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Balancing Structure and Freedom for Team Members

Subscriber Episode • • Graham Elliott • Season 2 • Episode 7

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Unlock the secrets to mastering leadership by balancing structure with freedom in a sales environment! Discover the DISC model's power in understanding the intricate dance of personality types. Learn how to connect effectively with your team and clients by identifying key traits like Dominant, Influencer, Stabilizer, and Compliant. This episode promises to elevate your personal leadership development, aligning your team toward common goals and boosting communication. Whether you're a seasoned leader or eager to enhance your skills, these insights will help you minimize conflict and maximize team cohesion.

Dive into innovative strategies for managing diverse sales personalities, focusing on the unique needs of DI (Dominant and Influential) and DS (Dominant and Steady) individuals. Uncover how DI types can thrive with the freedom to innovate and break rules within guidelines, while DS personalities find success in structured environments that nurture long-term client relationships. We'll also teach you the art of rapidly identifying personality types to tailor your communication strategies for warmer connections and successful interactions. Enhance your leadership and management acumen by understanding these dynamics and transforming your approach to drive sales performance and job satisfaction.

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Graham Elliott

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Speaker 1:

Hello again. I like to read what's going on in industry, so I'll read various things. Linkedin is one of them, though I look at what sort of subjects popping up on LinkedIn, and one of them that I saw recently was how do you handle a team member who craves structure and freedom. So this is something that I've had to deal with myself and the questions were coming up about how do you balance those two needs, and I want to pull this back to a couple of things. So in my sales training course. So I will talk about that.

Speaker 1:

But one of the things I look at is how do you define different personality types, because it is important to have some idea of what kind of personality you have and be able to recognize the personality types of other people. So that might be clients, it might be your sales team, so staff members, sales team, so staff members. But once you do that, the importance of doing that is you recognize that not everybody approaches everything the same way. Not everybody has the same needs and priorities when they are involved in anything. You can put this in any kind of context, really, and once you've got an insight into how that all works and particularly where you're coming from, and once you've got an insight into how that all works and particularly where you're coming from, and you can recognize what's different with the other person. As a leader and I tend to approach this from a leader's perspective, and I don't mean that necessarily as a leader, somebody who has a title, but somebody who is naturally a leader A leader is somebody who is good at working with other people, overcoming issues, basically getting everybody headed in the same direction to a common goal, that kind of thing. So, to be really effective as a leader, it's really important, in my opinion, that you understand the type of personality you are, the type of personality or personalities you're dealing with if it a group and how to get the best. So what? How do you change your approach to get the best from people and therefore increase the chances of meeting your common goals, common aims? So, in the perspective, or from, or in the context, I guess, of being a leader with a team and you have a team member or team members who are looking for both structure and freedom, it's really important to understand how what you see as structure and freedom may not quite be the same as what they perceive, and I've had to deal with this with a sales guy I had on one occasion a few years ago now, and I just want to talk briefly about the DISC style. So I do use DISC as a reference because I think it's really useful.

Speaker 1:

There are only four types and therefore it's easy to remember four different types of people rather than 16 or whatever else it might be. So just very, very briefly. The first type is called dominant. That tends to be the leader, the push through, get things done, big picture, not very good necessarily with connecting with other people, but just kind of that hard push through energy. So any of us who kind of have to make decision, bit fearful about it but just push through and do it anyway, that should de-energy coming through.

Speaker 1:

The next one is I influencer. Those people tend to be very charismatic. They're the people that you almost can't help but like they're very, very chatty, usually about themselves. But they're that kind of person, very engaging, very charismatic. The S person stabilizer, is more the very family orientated, very focused on community, on looking after other people. If you're talking to them they're much more likely to be asking you about yourself and what you've been doing, and not so much about themselves. And then finally, the C personality, which we refer to as compliant, or at least in some definitions, and that's more about compliance with rules and regulations. So they love rules and regulations so, and they would tend to be your sort of very techie people, scientists, those sort of people. So, again, not particularly good necessarily with other people, but very good at understanding rules and how things work and that kind of thing.

