Written by: Sabyasachi Satpathy
About the author: An Automotive (Tyres, Batteries & Lubricants) Sales & Marketing professional having more than 25 years’ experience in India & GCC. Currently working in GASCOL as Business Head for Saudi Arabia & Bahrain operations
A Manager or a BOSS leads a team, so naturally, he is a leader of his team. However, in the business management sense, both of them have a different approach in getting their team to achieve the Business objective, Sales Target & overall development of the company. I still remember those days of my Sales Career where I utilized most of my time towards achieving the Sales targets. This in turn resulted in me having to compromise my social life and never find time to spend with my family & friends. In those days, we always listened to our managers/BOSS and thought that that’s what I should do, when I reach that position, as well.
However, this has completely changes in the new generation. The younger Management Graduates do a lot of analysis. They get more information about the Company,the Managers and the overall working environment of the company they’re applying to .Now, as a Manager, you won’t be able to make them do any task simply by ordering or commanding them. The managers have started adopting “leadership” style of management & practice it with their team members to achieve their objectives.
Let’s discuss how the Managers/Sr Managers can become a better Leader
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Prepare yourself and take the charge:
Knowledge is what makes a man more powerful and acquiring this knowledge is essential for managers to develop the Leadership skill. Knowledge of Economy, Change in customers’ behaviors, Government Policies, Product change, digitalization and cultural change are the keys to improve your confidence in facing the challenges. Try getting yourself enrolled in some valuable online Leadership Management education program which will help you keep yourself updated with the current trends in Business. Try reading books, spending time with CEO or the Managing Director and learn the way they manages things. Always adopt better habits and be different from others in a way that the market place customers and competitors will value you according to how you and your team behaves.
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Social Awareness:
Humans are social beings. We love spending time with our family & friends. For a Leader, it is crucial that he/she should have all the information about each team member. It can range from who the team member’s family is, what are his likes & dislikes, educational background, health condition etc. This helps in developing empathy which in turn helps in leading the team in a better way. Getting the best out of your team members is the key to success. Get awareness about the company you are working for and what company’s vision is, so that you and your time can translate to reality.
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Relationship Management:
For a Leader, it is the priority to Coach & mentor the team. To do this, prepare a training module best translates the current needs of the team, provide the team the right tools to get the sales from the customers, appreciate the good work, celebrate the success together, support the team in case of any failure in execution and teach them to fight for the right thing.
It is obvious that they may be conflict between a groups of people. Here, it is the leader who needs to manage the conflict in a variety of ways, such as understand the core cause of the conflict, the reason for disagreement. Then sort the conflict through initiating a mutual discussion with the team and creating a friendly atmosphere.
Team work is essential for any project or any sales, marketing, promotion & brand building and getting the team along. The leader’s role is to light the fire of passion in the team so that they can always work together for a common goal. The Leader needs to inspire the team towards a successful business.
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Self-Management:
Your team members will follow you since you are their leader. So you need to follow the best practice for yourself. You need to practice the effective ways to get more business with a better profitability. Managing the self is as essential as managing the team. Manage yourself to create a habit of achievement as a success, always create a positive environment everywhere, and prepare the team to adopt to the change.
You as a Brand should create an image in the company & in the market, because the Brand means trust & value for money. And they will sell for you, the more referral customer you have the more successful you will be.
Leadership is not a born caliber but it is something to be gained through continuous practice by way of gaining knowledge, managing the emotions, creating an environment of positivity and always thinking in your profession, that YOU without your team is nothing but just an individual, together with your team, YOU are complete.
