The Move From Personal Competency… To Leading a Team

My move from managing myself to leading a team was a shock to the system. I was a 25-year-old sales representative with Reckitt & Colman (now Reckitt Benckiser) when I was moved into the role of NSW state sales manager. I began to spend time with my team members (former colleagues!) on the road and I was less than impressed with the standards some of them employed. This scared me to death because prior to becoming manager I was responsible for my performance alone, now I was responsible for the team results too!

At this point an important lesson on leadership was handed to me through an unusual incident. I hired a new sales rep and at just 22 he looked great, plus he was the son of a noted senior manager for a large organization. After about 3 months, by accident, I discovered that the new rep had been falsifying orders to make it look as though he was actually working and doing well. The point is that our ‘system’ had offered him a loophole and he took it, so I fired him of course. While explaining this occurrence to someone whose opinion I much respected, he said to me ‘By rights, you should be fired too.’ Surprised and somewhat offended, I asked him why and he said ‘Because you found out by accident what was happening to your customers, and they are yours, or the company’s in fact, not his…and that is unforgivable.’ I responded by telling him that I had more than 2000 customers (pharmacists) and I also asked ‘How am I supposed to know what’s happening to 2,000 customers?’ He said ‘There’s an old saying: where there’s a will, there’s a way, when you have the desire to find the answer to that question, you’ll figure out the answer.’ As the words left his mouth I knew he was right, and so began the realisation of what leadership is, and is not.

Leadership is not managing staff. Staff must be motivated, educated and equipped to manage themselves, with the assistance of senior management…otherwise you are paying people a salary and having to spend time ‘managing’ them too.

Leadership is managing customers and leading staff. In good restaurants the Maitre ‘D has responsibility for the treatment and satisfaction of all customers. This is obvious, however what is not so obvious is that this role belongs to all team leaders…including those in accounting firms. In a good restaurant the Maitre ‘D ‘works backwards’ from the stated and unstated needs of customers…and then ‘moves forward’ with staff to ensure that all needs are catered for successfully. Why should this obligation be any different in an accounting firm? The only difference is the nature of the service being provided, the environment and the proximity to customers.

If working backwards from client wants and needs and moving forward with staff in a service team effort are the keys, why then do so many team leaders fail in both areas? The answer is that team leaders unintentionally make mistakes, and here are the two largest mistakes they make:

The first mistake ... is made when management neglects to create an external focus that binds everyone in the firm as a team, working together for a common and worthy ‘cause’. Just as a nation going to war has the effect of committing its population to victory, so too does an external and distinctive service focus unite the firm’s teams in a worthy purpose, and simultaneously invites employees to ignore or overcome the distractions of internal politics, petty problems and divisional indulgence. Vision and mission statements will not make up for a true sense of external focus. Let me explain why. At a conference I was asked to speak at recently the managing director was due to make a presentation before me, to ‘release’ the company’s latest vision statement. His address was delayed however because of a technology problem. As he was getting more and more frustrated, I suggested that he give the presentation on the whiteboard, but this wasn’t possible because he couldn’t remember the vision statement! At a meeting of industry executives one month later, I asked how many of the managers had vision statements and nearly everyone put their hand up. I then asked how many could write it out there and then and only one man kept his hand up! If management lacks a true vision of the company’s service commitment, imagine the dilution rate throughout the company ... and then in the marketplace! The only way for the team leader to strengthen, protect and improve the service standards of the firm is to meet regularly with clients, after hours, to discuss how they feel about their many forms of contact with people in the firm. These brief, informal meetings will reveal the experiences of clients, also their obvious and not so obvious service expectations, and form a picture of what is likely to be happening to all clients.

The second mistake ... is made when management inadvertently creates a ‘counterfeit culture’ within the firm, in that it demands that employees give excellent service to clients, and then starves the staff of the service that they need themselves. Poor performing staff, for the most part, are so disposed because they only receive half of their due entitlement - meaning they receive the salary agreed but not the service leadership needed from management! One small example: I was briefed by a senior manager for a talk I was to give for the company’s staff, and I asked him if he wanted me to send him a title for the talk and some copy describing the presentation, so he could circulate this to staff, so they would know what they were coming to and could look forward to the event. ‘Oh no’ he said, ‘you don’t have to do that, it’s compulsory for them to be there.’ In stark contrast, I was asked to speak for the staff of one of my clients, and he had an invitation printed for each employee to attend the event, explaining that he needed them to be there, and then he signed each card.

Service leadership does not involve the belief that salaries paid to staff can build a team that is dedicated to achieving excellent service and financial results. Money paid to staff goes into their bank accounts, not their hearts and minds…and so these are the critical human areas where team leaders direct their efforts.

Think of service as being a form of disease, positive or negative in this case, and then appreciate that the disease is spread by management…first to staff and then from staff to clients.

Good managers know that there is a profound difference between failing and being a failure, and so they will reflect on the two mistakes outlined here, they will see themselves as the basis for improvement…and they will proceed with this edict as their guide:

“No written word or mortal plea, can teach good staff what they should be; nor all the books upon the shelves…but what the leaders are themselves.”





The Move From Personal Competency… To Leading a Team - To learn more about this author, visit John Lees's Website.

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