If you’re trying to assess your people and uncover the real gap or coaching opportunity based on data, reports and spreadsheets, your extinction is imminent. Learn the secret to successfully evolving as a manager by shifting from a spreadsheet jockey to an authentic people manager.

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Complete transcript taken from a live Q & A session in Phoenix.

So the big miss that I see with managers, regardless of how experienced or intelligent they are, is that they’re so result driven. They’re missing sight on the real opportunity which is to Coach the Process!

Let me say this in a different way. We can look at the metrics and our P&Ls and the spreadsheets all day long, but spreadsheet management is dead. You can’t be a data manager anymore. You have to be a people manager. And the spreadsheet jockeys that think they can manage from a spreadsheet, are quickly becoming dinosaurs.

The real opportunity that I see is coaching the message. So it’s not always about, “How many calls did you make?” or “How many meetings did you have?” Which, by the way, don’t get me wrong, that’s important. But it’s only half of the conversation and most important, does not uncover the quality of the communication or message each person on your team is delivering.

When you round out your conversation to be fully comprehensive, the process driven conversation would incorporate questions such as,
“So, walk me through that conversation you just had with your customer.” “How did you respond when you heard that customer’s objection?” “What are the top questions you need to qualify every opportunity?” “What has worked for you in the past when trying to crack the code in terms of getting into the C-Suite?” “How have you handled that before?” “What did it sound like?”

This is the missing link. Managers are so incredibly wired to focus on the result, they’re not coaching the process. More specifically, they’re not coaching the message. After all, there’s a big difference between the way your A players communicate compared to you C players. A players are stronger, more confident communicators who ask the more precise, challenging questions. This is your opportunity to get into the communication style of your C players so that you can coach them on how they interact and communicate with your customers in order to upgrade the impact of their communication in order to achieve greater, more worthwhile results.