As a technical sales manager, you have a dual role: you need to sell complex products or services to customers, and you need to lead and motivate your team of technical sales reps. Developing your leadership skills can help you achieve both goals, but where do you start? Here are some tips to guide you on your journey.
The first step to improve your leadership skills is to identify your current level of competence and confidence. You can use self-assessment tools, such as the Technical Sales Manager Competency Framework, to evaluate your skills in areas such as communication, coaching, collaboration, problem-solving, and innovation. You can also ask for feedback from your team, peers, and managers, using tools like 360-degree surveys or performance reviews. This will help you understand your strengths and areas for improvement, as well as how others perceive you as a leader.
To assess your strengths and weaknesses, first, engage in introspection. Write down instances when you lose or make mistakes and identify your weaknesses. Write down what weaknesses caused those losses or mistakes. Similarly, from your successes, identify your strengths that contributed to your victories. Afterward, you can conduct a self-assessment using tools and compare the results with your analysis. Most importantly, seek feedback from people you trust, such as your team, manager, or peers, as they are individuals who know you and your weaknesses. Once you understand your strengths and weaknesses, you can become more aware of how to utilize your strengths and find suitable methods to improve your weaknesses.
Becoming better at anything starts with a baseline assessment. Assessing your current competencies specific to the role of technical sales manager utilizing a comprehensive set of evaluation tools and 360 surveys will provide you with a framework for SMART goals and action plan analysis. Don’t forget to assess your performance optimization skills as well including ideas like grit, flow, optimism vs pessimism, and positive psychology that maximize performance outcomes short-term and long-term. Coach Greg
As a technical sales manager looking to hone your leadership skills, the best approach is multifaceted. First, actively seek out mentorship from proven leaders in your field. Learn from their experiences, both successes and failures. Second, embrace a growth mindset and commit to continuous improvement. Take things one day at a time, focusing on small wins that build momentum. Finally, cultivate a culture of curiosity within your team. Always ask questions, yours and theirs, to foster open communication and a shared learning environment. By combining these elements, you'll be well on your way to becoming a more effective leader.
Self-awareness is key to identifying your level of competence and confidence; to become self-aware you will need to evaluate times when you did well and times when you did not perform as you could've and note them down; Asses what you did to get those results and learn from it.
Once you have a clear picture of your leadership skills, you can set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for your development. For example, you might want to improve your presentation skills, learn a new technology, or delegate more effectively. You should also create action plans to achieve your goals, such as taking online courses, reading books, joining webinars, or finding a mentor. Make sure you track your progress and celebrate your achievements along the way.
Achieving goals should never be seen as a solo endeavor but rather a team effort. This mindset encourages collaboration and utilizes the diverse strengths within the team. By framing success as a collective achievement, we not only enhance team morale but also reinforce the value of each member's contribution. Celebrating these achievements together strengthens our unity and commitment to common objectives.
Another way to develop your leadership skills is to learn from other successful technical sales managers. You can observe how they handle different situations, such as pitching to customers, resolving conflicts, or innovating new solutions. You can also ask them for advice, insights, or feedback on your own challenges. You can find potential role models within your organization, in your network, or in your industry. You can also follow thought leaders, podcasts, or blogs that share best practices and trends in technical sales.
A powerful exercise for any leader is to reflect on the management styles of their past superiors and their own reactions to those styles. This reflection can offer valuable insights into what kind of leader you aspire to be. Think about it: if you were your own employee, what qualities would you want in a manager? Aim to embody those qualities in your leadership.
As a technical sales manager, you are not only responsible for your own performance, but also for the performance of your team. Therefore, you need to empower and develop your team members, so they can grow their skills, confidence, and motivation. You can do this by providing clear expectations, regular feedback, and recognition. You can also coach them, mentor them, or sponsor them for learning opportunities. By empowering and developing your team, you will also build trust, loyalty, and engagement.
To truly empower your team, it's crucial to clearly define each member's role and responsibilities. However, within these defined roles, granting autonomy is key. This not only clarifies expectations but also instills a sense of trust and confidence in team members to make decisions and take actions independently. Balancing clarity in roles with autonomy can significantly boost team effectiveness and motivation.
Finally, you can develop your leadership skills by seeking new challenges and opportunities that stretch your comfort zone and test your abilities. You can volunteer for projects, assignments, or roles that require you to learn new skills, work with different people , or solve complex problems. You can also look for opportunities to collaborate with other teams , departments, or partners, or to contribute to your organization's vision and strategy. By seeking new challenges and opportunities, you will demonstrate your initiative, creativity, and adaptability.
Diverse teams, both in terms of personality traits and skill sets, are not just a nice-to-have; they're a must-have for fostering innovation and resilience. Managing such diversity can indeed be more challenging, but the payoff in terms of adaptability and problem-solving capacity is immense. Strive to continually enhance the diversity of your team to navigate unexpected challenges more smoothly.