Think about you’re on the grocery retailer along with your three-year-old son. He’s promised you he’ll behave, and also you’re planning to shock him with a deal with on the checkout counter.

You’re roughly midway by way of your grocery checklist when he begins to get antsy. He needs out of the cart and promptly begins pulling issues off the cabinets, so you place him again within the cart, and he begins throwing a mood tantrum. You take a look at your watch – it’s getting near lunchtime, which is carefully adopted by naptime. It’s changing into obvious that you’ve a call to make.

Do you select to make use of empathy by giving him a giant hug, telling him you’re keen on him, and letting him know you perceive it may be powerful to be affected person—or do you select to carry him accountable to his promise of excellent habits? And which one is the proper factor to do?

Gross sales managers battle with related questions: Ought to they be the empathetic supervisor who helps and grows their salespeople—or ought to they be the sort of supervisor that holds their salespeople tightly accountable for outcomes?

The reply is each. Mother and father don’t select between loving their youngsters and anticipating good habits. Gross sales managers shouldn’t select, both. Efficient managers use a mixture of empathy and accountability to construct belief of their groups whereas persistently driving outcomes on the similar time.

The Empathetic Supervisor

Empathetic managers are heat and pleasant. They know their salespeople properly—not simply the main points of their private lives, however they know what makes them tick and what their key skills are. They care about their folks, assist them construct their skills into strengths, and work to advance their staff’ careers.

The Accountability Supervisor

Managers who concentrate on accountability are extra performance-driven. They monitor the numbers, analyze what they imply, and use the information to set particular targets and expectations for his or her folks. They create an atmosphere primarily based on measurement and efficiency requirements, and everybody understands there are penalties for falling under requirements too steadily.

Which Path Do You Lean?

Each supervisor both leans towards being empathetic and may due to this fact construct their accountability muscle, or they lean towards accountability and may discover ways to be extra empathetic. Take a second to mirror in your administration model. Odds are, you already know which course you lean.

For those who lean in direction of empathy, clearly define your targets and expectations for every of your salespeople. Use your empathetic aspect to mirror on how every individual you handle might want their targets outlined to them and the way usually you could must verify in with every one in every of them. Guarantee everyone seems to be making constant progress, and ask them what you are able to do to help them alongside the way in which.

For those who lean in direction of accountability, use your goal-setting mindset to set relationship-building targets. Implement a device just like the Progress Information to deepen your relationships along with your salespeople. Perceive what their targets and motivations are, but additionally perceive the kind of help they need from you with a purpose to assist them achieve success.

Simply as in parenting, nice gross sales managers shouldn’t select one path or the opposite. Salespeople must be nurtured and grown, however in addition they must be held to excessive requirements of efficiency. Contemplate whether or not you’re extra of an empathetic supervisor or extra of an accountability supervisor, and take motion to develop the opposite aspect.

*Editor’s Word: This weblog was initially written in 2014 and has since been up to date.