe not king, but definitely a world‐class leader.
SUPPORTING YOUR QUEST FOR COACHING GREATNESS
Since writing Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions in 2008, I've had the privilege of working with managers on five continents and in over 75 countries. This inspired me to further develop and refine what is now considered to be the top, universally applied coaching model used by the world's leading sales organizations.
Sales Leadership is the result of my 10‐year global quest to discover how to ignite unprecedented human achievement by developing leadership titans. Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions was the first book of its kind that poured the foundation for coaching mastery. Sales Leadership further supports your journey to become an elite leader and trailblazing coach, reinforced by stories from across the world. In fact, you'll be thrilled to know that this book and the revised L.E.A.D.S. coaching framework will enable every busy, caring manager to have effective coaching conversations in 10 minutes or less!
FROM THE SIDELINES
I use the words, coach, manager, boss, and leader synonymously throughout this book. Why? Because at the end of the day, you're still responsible for your business objectives. However, the best managers are the best leaders. They encapsulate all of the great qualities and competencies of a manager, leader, and coach, including the language of leadership—coaching. Title means nothing, nor does it denote or exemplify your character and true value. It's who you are, your actions, and how you show up that counts.
Regardless of your position, experience, or industry, implementing the strategies throughout this book will make you part of the next generation of leaders who do remarkable things.
This leads us into the first chapter of our journey, where we begin to answer the question: Why is coaching the lynchpin that will either lead you and your company to greatness or toward mediocrity and inevitable failure?
CHAPTER 1Preparing for the Cultural Evolution
People create the mindset, mindset shapes behavior, behavior defines culture, and ultimately, culture determines success. That's why the primary business objective is to make your people more valuable.
WHAT'S YOUR BUSINESS DNA?
We were ending the second day working with a team of managers in Beijing, China. During every program I deliver, I want to ensure that expectations are met, know what their biggest learning moment is, and capture their commitment after our time together was over. This is necessary to make sure that what we worked on becomes embedded in the way the managers lead and coach.
As we went around the room, Pierre, one of the managers, paused to share a horrific experience he had just a week earlier.
“I received some disturbing news from our corporate office last week. During last month's quarterly senior leadership meeting, Chan, one of the VPs had a heart attack in the middle of the meeting. Of course, we called an ambulance immediately. Within minutes, he was rushed to the hospital.
“As you can imagine, everyone else in the meeting was extremely concerned about Chan. And yet, the meeting continued. Reports were reviewed. Business plans evaluated. Priorities reaffirmed. Team performance and scorecards assessed.
“An hour passed. The hospital called the main office to share the devastating news. Chan had died moments after arriving at the hospital.”
While there's nothing worse than the sudden and untimely passing of a good person, here's what I found most troublesome about this horrific story. The administrator from the hospital asked one of the other VPs in that meeting, “Who would be the proper family member to contact and let them know about Chan's death?”
Ten people were in that meeting. Some of them had worked together for over 12 years. And yet, when the hospital administrator asked how to contact Chan's family, not one person in the room had an answer.
No one really knew who Chan was. They knew him as an employee and a peer, but certainly not as a human being. It's a disturbing story, but it's one we can all learn from.
Think about your company. Think about your team, your peers, your customers. How much do you really know about them, personally? How much time and attention do you invest in fostering a deeper connection with people?
Keeping HR compliance in mind, do you really know the people you work with?
I can't think of anyone who would want to work at a company like Chan's. The sad truth is, there's a good chance most people already do.
BURN THE BRIDGE OF MEDIOCRITY
Countless studies detail the business impact that effective coaching has on performance, productivity, attitude, employee engagement, and of course, company culture. Which is why I won't be focusing on any of that.
Data isn't going to help you create a coaching culture, but it clearly shows that you need one.
THE SCATHING TRUTH
What about those companies that do not have fantastic DNA? How can struggling and great companies alike achieve enduring success?
If you want to change the face of your business, you need to alter the most fundamental composition of your organization. To do so, every employee must focus their thoughts, listening, and attention on the heartbeat of the business, which comes not from products and services, but from people.
FROM THE SIDELINES
While Chapter 1 focuses on what needs to be present to launch a companywide coaching initiative, it also applies to building your team's culture. The rest of the book focuses on you, and your transformation into a world‐class leader and coach so you can develop champions. That includes deep dives into skill set and mindset development, talk tracks or coach tracks, and templates that will make you and your team best‐in‐class.
