Like two peas in a pod!

Process and Accountability

It still amazes me that there is a lack of understanding that you can not hold people accountable without a defined process; and you can not have a defined process without some level of accountability. The two go together like peanut butter and jelly; two peas in a pod.

proc·ess - a systematic series of actions directed to some end

ac·count·a·ble - subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable.

In my new role as a trainer in car dealerships, I see it everyday and when I reflect on my time as a leader in my store, I was missing it as well. Most of the problems we face in the dealership, and in any business, can be traced back to no clearly defined process. A process starts when we decide what our expectations are and then write them down. Once we write down our expectations we can then start to create a process around them. The clearly defined and written down expectations then become a draft for the job descriptions for your staff. This becomes the first step to accountability; making sure your employees know what is expected of them. 

In a lot of car dealerships the only expectation is to sell cars; this is why some stores must use monetary means to get results for something that should be a condition of employment. Great customer satisfaction scores should be a condition of employment, but how many stores must spiff a salesman to get the desired result. If we are not getting good customer satisfaction scores it is because we have failed to set the expectation, create a process to ensure the desired results and we have not held those responsible for poor performance accountable. 

The same can be said for the Internet sales process. How many leads are we failing to answer because our only real expectations are to sell cars? Sure we must pay attention to response times and response rate; but only because the manufacturer holds the store accountable for these measurements. In most stores, a good salesperson is given the task of Internet Sales with the goal to sell cars. There has been no thought given to how to follow up, how long to follow up, what our communications with the customer is going to look like, how we are going to price our cars and I could go on and on.  

You cannot have accountability without some type of process. Likewise, you cannot have a solid process without accountability. If you feel like there is no accountability in your store, start by looking at your processes. Do you have a clear process that is understood by all? Write down the expectations and build a process that leads to the expected results; write down the key performance metrics, you cannot build a process without having some type of measurement.

Success is a Journey

Having been in sales management and a youth baseball coach for many years, I have noticed several similarities between the two. Specifically, there is a certain path that business and players follow that leads to success or failure. As a reference point, imagine the youth player as the new business and the parents as the owner of that business. Don't get upset, I am not saying youth sports is a business; just follow along for a few minutes.

When the player/business first starts out, the parents/owners have dreams but they do not know the full potential of those dreams yet. In the beginning there are signs that things are good; sales are moving along, the player is enjoying baseball, employees are happy and the player is good. As good parents and business owners, we are active daily trying to develop and grow our dreams. The parent practices with the player and encourages him to listen to the coach and keep working. The business owner is active with customers and takes an active role training employees and instilling his vision. With each passing week the player and the business grow stronger and new milestones are reached. The player makes his first All-Star team and the business has a record year and edges out a competitor in overall sales.

Encouraged by the progress, some parents and business owners start to invest in their player/business. Additional training, better equipment and more encouragement and engagement in the progress. Yet there are others who are either content with the progress or just think that they have reached their peak. So they stop getting outside help, they stop training, a few less days in the store and a few more on the golf course. Things are seemingly still good, but the competition is getting stronger; training harder and looking for ways to improve.

The competitor down the street has a good month and we pass it off as a fluke; another player on the team has a better average and they just got lucky. The blinders are on and we can't look in the mirror and reflect on what is wrong; or worse we refuse to look in the mirror and instead blame it on outside factors; EXCUSES! Before we know it the other player is now the starting 3rd baseman and the competitor is beating us on a regular basis.

Tim Tebow, the NFL quarterback, says it best in his quote "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard". Stop and think about that statement and ask your self the question, have I stopped working hard? Have you relished in your accomplishments so long that the competition has caught up? We have heard it a thousand times, Success is a journey not a destination. We are either moving forward or moving backward; in life and in sports there is no such thing as sitting still. You may not be moving but your competition is!

