This week in an advisory team session where we are developing some new content for sales leaders, we had a detailed discussion about why some managers and leaders don\u2019t execute on the things they know they need to do to be most successful and to drive performance. Often we experience a gap between knowing and doing.\u00a0 Rationally we understand the changes we need to make or want to make or are required to make, but we fall short when it\u2019s time to actually do it.\u00a0 Why?<\/p>\n
In our group discussion we uncovered several reasons that leaders don\u2019t do what they need to do to be high performing, even when there are expectations of improvement by senior leaders.\u00a0 These obstacles include:<\/p>\n
When leaders lack the drive to do what is needed and expected of them, there is fundamentally a performance problem. However, many organizations are not prepared to address these issues with long standing \u2018stars\u2019 who have a great reputation in the organization.<\/p>\n
As departments shift from focusing on the what<\/em><\/strong> to the how<\/em><\/strong>, senior leaders are increasingly interested in evaluating not just the targets achieved (sales, profitably, revenue etc) but also if their leaders are demonstrating the right people leadership skills when achieving results.\u00a0 This shift is sending a clear message to leaders that they need to be more disciplined in how they lead their teams and can\u2019t just rest on their laurels of past performance.<\/p>\n How they motivate, engage and lead their teams is as important, or more important, than the results that are achieved.<\/p>\n The reality is that it\u2019s difficult to motivate a leader (or anyone for that matter) if they don\u2019t want to change.\u00a0 If there is not a robust performance management system or an organizational will to enforce the changes expected, then some leaders will just coast along.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t mean they won\u2019t hit their targets or that their teams won\u2019t be high performing, but ultimately their results won\u2019t be as stellar as they could be.<\/p>\n There are 2 types of motivation \u2013 intrinsic and extrinsic.<\/p>\nTapping Into Motivation<\/h2>\n