Building a Culture of Performance

​I was asked to coach new manager Stephanie (not her real name). After a successful career as a salesperson, she had been promoted to manage one of many global sales teams selling AI enhanced CRM systems to Fortune 100 companies. ​

As a salesperson, Stephanie knew how to build trust plus she had the capacity to understand her customers’ needs and concerns. She also built relationships with the senior executives of each company she sold to. Consequently, her customers held her in great esteem. 
 
I first met with Stephanie one month after she had assumed her position. She had one on ones with each of her sales executives where she reminded them that sales reporting forms and procedures would remain the same. Stephanie shared with me she felt unsure of herself as a manager as several people on her team had more experience and were older than she was. 
 
I suggested there were several things Stephanie could do that would help her feel more confident while also helping her team members feel more engaged with each other and with Stephanie.
 
I asked Stephanie if she would be willing to work with me to create a list of principles and actions that would form the basis of her new team culture. This culture would be the foundation of her management and leadership. She could go forward in developing individual relationships with each of her team members. Stephanie would also have the clarity to create agendas, conduct team meetings, deal with mistakes, inspire excellent performance and most importantly exceed the sales targets she has been given. She was excited at this idea, so we began. Based on research, here is what we came up with:
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• I believe in open and direct communication. I pledge to help us all create a culture that feels psychologically safe so that being truthful and keeping commitments become a natural way of working. Mistakes will happen. We all must learn from them and be gentle with each other. 
• Customers come first. We are here to understand their needs which may change as the sales cycle proceeds. Each corporation has many customers and it’s our job to get to know and be trusted by as many of these customers as possible. 
• Innovation and creativity is fun and I want it to be part of everyone’s job and I believe it is essential for our team’s success. New ideas will be an agenda item on each of our team meetings. Our ideas will be forwarded to our research and development division. I will ensure we get feedback from them so we can learn and continue to be inspired because I know creativity is contagious.
• I believe in professional growth and development. This is in addition to the sales meetings I know we will attend. In our next one on one meeting, I want to talk about you and your growth and development as a professional. Perhaps you want a job like mine or a job in the home office. Let’s talk about your future and the steps necessary because I want to help you achieve what you want.
• I want us to get to know each other better. When I was asked to take this job, I asked for budget to host an in-person meeting where we would do some work, meet with some corporate staff, and get to know each other as people. Over the next couple months, we’ll work out timing because I know many of you have families and I want everyone to be able to comfortably come together with as little stress as possible.

Stephanie called me a month later. She sounded much more confident. She told me her team responded extremely well to her plans. New sales leads had picked up. Team members had already begun to schedule one-on-one meetings, and they were eager discuss developmental action plans. 
 
Building a culture of performance is a bit like being fitted for a custom-made suit. Every team, company, or organization, just like every person, is unique. They all require different guiding principles, yet there may be some deeper common wisdom. All people at work want to feel safe, respected, listened to, and given opportunities to succeed and grow.