It is hard to stay positive 24 hours a day, but we can attract people who share the same personal and business values. We spend a lot of time at work, and because energy is a strong driving force, it’s important to be around people who are energetic, driven, who want to contribute and are there for all the right reasons – not just for the pay packet. We should evaluate ourselves and our people every 6 months or even 12 months so that we stay on track and genuinely live by our values.
There are already not enough hours in the day. When an employee leaves suddenly, we may not have time to read every single résumé to find his replacement, so we start filtering keywords and then only focus on what we think is important to us. Suddenly, technical skills start to overtake attitude, which in fact can destroy a “culture.” Technical skills are easier to read on paper, and a lot of good candidates get missed because the hiring manager has blinkers on and does not read between the lines, which takes more time! This process does work with technical roles, but if you want to groom someone into a sales management position, the soft skills are more important to the culture than the technical skills.
Of course, it’s important to have some technical skills, but it’s even more crucial to be flexible enough to know that sometimes these skill sets can be learnt with the right attitude. Don’t forget to look outside the box. Try to attract people with transferable skills, not necessarily from your direct competitors or similar industries, so they can bring something different to the table. This is the difference between managers who cultivate the right people to form a good culture versus a company that attracts the wrong talent.
So why is a great team culture so important? It’s unique to your business; it is like your fingerprint. Everything else (products, strategies, marketing) can be replicated, but your culture reflects your personality, and a positive culture is what makes you and your company stand out from the crowd, particularly from your competitors.
A good company culture provides guidelines, boundaries and expectations from your team and customers, and it’s the ultimate platform to inspire and motivate the people around you. It’s the most powerful resource to have when we attract, hire and retain the highest level of talent.
We all know that the best people want to work with the best companies, not just for our products or services but for our culture. They are the catalysts for creating ongoing business success.
To stay informed and sign up to our free blog – CLICK HERE
Extract from the book – ‘Sales Manager Reset’. Copyright © MMXVII Allan Lorraine ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without the expressed written, dated and signed permission from the author.