Building a sales team

"Please find attached five resumes for your review" the email from Chui came with five attachments

Thee is a striking similarity between building a sales team and building a sports team. Consideration must be given to the interaction of the team.

The best goal scorer who ever lived will fail if he does not have the midfield or wingers to supply him with passes and crosses. Many great goalkeepers did not become great if they do not have the defensive line in front of him.

So as we look at building a sales team, we must look not simply at what each person can or can't do, but how each person fits into the team - and fits into the game plan that the team is supposed to implement.

If work is fun, it's not work anymore

One of the takeaway of the Impact Leadership training the past three days was the secret of good work is good play.

We ae now permanently wired to our work, wherever we are. Even on vacation we're tethered to hand phones, tablets and laptops. At the rate corporate Singapore is working, our inner reservoir of spirit doesn't refill and soon we are running on empty. When times get tough, the body may be willing but the spirit is out to lunch. 

I try to instill fun in everything we do in the office. The fact is having fun with your friends creates infinitely more social glue than awards and incentives will ever provide. We aren't afraid to loosen up, make the best of what had to be done, and share fun with everyone.

Impact of trust

"When trust is broken" screamed the title of the article in the New York Times International Weekly yesterday. "You may have heard that love makes the world go round. But more likely, it's trust." The article started.

Trust can accelerate and mistrust can destroy any business, organisation or relationship. No matter what our role is, trust affects our influence and success. Those who are trusted are effective. Without trust, leaders lose teams.

Trust implies being reliable, dependable and capable. I have confident the chair I am sitting on can and will hold me. I don't have to waste time checking its capacity. I don't worry that it will drop me.

In a climate of trust, people are more captive, motivated, productive and willing to sacrifice for the team.

Tears for fears

"I'm going to spend 6 days in Kona with my two sons after this Bangkok trip. They don't come back to Boston very much these days," Norma reflected during the dinner.

Kids tend to be unrealistically blase - they think that nothing bad can happen to them. Adults tend to be unrealistically fearful. The truth lies somewhere between. 

I always try to emphasise positive messages to ACE that I love him and want him to care for himself effectively. I try to let go of him - but slowly.