CHOOSE NO INITIATIVE OVER A FAILED INITIATIVE
Every time you put profit over people, the promise of improving the work environment will fail. Employees will perceive any course you roll out or coaching offered as an event‐based flavor of the month. Your good intentions to develop people into champions become overshadowed by the company's underlying, self‐serving agenda to achieve business objectives.
The frustration rises on both sides.
Company leaders:
“We just invested in our people! They should be following what they learned.”
Your Employees:
“Nothing new here. The company was hot on coaching this month, but it's always going to be about the results. Things always go back to the way they were.”
No traction is created, no positive change can be sustained, and cultures inevitably backslide into a fear‐based, results‐driven workplace. The additional cost of a failed initiative is that companies learn the wrong lesson: that coaching doesn't work.
So what's the secret to developing a thriving, top‐performing coaching culture that people want to be part of? How do you prepare any company for this transformational journey? How do you prevent it from being just another fleeting idea due to the cultural volatility that exists within your company?
Before we answer this question, let's create some alignment around the definition of culture.
EXAMINING CULTURE
Merriam‐Webster's dictionary defines culture as, “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group. The characteristic features of everyday existence shared by people in a place or time.”
This definition applies to any organized group, such as universities, networking events, trade associations, conferences, social networks, nonprofits, a neighborhood fitness center, and even governments. It seems we're all part of and operate in a variety of cultures as we move through the world around us.
BOARDROOM OR BOREDROOM: DEFINING CORPORATE CULTURE
The infamously stodgy word corporate refers to the collective body that makes up any organization. Merriam‐Webster's definition of culture also includes:
b: the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization; a corporate culture focused on the bottom line; c: the set of values, or social practices associated with a field, activity, or societal characteristic … d) the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.
THE COMPANY ECOSYSTEM
Many pieces must be addressed to solve this cultural puzzle. It's an environment that encapsulates a shared feeling, belief system, attitude, and set of values. Culture dictates how people should behave, perform, and treat one another.
Every company's culture exists within a network of unique individuals engaging and interacting with each other. A healthy culture is a consistent culture—especially in the face of adversity. It's one where people feel their workplace, like their home, is a safe place to live by their values and authentically express themselves.
People live within the culture of their company. Ultimately, it determines their fulfillment, growth, purpose, contributions, success, quality of life, and peace of mind.
WHEN COMPANY AND PERSONAL VALUES CLASH
Does your company culture reflect your people and their personal values? Are your people a reflection of your culture? Does the attitude and behavior within your organization reflect your desired culture? Does your culture reflect not just your corporate vision but your team vision, as well as your team's and your personal vision and values?
COACHING CONUNDRUM
There is no more line between work and life. There's just life! So, if you're not honoring and living your values at work, then you're compromising your integrity by not fully living your values in life.
Companies and leaders with good intentions struggle to break free from the monotony of their current business because they face the daily pressures of metrics, performance expectations, quotas, employee challenges, customer needs, deadlines, hiring, forecasting, emails, impromptu meetings, employee development, reporting—the list runs on.
Inevitably, the reversion to a dysfunctional culture is a by‐product of the primary directive: to achieve results.
MINDFUL MOMENT
Having a shared company consciousness is the same as having a shared vision.
YOU'RE NOT COACHING EFFECTIVELY
Like most leaders, you've probably had some exposure to coaching, either through a book, a keynote, a half‐day coaching workshop, or a full‐blown course. Unfortunately, the majority of managers now think they know how to coach. If only it were that easy! The following story illustrates this common misconception.
As a newly promoted manager, Carlos was excited about his position and was already a huge advocate of coaching. As you could imagine, Carlos was thrilled when his boss told him they were going to start scheduling one‐to‐one coaching sessions, the first one being next Monday.
Immediately, Carlos began preparing. When Monday finally arrived, Carlos sat down with his boss for their first coaching session. As Carlos began sharing some of his goals and challenges, his boss sat, apparently engaged, listening, even asking some leading, closed‐ended questions along the way.
