Why Johnny Quit!

If you are at a level in your career that bestows you with the privilege of leading a team then not reading this article will be a grave injustice u will be meting out to yourself.

Johnny is a sales professional who takes his job seriously. Not only does he enjoy selling he also is a keen observer of the people he deals with day in and day out. Johnny like every other sales professional needs his daily dose of motivation, which was what contributed to his success in his previous organization; but he was in for a surprise when he joined a new company recently. The culture in the new companty was to push people into doing things and not pulling them together to out perform.However the student in Johnny’s personality took it up as a challenging study and he learnt a few valuable lessons on the way.

Johnny’s immediate superior whose name was Mr. Bravo was unknowingly imparting Johnny with career saving lessons on how not to deal with his own team in the future.

Mr. Bravo was a boss who would never smile at his team. The only time his team saw Mr.Bravo smile was when he was in conversation with other associates in the company who did not directly work with him. The frown on Mr. Bravo’s forehead was constant while he interacted with his team and it would only disappear in the midst of others.This made the team very uncomfortable in his presence and they preffered staying away from him.

What Johnny learnt- Be firm as a leader but iron out that frown on your forehead when you speak and interact with your own team. A smile opens up the windows of the heart of a sales person allowing for the free flowing wind of information that s/he gathers through his inteaction with clients and customers of the company.

Mr. Bravo had a strange habit of chuckling mockingly at his team members when they would be giving him an update, or sharing a view point or just having an informal chat; giving them an impression that he wasn’t believing what they were saying or worse dismissing their very presence. This made them nervous and unsteady while communicating with him,which was more reason for Mr. Bravo to ridicule them further.

What Johnny learnt- Be patient and respect your team’s feedback, give them reason to believe that you empathize with them and are listening to them.

When Johnny went up to Mr. Bravo one day and suggested an idea on the way forward for a particular project he was told to spend more time out of office than ideating on way forward. "There are other people who are paid to think, you just do what you are supposed to" was Mr. Bravo's salvo to Jihnny.Neither could Johnny articulate his thoughts when he heard this nor did it help his morale on the whole. Every time Johnny stood up to say something he would hear words like, “Are you crazy?” or “How insignificant an observation, grow up Johnny!”, Ill shoot you the next time you say something stupid".

Such criticism on a regular basis killed Johnny’s spirit and he decided to move on in life.

What Johnny learnt- There are two ways of training a pup, you can beat it into submission and turn his bark into a whimper, or you can treat him like a friend so that he serves you faithfully for life. Johnny chose the latter and is a successful leader today. Do you empathise with Johnny? Or are you Bravo himself?

Regards,
Fabian Trevor Cowan
Founder Trainer & Facilitator

Cowan's Consulting
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