The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.
– Ronald Reagan
At Service Express, I often talk about the importance of being a servant leader for your people to lean on. When you become the leader of a team, it is no longer about you, it’s about the people you serve.
When I was the education chair on the Young Presidents’ Organization, I had the pleasure of bringing in Jack Daly to speak to our group. Jack reminded us that “a sales manager’s job is not to grow sales, it’s to grow salespeople.”
Too often I see companies that promote sales managers and let them hold on to a list of their key accounts with the intention of them continuing to sell while being a leader.
I believe that sales leaders can’t serve two masters: sales quotas and their team members. Here at Service Express, we smoothly transition manager accounts to other members on the team so there’s more time spent leading.
Once you become a leader, it’s no longer about you – it’s about your team. Your job is to drive results through your people by developing relationships and striving to help them achieve their goals.
When you decide to become a leader step back and think, is it about you or is it about them? You should always be striving to help your team accomplish their goals and grow into their positions. What does being a leader mean to you?