After Carlos explained one challenge he was experiencing with one of his sales reps, the first bit of coaching Carlos received started with: Here's what you should do …
This isn't coaching! Did you catch the punchline? Many people don't. Some managers think coaching entails listening and asking a few questions, then giving the answer. As we journey throughout this book, you'll be reading many similar conversations that portray managers as ineffective, directive, and manipulative.
There are four main reasons why managers don't coach:
They think they're coaching but they're not.
This inevitably leads managers to learn the wrong lessons. A telltale sign is a manager who says things like, “Coaching doesn't work,” “Sometimes you have to just tell them what to do, which is much easier,” or, my favorite, “Coaching just takes too long.”
They had awful training.
Sometimes managers go through terrible coaching training. They do everything they were told to, but it doesn't work, so they assume coaching doesn't fit the culture.
There is no companywide alignment on what coaching is and how to do it.
There is no plan or process to ensure consistent, effective coaching.
They're not being effectively coached themselves.
In fact, coaching doesn't have to be hard at all. In this book, you'll learn how most coaching conversations can be completed in less than 10 minutes!
YOUR CULTURE SUCKS
I always try to come from a positive place. For example, I believe that failure is an opportunity to learn; fear can become your greatest ally; and confidence is a choice you make by not allowing external situations dictate your internal state of well‐being.
But we don't have time for sugar coaching or feel‐good statements. Let me be direct, in case no one has shared this memo with you: Your culture sucks, your people are disengaged because they're not being coached effectively, you're only maximizing about 40 percent of their potential, and you're spending most of your time focused on the wrong activities. In short, you've lost sight of your top priority, your people.
You may think I'm being presumptuous. You're shaking your head saying, “You're wrong, Keith. You never experienced our culture. We have a great culture.”
My questions are: How do you know? What measurable criteria are you using? What results are you experiencing? The upcoming pages will provide you with a quick assessment to determine if your coaching is generating worthwhile results or not.
A 10‐YEAR COACHING STUDY
While data is an essential need of any business, it doesn't transform anyone into an exceptional leader.
That's why I focus on the soft skills and transformation of people rather than on the data.
For those who appreciate validated data points to justify decisions (such as the need for coaching excellence), here's one that supports my prior statement: Over the last 10 years, my free ebooks have been downloaded approximately 350,000 times.
In the download request form, there's one required question: “Do your sales and management teams consistently use an effective coaching framework that creates a healthy, top‐performing culture and wins more sales?”
A whopping 88 percent of respondents say no. These people represent a global population from a variety of different industries, including HR, sales, management, operations, marketing, engineering, IT, finance, and C‐suite leadership. Moreover, these are people from some of the most prestigious, successful, and well‐known companies in the world.
Even though my free resources were never meant to be used as surveys, that one question captured honest and objective data. After all, the downloaders' intention was to get the ebook, not to consciously complete a survey.
COACHING CONUNDRUM
Companies collapse a great culture with great results. Not true. These two ideas are mutually exclusive. While results are critical for business success, you know if you have a great culture when you're enjoying the ride, feel that your work complements your life, are living your values, and are self‐motivated to attain your business objectives.
ASSESSING YOUR CULTURE AND THE MEASURABLE ROI OF COACHING
Whether you think your culture is healthy or toxic, here are 14 questions to quickly assess your culture and coaching.
Do you have more turnover than your industry average?
Do you struggle with departmental silos or creating a cohesive team functioning as one?
Are your managers spending 70 percent of their time putting out fires or developing, observing, and coaching their people in a way that generates consistent, measurable results?
Is
everyone
on your team achieving their quota and business objectives, and not just the few top producers who managers rely on to hit their monthly goals?
Are your people seeking out coaching from you, their coworkers, and other departments?
Do you view your team as
direct reports
or peers, coworkers, and resources? Do you seek out coaching from others, regardless of their position?
Are your salespeople authentically
coaching
rather than
selling
your customers?
Are you effectively developing a talented bench of future leaders?
Do you work in a safe, transparent, and trusting environment fueled by innovation and positivity, or a fear‐based culture?
Are you retaining your top talent?
Are you gaining market share and growing steadily each year?
Do you and your people come to work happy and fulfilled because you all want to be there?
Do you work from a place of intention or reaction? Do your company priorities seem to be changing daily?
Is everyone committed to holding themselves and others personally accountable to sustain and reinforce the culture you want?
These are just a few questions to assess your culture. If you can't answer yes to these questions, then you're lying to yourself about the type of culture you work in.
