Any time I think of leadership I’m reminded of a simple quote from the great Simon Sinek:

“You’re no longer responsible for the job, you’re responsible for the PEOPLE responsible for the job.”

You see, most leaders were someone who was good at their job and got promoted. But the problem is they never stop doing the job.

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Did you know that 25% of managers worldwide never even receive any training or development?

IF you think that’s wild, I did a survey with 45 sales leaders in my network, and NONE of them…0% said they get leadership coaching from their leader.

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How can you become a leader (aspiring) or become a better leader (current) if you aren’t developing your skill set?

With 60% of the workforce set to be made up of Millennials and GenZ by 2025, here are some ways you can overcome the lack of training and leadership.

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Tip 1: Start Digesting the Right Materials

Still reading tactical books on the how-to’s of your job?

STOP.

It’s not a bad idea to continue developing your skills as an operator, whether in marketing, sales, or account management.

That said, you need to start developing your management skill set. The problem is most leadership practices are from the 90’s and their archaic nature is now considered toxic.

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Shameless self plug, (or maybe totally shameful), but we did just release our waitlist for our “Millennial Leadership Bootcamp” and you can sign up for the waitlist now!

It’s important to sign up because you will get notified before others about live enrollments, early bird pricing, and Sales RX community discounts.

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If that doesn’t work for you - reach out to people in your network and ask them who their favorite leader was.

They may no longer work at the company for a myriad of reasons, but that doesn’t mean their leader wasn’t worth working for.

Then you can start to build a “personal advisory board” - if you haven’t seen it yet we have a newsletter all about this on our website.

Tip 2: Stop Playing Mind Games

Your direct reports can smell your tactics a mile away.

Stop trying to be sly around them with all this corporate speak and mind games that have become so trendy, and just be a f*ckin human beings for once.

Brene Brown is a great example of vulnerability and how it has its place in the workplace - you can check her out for great resources on getting your people to be open with you.

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Once that barrier is broken down, now you have human interaction instead of employee boss behavior (which is a rabbit hole of problems).

Some people have found my leadership style to be a bit too personal, but it’s my belief that having built 3 successful teams, it’s this transparent leadership style that has earned the respect of my former reps.

I still have reps that call me for advice and insight from 2 whole companies ago - can you say the same?

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Tip 3: Set Expectations and Measure What we Typically Don’t

We have quotas and KPIs and a way to measure every input and output under the sun.

You know what we don’t do a good job of doing?

Setting an expectation and measuring things like participation, trust, and reliability.

Trust and reliability are different by the way and that’s a conversation for a whole different day.

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If you are leading the entire sales meeting, you’re doing it wrong. Involvement is key.

Have different reps present different parts of the meeting each week. Your team doesn’t need you to read off the scoreboard for a fifth week in a row.

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This way you have employees who have low engagement and participation rising to the occasion, and you can humble the employees who try to run before they walk.

Set an expectation for participation and find ways to measure it and your team is going to do a 180 (for the better).

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Tip 4: Ask for Help

As part of my Founder’s Podcast, I have interviewed over 50 Founders and CEOs since 2022, and the one common theme is that they seek help.

Nobody can do it alone, and any good leader shouldn’t expect you to. So leverage your leader to help with gaps in your process and get some coaching.

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If your leader is down for the cause, this will be an easy ask, and if not, then you know what you’re dealing with and can better focus on your next step and career needs.

You also have an incredible community of users on LinkedIn that can participate with you on a daily basis and give you their two cents (if it’s worth it).

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Conclusion:

Developing yourself is a tough ask regardless of what you are trying to develop.

After standing up 3 teams from “zero to hero” I have a great footing on what does and doesn’t work, but I’m also always learning myself. The learning never stops.

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If you’re an aspiring leader, understand that the biggest challenges to leadership come with recognizing that you are no longer in that role, but a leader of people doing that job.

For current leaders, understand how to do the things that no other leader has ever done for your people like having them participate in meeting presentations, and giving them chances to rise to the occasion.

In time, you will find that this can drive much better results than flying by the seat of your pants and praying things get better.

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