Leadership in a Geographically Dispersed Sales Workplace

by Dave Brookmire
October 2008

How does one practice great sales leadership skills in a workplace that is increasingly geographically fragmented, where our primary means of communication is electronic, and face time is a commodity? Today’s “flat” workplace offers great opportunities for innovative sales leaders; it also presents unique challenges.

A geographically fragmented sales organization can still be a culturally cohesive and unified organization; in fact, it must be. Every day we read about national and multi-national corporate success stories: HP, Microsoft, WalMart, Cisco, to name a few. Each of these companies has worked to maintain and nurture its corporate culture through excellent sales leadership. Even during their most strenuous growth periods, culture and mission were never left to chance.

Technology allows leaders to capitalize on the time- value of their sales leadership performance. When a company is growing, whether organically or through mergers and acquisitions, the sales leader of the expanding organization is simultaneously challenged to grow the value of his or her leadership performance. By expanding the scope and quality of the leadership along with the scope and quality of the organization, the sales leader has the opportunity to achieve even better returns on leadership performance in the future.

The sales leadership skills that serve people well in a wired and widespread workplace are not so different from those of traditional leaders. The sales leader who can communicate powerfully and prolifically, build relationships, inspire and motivate others, and foster collaboration in a geographically dispersed organization is what Zenger & Folkman discovered distinguished good leaders from extraordinary leaders.

More and more of today’s leaders are finding themselves in charge of an expanding and dispersed workplace. Here are some the lessons we have learned from them over the years.

• Practice equitable information sharing. Geographic distance is no excuse for equipping some of your sales reps with better or timelier information than others. “If you want the people in Germany to feel left out, deny them access to the information that you provided to others in Canada.

1.    Identify your information delivery systems (Intranets, blogs, social networks, email blasts, etc).

2.    Find out who is tapping into these systems and how.

3.    If there are groups who are not accessing a particular tool, find out why.

4.    Determine whether some of your conduits for information sharing are inherently more or less effective than others. Bring the inadequate ones up to par.

• Get together. We are creatures of habit. Make meetings a habit in your organization. Standing meetings are the impetus for information sharing. The Home Depot has made a practice of Monday morning meetings during which the top executives from various regions talk about business priorities. Without a regular, mandatory meeting, these dispersed leaders would never gather as a team. Create a communication framework that includes weekly or biweekly calls with senior management from all of your markets.
• Leaders should be seen and heard. Leaders must spend quality face-time in their markets. Leadership is enabled and strengthened – but rarely established – through technology. A videoconference is never as impactful as meeting face-to-face. That said, remote meetings are a necessity in dispersed organizations. Virtual sales leadership is exponentially more effective when it is supported by periodic, in-person meetings. AirTran Airways ex - CEO Joseph Leonard refered to his employees as “crew members,” even those who don't work on the planes. Leonard makes a habit getting plenty of face-time with his employees – a practice that authenticates his leadership and reinforces his message.
• Make your message relevant and viral. Successful sales leaders of dispersed sales organizations are tireless advocates of a compelling vision. They make their vision relevant to everyone in the organization by continually showing employees how their individual performance contributes to the realization of that vision. Every individual should have a clear line-of- sight from his vantage point to the realization of your vision. Unleash the Creative Potential of E-Collaboration

What's Your Generational IQ?

What generation are you most like?  It’s more than the year you were born.  Your GenerationalDNA is formed early in your key life experiences that shaped how you view the world, your job, family, religion, financial investments, hobbies, retirement and other core values, beliefs and behaviors.  You have been programmed by media, your parents, world events, family, economy, the regional U.S. differences, etc.  This can be changed as you have grown up and had different life experiences, but in normal daily life, your early programming had a lasting impact.

This assessment taps just a few areas of beliefs and preferences most like the four generations of workers: Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y.  We have more extensive assessments if you are interested in learning more about how you can better understand and adapt to your generational customers, co-workers, supervisors, and other key stakeholders.

We want to give you a sense of some of the shared experiences you have with your generation and others.  We hope you enjoy the quiz experience and it provokes some thought and insight about how generations can better leverage strengths.

Traditionalists -  Shaped by experiences of the Great Depression, WWI, Korean War, Rationing, FDR Administration, and other precursors to the current legacy capital and business structures.  This generation is generally loyal and has learned their skills and gained experience the “hard way.” Teams are desirable and important since much of what was accomplished in the early and mid-1900’s was from groups and team of people.  Relationships and family are very important and you are obligated to work. This group tends to sacrifice for the “greater good,” respect authority, and have a sense of duty to perform for organization.  They have difficulty with change and speaking up against the system.

Baby Boomers -  Shaped by experiences of Civil Rights, Assassinations, Vietnam War, Watergate, Drugs, and TV.  They grew up in a competitive world, at school and work, since there were so many in this population segment. Seeking self-fulfillment is important. The group strives to build great professional careers and works extremely hard to get ahead.  Rewards that are tangible, like title, money, office size, are highly valued. They have no problems challenging leaders, are driven, build relationships, and service oriented.  They can be too extravagant in spending, self-centered, avoid conflict, and be overly sensitive to feedback.

Generation X – Shaped by experiences of Technology Proliferation, AIDS, Desert Storm, Clinton and Reagan Administrations, Roe vs. Wade, and Information Explosion. Extremely high divorce rates meant many were raised by single moms or in blended families. This group views careers as somewhat portable, easily moving among companies to pick up new skills and experiences.  Freedom is highly valued, so many work to live a desired lifestyle.  Core values include diversity, balance, fun, and techno-literacy.  Many ignore leaders, having seen so many fail or take illegal paths to success.  They watched their parents work to get ahead, only to be laid off or terminated toward the ends of their careers.  The group is adaptable, creative, independent, and skeptical. 

Generation Y – Shaped by experiences of Oklahoma City, Internet Access, World Trade Center, Globalization, and Bush Administrations. They seek meaningful work, rapid promotions, change jobs frequently, to build multiple sets of skills, and to build multiple careers.  Many likely raised by single moms or dads. Technology has been part of their everyday life and is expected and appreciated.  Leaders are viewed as service providers that must respect the group.  Increased globalization make relationships expansive and change is sought, not fought. Learning is continuous, as is feedback.  They are respectful of family and many live with their parents out of this respect and for financial reasons. Work is simply a means to an end.  Feedback anytime is desired since the group has been catered to by parents and their lives have been very structured between school, family, sports, and other interests. The group needs experience, supervision and skills in dealing with conflict. 

Balanced -  You share some common values, interests, motivations and attitudes with other generations.  This is not surprising, since generations are defined by birthdates, while events and shared experiences transcend time, especially where the generational ages are very close.  Use this insight to help you understand what you may have in common and core differences that exist among the generations. Review the descriptions for the different generations and identify what is most like you and not like you at all.   Reflect on how you view work, education, leaders, family, life, retirement, and other key aspects of everyday life, and determine which generation is most like you. 

Take the assessment here!