Taking on a New Team: Mistakes to Avoid (part 1)

Being appointed as the new sales manager can be both exciting and daunting. This is a big step up in responsibility and moving your career ahead, but it usually comes with stuff to clean up from the previous manager and aggregate targets much larger than you’re accustomed to. And, no, you won’t be cut any slack by the CEO when it comes to hitting or missing these targets.?

There’s a good chance your promotion was sudden. Last week, you were only responsible for your own sales and shocked when you were informed of your new promotion on Friday. Now it’s Monday, and you’re in charge of leading a team. If you’re like most new sales managers, you’re the likely victim of a prevalent myth: “knowing how to sell well will make you a great sales manager.” That’s like saying every great athlete will make a great coach.?

Regardless of the situation, you’re expected to perform quickly. So, what can you do to get off to a great start? Here are the first two of four key mistakes you’ll want to avoid and what to do instead.

Mistake 1 – Calling a team meeting on Monday morning to share the kick-ass plans you’ve dreamt up over the weekend. Do this only if you want to instill fear in your team and get them talking amongst themselves about how bad this is going to be.?

Instead, make a brief announcement of the change and tell the team that your first step is to learn from each of them. Then, set up one-to-ones and listen. Spend forty-five minutes listening and playing back to the other person what you’ve heard them say until they’ve “emptied out.” The key here is active listening, taking good notes, and telling the other person what they’ve told you to demonstrate your understanding. A solid start to building your team is letting them know you care, and the best way to do that is to listen and learn. You’ll have plenty of time to come back to them with your ideas.?

Mistake 2 – Being the tough guy and proclaiming you’re going to “tighten up a loose ship.” Chances are you were a top performer, and you observed others not being as disciplined as you are. But be careful not to generalize and label everyone as lazy.?

Instead, take it one person at a time. For some on the team, increasing discipline may be the right answer, whereas for others it’s not. Be sure you learn about each person’s situation thoroughly enough so that you have the right kinds of conversations with the right people. Some need encouragement, some need congratulations, some need reprimand. Be sure you are using an individualized approach that matches each situation.?

Fear Is the Culprit

My hope is that you can spot the one common factor that underpins these mistakes made by too many new managers. It’s fear.?

The mistakes listed above are driven by fear of losing respect and fear of losing control. Sometimes it’s obvious to the new manager, sometimes it’s not, but make no mistake, fear causes smart people to do stupid things.?

Focus on where you want to go and why you want to get there instead of trying to avoid falling short.?

Next week, we’ll share part two in this series, including two additional common mistakes and how to avoid them. In the meantime, what common mistakes do you see new sales managers make? What mistakes have you made when new to the role? What did you learn that can help others avoid the same mistakes??Please share your thoughts, insights and questions in the comments.