CHOOSE A CULTURE OF INTENTION OR REACTION
It's up to you whether you put this book down now and never pick it up again, or continue to honor your commitment to yourself, your team, and your company to be the best leader and coach you can be. Regardless of your conscious and intentional effort, your team and company culture will naturally emerge.
Unfortunately, taking this passive approach comes at a cost, especially when most companies default to a results‐driven, fear‐based culture. In fact, 99 percent of companies I've worked with would admit their culture is driven by results and not by people. It's an occupational hazard when every person, manager, team, department, and organization has a target on their back because every company's primary business objective is to achieve and evaluate the result.
You likely hear otherwise from every executive, find it on every company website, and read a framed company vision proudly displayed in every office. There, the message is always: We put people first. Maybe that's their intention, or, maybe it's true when times are good and easy, but when there's a deal on the line and a massive revenue‐generating opportunity that can make or break quota, the coaching stops. Instead of using a high‐stakes situation as a powerful coaching moment, results take priority over developing people every time.
Sadly, when results are the priority, regardless of the collateral damage that follows, most company cultures develop in a reactionary way. Creating a great culture requires conscious intention, focus, and a clear vision that becomes the blueprint for your organization. When coaching becomes unconsciously consistent—and when it aligns with the way people naturally engage and communicate with one another—that's the sign of a healthy coaching culture.
MINDFUL MOMENT
Instead of having your culture define your people, have your people define your culture.
A CULTURE OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATORS
Whether you're focused on becoming an extraordinary leader, or you're looking to implement a coaching program within your organization, it's easy to become overwhelmed. Fear creeps in and people wonder, “What if there's no consistent or companywide adoption? What if it's just another failed project and short‐term event? What if I'm not a good coach? What if I don't want to coach? What if my team doesn't embrace the coaching? What if I'm the only manager doing this? What if performance actually slips?” No one wants to find themselves in a position like this, or have egg on their face after a poorly implemented initiative.
Instead of letting fear rule, reframe your perspective. Consider the failure of any initiative to be a consequence of the overlooked components to be mindful of to ensure coaching success. This applies whether the initiative is for you, a team, or other managers. Developing a culture and becoming an inspirational, respected sales leader is not limited to a series of strategies, processes, reports, or surveys to develop a baseline. Like coaching, it's not a checkbox you put on a scorecard. The tipping point for developing a coaching culture begins with a series of strategic, well‐timed changes in thinking and behavior, then putting it into practice. This includes the questions you'll be using in your coaching conversations, all of which are precisely scripted using what I refer to as coach tracks. These templates are for you to use to achieve a baseline of coaching best practices, and you will need them to facilitate highly valuable coaching conversations. This is necessary to create a culture of strategic communicators.
Why a culture of strategic communicators? Because the foundation of all positive change, whether it's external or within ourselves is communication. The transformation of human magnitude can only happen when thinking and behavior change.
Ask yourself, where do you begin when you want to change something for the better? What is the first thing you do? You conduct an inner dialog in your mind. We tell ourselves what we want, why we want it, and how it's possible to achieve it if we believe we are capable of doing so. Or, we have a conversation that does just the opposite: we get in our own way as we become our worst nemesis.
Before you continue, it's essential that you keep this top of mind: It will be your internal communication that will create your external experiences, results, happiness, fulfillment, confidence, personal success, and ability to become a transformational, influential leader. If you possess any self‐doubt, here's a life‐changing exercise to take on: Grab your laptop, tablet, or phone and schedule enough time to write out the story of your life and why you are the way you are. Then write down all the reasons why you can't become or achieve more of what and who you want to be.
Once you write out your limiting story, throw it out. It's time for you to write your new story. The story you have is old and stale. You're comfortable with it only because you've been carrying it around your whole life, using it to justify every decision and action you have made. If that's no longer working for you, consider today to be your first birthday! It's in your power to create your reality through language and that includes your inner dialog as well.
You are not defined by your experiences and the beliefs you hold. This book will guide you through not only a transformation of action and behavior, but also a transformation of thought. You will adopt the habit of thinking like a talented, valued sales leader, and your past experiences will lose their power over you. You will respond to and learn from them. And that begins by asking yourself the right questions to challenge the reality you don't want and create the one you do.
