Bernard is one of the members of the sales team that I lead as a sales manager. My role as a manager includes designing daily tasks for my team and conducting assessments at the end of each working day. The duties include posting different sales executives in my team to various areas for direct sales activities.
Bernard has been difficult to work with as he shows defiance to directions. When I post him in a particular location, he goes to a different one but still meets the targets. I have been using the command style of management, but this has not worked with Bernard. My orders approach involves giving instructions without consulting the sales executives under my leadership. Bernard’s difficulty has made it difficult to keep track of sales locations where our company’s products are sold.
In my opinion, Bernard is conscientious as he works well with what he has considered prior to the actual action time. The trait makes it difficult to adapt my spontaneous directives about sales locations. Bernard has a rigid behavior and despite summoning him about his actions, he doesn’t respond positively. My command style irritates Bernard, and he shows his irritation blatantly without hiding. Bernard’s performance in sales volume is encouraging, a reason for me to carefully study his personality.
My bossy behavior needs modification to better my relationship with Bernard, my key sales team member. I could adopt a team member-consultations to incorporate their thoughts into my staff’s decision making. Listening and considering other people’s point of view will assist in making everyone, including Bernard feel recognized and valued as a resource to the company.
In my next meeting with Bernard, I intend to execute the following;
Recognize his efforts towards conducting sales.
Incorporating his personality in the sales instructions lay out.
Delegating some aspects of team leadership to him to make him feel under control and appreciated.
