Australian Business Training - Case Studies - Attitude & Action for Leadership Achievement - Good self management is a foundation for managing others

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Attitude & Action for Leadership Achievement
Good self management is a foundation for managing others

HairCare * is the Australian subsidiary of an international company that sells hair products to salons throughout the country.

Challenge

The sales managers at HairCare are responsible for leading a team of sales representatives. Together, their aim is to get their products into salons, preferably with the hairdressers using them, recommending them to customers and positioning them strategically on the salon floor for maximum sales.

The success of HairCare relies on its sales team members building excellent relationships with salon owners and top stylists.

HairCare's senior management wanted to build the skills of their sales managers. They wanted them to be better at managing their teams, as well as their own time, motivation and objectives.

The HairCare philosophy embraces energy, vitality and resilience. By instilling these qualities in the company's leaders, the entire HairCare culture would benefit. Specifically, HairCare wanted the sales managers to:

Develop the mindset to take on a leadership role with their people.

Build their optimism, motivation and resilience.

Increase their ability to stay focused on the high payoff activities.

Solution

To be outstanding leaders and sales people, HairCare's sales managers needed to increase their emotional intelligence. This would give them the mental capacity to motivate themselves and others, to tackle the hard to do tasks and stay positive in the face of adversity.

Sales people who are high in emotional intelligence outperform others by up to 319%. Evidence also shows that 90% of exceptional leaders' results are attributed to their emotional intelligence.

ABT tailored its 'Attitude and Action for Leadership' program for HairCare's sales managers. In a two-day workshop, ABT showed them how to develop their thinking and behaviour and its impact on themselves and others. The sales managers identified their own avoidance behaviours and learnt how to reduce these as well as breaking through their self-limiting beliefs.

The course gave the sales managers the practical skills to bounce back quickly from setbacks and focus on high payoff activities, including decision making and communicating under pressure. They were shown models for keeping problems in perspective and moving out of their comfort zone to a higher level of commitment.

Results

The sales managers were asked for qualitative and quantitative feedback after the training. Their responses show a significant improvement of their self awareness, ability to manage negative emotions and motivation and to stay focused on the high payoff activities. (See the graphs below.)

Their comments highlight a new ability to stay in control and put issues into perspective. They clearly recognise the difference between emotions and facts. This enables them to deal with people more effectively and cultivate better relationships. They are able to empower their people to make their own decisions, and engage them in the work.

Here are some of their comments:

"I'm now more aware of what drives people, their emotions and actions."
"It's taught us to understand people better and manage our own people better."
"It's freed me up by giving me tools to get people to think through their own issues."
"It's made a big difference, I'm less reactive now."
"I now have tools to deal with issues."
"I believe I can now manage adverse situations with less negative emotions. I can now understand people's behaviours better."
"I've gained a more balanced view of situations which will lead to more productivity."
"I've gained the ability to better manage and lead my people."
"I'm more efficient now as instead of reacting immediately and putting out fires I have better control of a situation."
"It's helped to clear my mind which will make me a better manager."
"I'm now approaching difficult issues in a more productive way."
"I'm now identifying the attitudes, emotions and behaviours."
"I can now identify the facts in a situation quicker and move on."

The Evidence

The sales managers were asked to rate themselves before and after the workshop on a number of key indicators of emotional intelligence. The graph below illustrates their improvement across all areas.

skills comparison

They were also asked to rate the value of ABT's intervention. Their responses show that they highly regard the training and would recommend it to others.

course rating