Speaker 1:

So I want to apply this back to salespeople, because you tend to get two combinations in successful salespeople. So the first one is a combination of D and I, so that's very focused on targets, very focused on getting things done, but also very charismatic, can get along with anybody and is actually very good at reading other people. So the DI combination tends to be the sort of salesperson who is very good at what we call hunting and that's the sort of person who's always looking for new clients, new deals, so doing a lot of one-off type sales. The other person is the ds person. So again, have that very, very focused on objectives, targets, that kind of thing. But the s energy is more about relationships with people and the s person is very much the person who has long and deep relationships with people. So they might not have very many friends, but they're friends for life and so those people, the D keeps them focused on getting the job done, meeting targets, all of that sort of thing. But the S aspect to that person makes them very good at long-term relationships.

Speaker 1:

So that would be your account managers, those types of people. And the other thing to remember is that we get on best with people have the same leading energy that we do. So if you're predominantly a very D kind of person, very much about just getting things done, you'll tend to connect much better with other people who are primarily a D energy because you're talking the same language. So that's all good. But when you're a high D and you're talking to a high S sort of a person who's all about process, looking after you, helping you to be successful, very focused on people, community, that kind of thing, there's likely to be a mismatch and you're likely to get miscommunication and upset and all that kind of stuff happening. So how does this come back to team members? So I'm looking at this from a sales leadership kind of perspective, but equally this would apply to other situations as well. But it's just. I know what the type of personality combinations tend to be.

Speaker 1:

So when you look at structure and this was something that occurred to me when I was dealing with this salesperson a few years ago. Now, when I think of structure, I think of scaffolding, if you like. So I'm setting up a little scaffolding thing that maybe is a couple of metres high, a metre square or a metre and a half square. So what would that be? Six feet high, four and a bit feet square, and it's a structure, it's a scaffold, but it's open as well. It's kind of like a cage and for some people, the people who tend to be the DI, if you put them inside that structure, if you make it too restrictive, they're going to feel like they're in prison. So the trick with them is to set the structure up so that they go on top and therefore that structure is there to support them, but there is enough freedom for them to sort of do their own thing and not feel restricted.

Speaker 1:

So let me talk about this in different terms the DI person, so the hunter kind of salesperson. One of the characteristics of these people and I'm one of them is that we'll kind of follow the rules while it suits us, but we're also pretty fast at just bending them, and this is one of the reasons why accountants and salespeople are quite often at odds, because accountants tend to be the type of people who are very good at following the rules. They're very good at detail, and that's their world. Their world is you follow the rules, you do each step, one after the other, and that's how it all works. For somebody who has a DI combination, that sort of hunter, salesman that's not how we see the world at all. It's more about how do we get what we want, and we'll do it by getting along with people, because we're quite good at just switching it on. But if there's a shorter way, if there's a faster way, we'll do that, and it doesn't really matter what rules are broken.

Speaker 1:

To some extent it's a rule, you know. Is that what is the statement? Rules are there to be broken. We kind of do that a little bit. So, depending on the person, they'll do it more or less, but we will do it when we feel that there are extenuating circumstances to allow that to happen. So, if that's making sense, if you can imagine putting somebody inside a structure, somebody who's like that, who wants to bend the rules, is not comfortable being restricted by the rules. Too many rules are going to feel like a prism, whereas if you can put them on top so that there are certain guidelines let's use that phrase rather than rules then they are more inclined to follow the guidelines. But you also need to add in a little bit of room so that they can break the rules. Just bend the lines a little bit in order to get where they need to go.

Speaker 1:

So, from a management perspective, first of all, there are two aspects to this, and you may well think of others, but the first one is how do you communicate those rules? So I think the rules need to be communicated much more as guidelines and with the understanding that these guidelines are there to help that person be more successful. The outcome we're aiming for here is for them to be more successful, both personally they're making more sales, they're making more money, whatever it is that floats their boat and also for the business. We get more successful, we're more profitable, they've got job security, everyone's got job security, all that kind of thing. So, and associated with those guidelines, the other thing is to allow them some flexibility.

