How to lead with “Girl Scout Power”
April 9th, 2009
The Girl Scouts of America was teetering on the edge of extinction when Frances Hesselbein was named president of the organization in early 1976.
The Girls Scouts, an organization comprised of thousands of volunteers from across the fifty states, had been going about their business in a very traditional way for years…but that way was now placing the organization in jeopardy.
Bleeding funding and declining enrollments, Frances knew she need to change things fast or the organization would cease to exist.
But how could she motivate a group of thousands of volunteers?
Because her position had no inherent power to command, she quickly realized that she could not order the necessary changes in behavior.
She knew that she needed to evoke a different style of management.
The genius of Frances was that she understood that by including as many people as possible in the process of change, she could harness the power of others to achieve the important goals she was responsible with achieving.
Her philosophy, like the philosophy of Sales Management Mastery was very clear:
“The more power you give, the more power you get”.
Frances saved the Girl Scouts of America, not by wielding her power, but rather by sharing her power with those of her followers. And none of her followers had high sales quotas to hit in the middle of a recession!
As a sales manager, do you wield power or do you give it away like Frances Hesselbein?
Its tough…with so many initiatives and orders coming down from above and being planted smack dab in the middle of your plate every single day, its difficult not to lapse into a “I order – you do” kind of management style.
In spite of that, top-performing sales mangers rise above the fray and do not succumb to the temptation to command. After all, what sales consultant really wants to be told what to do all day long?
Your job as a top-performing sales manager is to hire and retain top performing salespeople who can think on their own and produce exceptional results on thier own. The top-performing sales manager gets the best out of them by giving away their power, so that the sales rep becomes empowered.
And thats how you lead with “Girl Scout Power”.
Post a response to this post and tell me how you get the best from your sales consultants by giving away your power.
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