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Frank Pacetta was a Xerox sales person. He was very successful. The company moved him to Cleveland, the companies worst region in the country. He took over an office that was dead last in sales in the country, and yet none of the sales people were on any formal disciplinary process.
The office that Frank came from was one of the top performing offices in the country and 1/3 of the sales people were on a formal disciplinary review process!
At the time that I read this from the book, Don't Fire 'em, Fire them up, I was in charge of lots of sales people. We were growing, but not nearly like we could. It was obvious that I was NOT holding a high standard. And I was NOT letting those who were under-performing even my low standard know where they stood.
After reading this book, I began shooting higher. And I began having very frank and honest conversations with my people about what I thought they should be doing. It was ALWAYS difficult to look someone in the eye and give them bad news about their performance.
The most amazing thing about these conversations was how affected the people. They didn't like to hear what I had to say. But it gave them a choice. They could either improve and keep their job. Or they could continue as they were and likely get terminated.
I learned that many of these under-performers actually did reach the new higher standard that I set for them. Perhaps on their own, they would not have pushed so hard. But with me as their coach, they did more than they would on their own.
And of course, there were plenty of conversations that happened that did not change the performance. They ended up leaving the company. But in most of those cases, they were not fired. They realized my expectations. They realized my time frame. If they knew they were not going to reach the target, they ended up leaving on their own.
No one wants to get fired. This allowed them to leave with dignity on their own terms.
Set high standards. Coach to that standard. Have courage to have the hard conversations with those that are not hitting your standard.
Guess who will thank you? Your top performers! They want everyone held to a high standard.
The office that Frank came from was one of the top performing offices in the country and 1/3 of the sales people were on a formal disciplinary review process!
At the time that I read this from the book, Don't Fire 'em, Fire them up, I was in charge of lots of sales people. We were growing, but not nearly like we could. It was obvious that I was NOT holding a high standard. And I was NOT letting those who were under-performing even my low standard know where they stood.
After reading this book, I began shooting higher. And I began having very frank and honest conversations with my people about what I thought they should be doing. It was ALWAYS difficult to look someone in the eye and give them bad news about their performance.
The most amazing thing about these conversations was how affected the people. They didn't like to hear what I had to say. But it gave them a choice. They could either improve and keep their job. Or they could continue as they were and likely get terminated.
I learned that many of these under-performers actually did reach the new higher standard that I set for them. Perhaps on their own, they would not have pushed so hard. But with me as their coach, they did more than they would on their own.
And of course, there were plenty of conversations that happened that did not change the performance. They ended up leaving the company. But in most of those cases, they were not fired. They realized my expectations. They realized my time frame. If they knew they were not going to reach the target, they ended up leaving on their own.
No one wants to get fired. This allowed them to leave with dignity on their own terms.
Set high standards. Coach to that standard. Have courage to have the hard conversations with those that are not hitting your standard.
Guess who will thank you? Your top performers! They want everyone held to a high standard.
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