Management

 

I do what I do in management to eradicate the performance-defeating "come to work, do your job, keep your head down, go home, get paid" management process that leads to little more than compliance, and instil management processes that lead to each employee achieving a sense of purpose, fulfilment and significance in the work that they do.

 

My mission started before I was born. It was 1945. Soldiers were returning from the 2nd World War. The South African economy, after being at war and in a Great Depression for the 1st half of the 20th century, was in tatters. Everyone wanted jobs, but there were not enough jobs to go around. The workforce was in survival mode, and this brought about a management style that those lucky enough to get a job were subjected to. It worked like this - come to work, keep your head down, do your job, go home and get paid. A strongly dictatorial and hands-off management style focused purely on unquestioning compliance. It worked and it worked well, mainly because the employee was in danger of losing their job at the drop of a hat, to one of the jobless people standing outside the company gates. There were no Labour Relations laws in place back then. It was very much a fear-based compliance-driven management style.  

 

When I started work in the 1970’s, I realized pretty quickly that come to work, do your job, keep your head down, go home, get paid was still the preferred management style. Performance was also largely driven by fear of losing your job – there were still not Labour Relations laws!

 

In the 1990’s we introduced some Labour Laws to protect workers, but today, after almost 80 years post-war, and having gone through the implementation of management sciences such as "planning, leading, organising and controlling" and "Performance Management"; when I step into a warehouse or manufacturing facility and even an administrative department, and I observe the management process, I am still seeing "come to work, keep your head down, do your job, go home, get paid". You may ask what's wrong with that? What’s wrong with it is that this management process worked very well in a fear-based compliance-driven employment economy, but it doesn't work any more other than in enforcing reluctant compliance with the minimum requirement of KPI’s. Today our workforce does not comply because of fear of losing their jobs. They have become aspirational - they want more. They want a sense of purpose, a feeling of fulfilment and the knowledge that they are significant in the work that they do. They want personal achievement with the appropriate rewards. These are what create performance.

 

So this is my mission: To eradicate the "come to work-do your job-keep your head down-go home-get paid" management process, and instil management processes that lead to each employee achieving a sense of purpose, fulfilment and significance in the work that they do.

Sales

 

I do what I do in sales because I want to share with sales people the “lucky break” that I had early in my sales career.

 

When I started in sales I had a sales manager that taught me that making sales is a bit like a gentleman dating a lady. 1) The first time he sees her he feels an attraction but does not act on it immediately. 2) He starts asking around to find out more about her, and in today's language, checks her out on social media. 3) He plans an initial approach based on what he has found out about her, to “test the water”. 4) He initiates an initial conversation with her and assesses her response – is she buying into me or not. 5) If she shows no interest, he shelves her for a time and might come back later to try again. 6) If she shows interest, he may suggest a “toe in the water” approach and invite her to a public place during daytime for a coffee. 7) if the “coffee date turns out well, he will invite her to dinner at a restaurant. 8) After few dinners at restaurants, he has a really good idea of what to make “the hook” look like and where to place it 9) He places the hook and they live happily ever after.

 

Behind each of these steps is a carefully calculated and planned scientific strategy, the goal being to build a “template” or a “picture” of the prospect to determine what the hook should look like and when and where to place it.

 

I show salespeople how to develop and use this “template” to close on high value sales, reliably.