Managing Objectives, Not Tasks

If a task does not serve a meaningful purpose, then the short-lived sense of accomplishment is only a fix.

Managing Objectives, Not Tasks

Companies are scrambling to rebuild their sales organizations and empower their team members to thrive in the post-COVID business environment. The pandemic created a host of new challenges but, more importantly, it shed new light on many of the old ones. One of these is a chronic problem that has plagued sales teams for decades. It’s our obsession with managing tasks rather than objectives.

Task vs. Purpose

An example of this problem is the way we misuse customer relationship management or CRM systems as sales organizations. Don’t get me wrong. CRMs are amazing tools, giving sales professionals unprecedented access to critical information. They measure tasks completed—or to be done – and all the myriad steps in between. The problem is not the system, per se, but human nature – the way our brains have evolved to satisfy basic needs.

Think about it. We naturally crave certainty and a sense of control. When we accomplish a task – even a trivial one – we get a shot of oxytocin and dopamine, the connection and pleasure hormones, respectively. Checking off a list of to-dos in our CRM satisfies a need, and our bodies reward us for doing it. The trouble is those tasks may have little to do with the prospect’s true purpose – or even yours. If the task does not serve a truly meaningful purpose, then the short-lived sense of accomplishment is only a fix. Ultimately, when such tasks pile up, the result is lots of high-speed activity with no direction – a recipe for burnout.

Sales managers have to cope with this problem on two levels. In addition to their own task treadmill, they are responsible for their team’s performance. A CRM can tell them how many calls or emails or proposals each salesperson made, or the earnings trajectory of each individual rep. A sales manager’s personal path of least resistance is to harp on whether or not all those tasks are done – or to jump in and perform a critical task themselves, just to close the deal.

Starting With the End In Sight

Micromanaging individual tasks may feel like the right thing to do at the moment, but it rarely if ever produces outstanding, sustainable results. Put another way, it’s like nagging someone to stop spending so much time on their smartphone and “Just get to work!” We think it will be satisfying for them to accomplish more tasks, but we’re probably only raising their level of stress and resistance – the cortisol effect – and blocking any long-term purpose you may have.

The answer is always qualitative, not quantitative. A good sales leader is not preoccupied with tasks for their own sake. Rather, they seek to understand their team members’ objectives—and by extension the objectives of their prospects.

By this I don’t mean making more money. A true objective is an aspirational purpose, an ideal, long-lasting, genuinely satisfying outcome. I often ask others to practice what I call a “clean piece of paper” exercise. I ask, “If you could create your ideal destiny, from scratch, without any regard for what you believe is possible, and not based on past experiences, what would it look like?”

The answers to this question can be delightfully surprising to the salesperson as well as the manager. They’re not easily measurable in the short term, but they nearly always offer an underlying, intrinsic motivation—a reason to prioritize certain tasks and find creative new ways to accomplish them. If done consistently, it gives each salesperson a purposeful mindset, making them more agile and responsive to changing conditions. Knowing that their team leader actually understands their desired outcomes makes them more likely to do so with prospects—and ultimately create long-term, mutually profitable relationships.

The Manager’s Role

As tempting as it is for a sales manager – especially someone who has risen in the ranks—to jump in and “rescue the account,” their role is far different. It’s also tempting to over-rely on task lists, metrics, and “the busyness of business.” There’s a much better way. If sales managers understand their team members’ objectives, professional and even personal, then their number one priority is to make sure they have the resources required to achieve them. That may mean focusing less on certain tasks and more on others – those that actually support the purpose.

There will always be some tasks that are less shiny than others. It’s called work for a reason. But no task should be done simply for its own sake – divorced from a meaningful purpose. A sales team that knows the distinction of task vs. purpose, and consistently aligns their activity with actual, significant objectives – that clean piece of paper perspective – will be the team that knows true velocity.

Author

  • Ron Karr

    Ron Karr is a leading sales leadership expert and author of “The Velocity Mindset.” Learn more about how you can lead your sales team with a velocity mindset at VelocityMindset.com.

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