Tag Archives for " Performance Management "

Sure, We Train Employees (wink, wink)

By Kelly Riggs | Sales + Leadership

As a leader, you have absolutely no excuses; you either choose to train your employees or you don’t. But most don’t. In fact, the odds that your company is adequately training and developing people is somewhere near zero. The problem is that a failure to train your employees – really train them, not just hand them a manual, or expect them to get up to speed on their own – lies on the border somewhere between insanity and blatant stupidity. After all, don’t trained employees do better work? Don’t trained managers lead more effectively? Isn’t training a critical part of employee engagement?

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Three Keys to Better Management, Right Now

By Kelly Riggs | Sales + Leadership

I think people would agree that becoming a great manager requires a certain amount of time. Very few people are thrust into a management position and do it exactly right from the jump, avoiding the myriad of challenges and speed bumps that inevitably confront those who lead employees. No, it takes time to develop critical leadership skills. On the other hand, there are a number of specific things you can do to make a difference RIGHT NOW.

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The No. 1 Indicator of an Ineffective Leader

By Kelly Riggs | Sales + Leadership

Few managers are exemplary leaders. Proving this takes about 30 seconds. Yes, I know management and leadership are slightly different. We don’t have to have that silly argument. If you are a manager, and people report to you, then you are a leader. Period. You might not be any good at it, but you’re still the “leader.” My question is this: Why in the world do companies continue to promote top performers to management, fail to train them, and then COMPLAIN when they fail to perform as expected? Do YOU think you’re the exception?

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The Nonsense That Passes for Sales Management

By Kelly Riggs | Sales + Leadership

When a company needs a sales manager, the first place they typically turn is to one of their top salespeople. That’s no big revelation. I mean, who would we turn to – one of the bottom-dwellers?? As a result of this very common practices, I’m you’ve heard (and probably experienced) that promoting your top seller to the ranks of management is usually a disaster just waiting to happen. You lose your best salesperson, and get (more often than not) a mediocre sales manager. But why is that? Why can’t top salespeople become excellent managers?

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