Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/751848
28 FEDA News & Views O ne of my posts—"Should We Promote Our Best Salespeople to Managers?"— stirred some interesting debate. One of the arguments that struck me centered around how do we retain our best people? Moving a salesperson into a management role in order to retain them is not necessarily a good idea, but the discussion about retaining and grow- ing our salespeople is an important dis- cussion that I think is too often ignored. Leaders, sales or otherwise, have a responsibility for developing their peo- ple—both to achieve the highest levels of performance in their current role but also to position them to make greater contributions in the future and to help them achieve their own personal career goals. Career growth is important to each of us—it's also important to our people. Career growth in sales cannot just be about moving people into manage- ment. (I'm speaking about true people management roles, not a management title.) There simply aren't enough man- agement jobs to satisfy this. People may not be suited for management, others may not want to be in management. This doesn't mean they don't have aspira- tions to grow in their career, contribute at higher levels, and be recognized/rewarded for those contribu- tions. As leaders, we need to think about career pathing and people development. Early in my career I worked for IBM. IBM had a wonderful strategy, recognizing that not all people could be or wanted to be managers. Basically, IBM had multiple career devel- opment tracks, each of which had great growth opportunities. If you wanted to move into management (and had the potential), there were development plans to help you grow and move into a management role. If you wanted to grow as a sales professional, there were devel- opment plans to help you grow and continue to be promoted in those roles. Communicating Intent to Your Team Career pathing and people develop- ment isn't just something that large com- panies like IBM can do. It's something that all of us can and must do. In small companies, it's vital–challenging people, getting them to perform at the highest levels, getting them to grow in their roles so they can contribute. Or, defin- ing new roles as individual contributors is even more is critical. For example, several years ago, I was involved with a growing early-stage company. Growth, itself, was creating new opportunities— not only for manage- ment roles but also other roles. How do we do this? We need to under- stand the goals and aspirations of each person on our team. We need to have a sound assessment of their capabilities and potential. We need to have deep discussions with them about their aspi- rations, how realistic they are, and what they need to do to reach the next lev- els. These discussions need to be frank and honest. Clearly, a person who is not a team player will have great diffi- culty competing for a management job. In coaching that individual, it's impor- tant they understand the importance of being a team player in management, what being a team player is and the behaviors that display this. What can they do to improve their abilities? Additionally, we need to give our peo- ple development opportunities to help them develop their capabilities to move forward. It may be giving a salesperson who wants to move into management responsibility for coaching and onboard- ing, a special assignment or a task force. It may be a class or workshop. If you can afford it, it may be a temporary assign- ment in another area to build the skills or round a person out. Paving the Way for Individual Contributors We need to think of non-management career paths within our organizations. How do we develop career paths for individual contributors, allowing them to grow professionally, get promoted, and get increases in compensation? It may be moving to higher levels and job titles. It may be moving into major account management, higher levels of business development, partnership or WHY IT'S IMPORTANT FOR Career Pathing By Dave Brock, the Author of Sales Manager Survival Guide dabrock@excellenc.com While it's management's job to help develop their people, it's each person's job to take responsibility for their own development, regardless of what management is doing.