Are You Deploying Your Resources Appropriately?

Imagine a military commander. He has a strategy to win. He has decided what the missions that result in a positive outcome look. The targets have been determined, and he gives orders to the people in his charge. And then he allows them to spend their time on things that are not aligned with what needs to be done.

Maybe you hate military analogies. Too violent.  A less violent analogy is sports, let’s say, football. You are the coach. You have designed the plays your offense needs to run to score points and win games. The team knows what they need to do, and you call the play. Then the team runs a play that looks nothing like what you designed.

Still too aggressive. I get it. You are a choreographer. You are leading a world-class group of dancers, all of whom are highly capable and competent. You design a show that will be unlike anything anyone has ever seen. Everyone knows their part going into opening night, and then they decide to do something so different from what you designed to make it unrecognizable.

As a sales leader, you must deploy your resources appropriately. You must choose the targets, and you have to decide the strategy to pursue those targets. You must ensure that your goals are communicated, that everyone knows their part, and that they are trained and capable of executing your strategy. This is how you win.

As far as we know, no battle has yet been lost because the soldiers were busy responding to their email. No football game has been lost because the team was busy responding to their teammates request for a meeting to be brought up to speed on some issue that, while being important, isn’t most important. You no doubt take my meaning here.

If the time, the effort, and the resources that belong to you are not being deployed appropriately, you are responsible for changing that. If you lack opportunity creation, it is because you are allowing this to be the case.