First, before you read this article, check out the Leadership Effectiveness Blog article from this week about Leading vs. Doing [https://go.sellingeffectiveness.com/9.9.LI.AM].

Alright…now let’s talk about what you’re doing to help or hurt the ability of your leaders to lead.

What Game Are You Expecting Your Leaders to Play?

Most owners and executives will instantly reply with something like: “I do everything I can to help them focus on leading and get out of the weeds/details/deals/etc.”

But do your actions match your claims? My observations, especially from the outside or as a new executive within a company, are that what owners/execs think they are doing is not accurate.

Here is what I see:

• Expectations of lots of reporting
• Constant stream of calls/meetings
• Flooded email inbox or instant messages
• Lack of resources
• Unrealistic goal expectations

The Admin Hell Trap

The first three bullets above equate to Admin Hell. No way someone can get leadership tasks done or think strategically when they are stuck doing low-level tasks. [https://go.sellingeffectiveness.com/8.27.LI.AM].

The last two are usually tied to each other. Check out this article I wrote about what it takes to actually achieve goals [https://go.sellingeffectiveness.com/9.5.LI.PM].

Those five bullets are the death of a leader’s chance of leading. That combination will stunt the growth of your company via the sales team.

Stuck in the Weeds: Why Your Leaders Aren’t Leading

If your managers and leaders are stuck deep in their inbox, conference calls/meetings, and reports – they aren’t spending time with their team. If they have to run on the field to help the team win, they can’t watch the game at a higher level to be strategic when needed.

When they are fighting fires and scrambling to make deals happen, they can’t play chess…they are stuck playing checkers at best.

So…let’s talk about what you can do to support your leaders in leading.

Analyze and Remove Admin Burdens

First, spend time analyzing what keeps causing them to get stuck in Admin Hell or feel like their only option is to run onto the field instead of coaching. Are you requiring too many reports/updates to be submitted? (It’s 2024…why don’t you have more automation in place to generate reports automatically?)

What can you remove from their plate? Or how can you change due dates/timelines so that Admin stuff (emails, meetings, calls, reports) don’t happen when the sales team needs a coach/leader?

Now take note – sometimes I see execs/owners take this advice and go to the ‘your salary, so you can just work extra hours.’ Here is why that is a terrible attitude, long term:

A) You probably aren’t paying them enough to expect a ton of hours from them each week
B) Most people can’t sprint a marathon…meaning most people will burn out, get sick, or look for another job if it’s just an endless expectation of ‘more hours’
C) More hours doesn’t mean more productivity or effectiveness

I remember my first leadership role…my rule for success was that when the team was there, I was focused on them during that 8-9 hours of the day, and the remaining 4-6 hours of the day was for management stuff. Yes – that’s 12+ hours a day. This is what it took until I put someone in the role to replace me so I could do more leadership during the day. I knew it was short term, which was okay.

Prepare for the Unexpected: What Resources Are Needed?

Second, what resources are needed? Do this exercise (which should also keep you up at night in a cold sweat): what would you do if your manager/leader quit, got sick, went on vacation, or had a family emergency? What if you didn’t have them in their role, what would you do? What would need to be put into place?

That will become the list of what you should start putting in place NOW! If you don’t, you will be on a treadmill of firefighting and crisis from lack of resources in place. Don’t wait until the hurricane is about to hit before you think about an emergency plan and supplies.

Play the Long Game: Build a Solid Foundation

Third, get started on putting things in place. Play chess – the long game. Add what is needed now, and keep building up whatever is needed until the foundation is strong.

There is a lot that goes into a scalable sales operation. If you haven’t seen it, check out the Scalable Sales Success Iceberg model for success. [https://www.sellingeffectiveness.com/for-sales-leaders]



And don’t try to do it all at once or throw your hands up because it seems overwhelming. Remember…the only way to get up a mountain is one step at a time. You can’t jump to the top, and no one has ever fallen up a mountain.