Coaching - take them where they CAN go

I think that the word coach is often misused in the business world and in general. To coach literally means to take someone where they want to go. A lot of managers think that by setting a forecast for their employees or a goal for the organization, and once on that path that reminding their employees of that goal, that is coaching. Coaching is a form of teaching but it goes further than that; we can teach someone how to do a job or task but are we working on moving that person forward in their own self or professional development. If we are truly coaching then we are helping people move forward with their goals. You will know you are coaching when you learn and grow during your sessions as well. Coaching is a two-way street, both parties grow and develop at the same time. There are several important tools we need to develop to be a good coach and I will run through some of them.

Listen


The most important thing for a coach to do is to listen. You need to listen to your people and where they want to go, you need to listen to your inner self about how to take your people forward and you need to listen all the way through the process. You will never stop listening, even when you are in the middle of a coaching situation you will be listening for clues about how to move forward or whether the session is effective. During a coaching session it is important to listen, without interruption, what your employee/student is telling you. Only then is it okay to digest the information and try to move forward. It is extremely important that you listen first as this will build trust with your student. You can not be an effective coach until they trust you. You can coach without the trust, but you will be most effective once you have their trust. 

Ask questions

Ask lots of questions. Make sure you are asking questions that get the person to reflect and have to think about the answer. Yes or no questions at times are okay, as long as you follow up with another question to find out why. Why questions are very powerful to find out the true meaning of something or the reasoning behind the way someone does something or acts a certain way. By asking question you will build additional trust, because you have shown an interest in that persons wants and needs. Notice in the picture above that the outside of the ear is shaped like a question mark and the inside like a 'y' (why)? I don't think this is a coincidence! 

Explore

After listening and asking questions you must then explore so more. You have now built some trust so asking exploring questions and listening some more will not seem like an inquisition but a way to help. Exploration is about finding a path, the answer to one of your questions, and following that path to the end to see where it takes both of you. Exploration is not just for you, but also for the student/employee to go on. Explore the answers and take that path to see where it goes. If you just "ask" questions you might not find the right path unless you explore the answers to those questions. It is important that you guide the individual down the path and let them make their own discoveries or new paths as you go. When you get to the end of the path you will know it, you will see it in their eyes; that "AHA" moment.

Commitment

Once you have asked questions, listened, and explored the paths those questions led you down, the next step is commitment. You must get a commitment from the individual that this is the right path to be on. By seeking a commitment you will be able to then set a timeline for the commitment and it will lead you to your next step. This commitment is a 2-way street, the individual is committing to you that they will follow the path to the end and you are committing to them that you will be there walking the path with them. This is where you will set forth a timeline for which to reach the end of the path, but it is important that we set way-points along the way to stop and measure the progress to determine if we are still on track. You will both need to set specific measurement criteria to determine that you are on track to reach the goal. The commitment is not just for the goal, but also for each way-point and measurement criteria.

Challenge

Now that you have built trust by listening, asking questions and exploring; and now that you have both committed to the journey, it is time for the challenge phase. You can not challenge or push someone if they are not committed to the process. By this time, you have built trust and as long as you continue the steps above you will be able to challenge your student to push for more. During this phase you will use the timeline and specific goals to measure the progress and challenge them to go further. 

Take them where they CAN go

There is one thing I have left out that is important, take them where they CAN go. You will find individuals or groups that are either content to reach a certain level, don't believe they can move beyond that level or maybe they have failed to reach a certain level and given up on obtaining it. It is your job to take them where they CAN go, not just where they want to go. This is part of the challenge step and can only be truly realized once you have complete trust and they see they are making progress toward the commitment.

These are not all of the tools you need in your toolbox to be an effective coach, but they are the ones you must utilize to get the most out of your coaching sessions. Have you ever wondered why in professional sports that in Football they refer to the Head Coach, but in Baseball the refer to the Manager? Sure there are times when a baseball manager is referred to as coach, but more often than not he is referred to as the manager. Why is that, leave me your thoughts.