Speaker 1:

So one thing might be the common one I've come across is to allow them to give discounts up to a certain point. So some companies I've been in you might get 5%, you might get 10%. Others I've been in at zero and that was the very first sales role I had and I talk about that in the webinar that you can just jump onto on the website and I'll give you some tips on how to get successful at certain aspects of sales. But that company I first worked for it was zero. So in one respect it was very restricted because we didn't have that option to discount. But on the other hand it actually made us very good at doing the other basics and getting really clear about clients, what they wanted, what they needed, and getting very good at qualifying so that when it came to the close we were only closing people who were a very good fit for our solution. So that's one aspect.

Speaker 1:

So that's the DI person. The other person I wanted to talk about is this DS type of salesperson, the person who is very good at the long-term relationships. The very people focus. So these are going to be low energy people. The DIs tend to be buzzing around all the time, running from here to there, all that kind of thing. The DS people are much more sort of slowed down, much more thoughtful in the way that they operate and there's nothing wrong with either style. They each have their place and they're both very valuable, depending on the type of business that you have.

Speaker 1:

But for them, putting them inside the structure is likely to be more helpful for them, because the S personality, the stabilized personality, the person who's focused on other people, community, that kind of thing they like. The rules, as I've already said, accountants tend to have that S aspect to their personality as the strongest aspect. So where they feel comfortable, what their world is all about is following the rules. So with that kind of a salesperson you really need to communicate certain rules and perhaps even spend more time with them, visiting clients and just kind of consulting with them, getting clarification on how they can do things better, adding a few more rules in there just to help them be successful with the way they're doing business. So when you've got somebody who needs structure but also freedom, you've got to work out how to balance them.

Speaker 1:

But a good starting point is to work out what kind of person you're dealing with and are they really averse to rules which your kind of DI person the very high energy, very charismatic sort of a salesperson is likely to push back against being given too many rules, being given too many rules. So they need to be given guidelines and a certain amount of autonomy that they can exercise without doing damage to the business. So again, if you are going to give them authority to discount to a certain level, obviously you need to be very aware of your margins and things like that and what you can afford to do and also just see how they go with it. I'm a big believer in doing proper sales process and if you do the sales process correctly, it's very rare that you need to discount. And again, this comes back to how I started in sales, where I wasn't allowed to discount at all and I've seen a lot of salespeople who, rather than bother with doing the sales process, they'll just get discount straight off the bat, pretty much just to take a shortcut and get the deal done. So I'm not advocating that that's a good way to go.

Speaker 1:

Another reason to spend time with salespeople is to try and understand how they operate with clients and recognize where their strong points and weak points are with clients, and recognize where their strong points and weak points are. So giving people authority to discount is not an excuse for not making sure they're properly trained and they're doing proper sales process. Because, again, if they do that again going back to these people if they're not giving discount, it means you've made more money on the deal. And those people depending on how commission structures work, if you're using commission but they personally are going to benefit from not giving away money on a deal, so you need to always bring it back to what's in it for them, which I think in one way or another, it's always a good thing to do anyway, because it gets more buy-in from people. But however you're handling the people who are working for you, whichever type of a salesperson you're dealing with, you need to also understand what's important for them.

Speaker 1:

So for the, the di person, the hunter person, it probably is as much about making money as anything else uh, probably making more deals, but being the winner, being able to demonstrate. Don't forget, or don't forget. You might not know, but part of the d personality is actually about status. If you want to spot a d without really thinking about it too much, look at what car they drive, because if it's a pretty ordinary, uh, run-of-the-mill, nothing special, they're probably not a d, or they're a d on hard times. But if they're driving something with a good brand name in fact, anything with a good brand name come to that, anything that displays status, which could be awards, certificates, that kind of thing you're probably looking at someone with quite a lot of high D energy in them, because that's partly how D is driven. So D wants to be a winner and that's a way to get buy-in from them.

Speaker 1:

When you're giving them either guidelines or rules, depending on whether it's the DI person, the hunter, or the DS person, the more kind of longer term account management To some extent or another, you need to get that buy-in and part of it will be appealing to their need for status to be seen as a winner. So when you're selling rules to them, I think that's a really important thing to remember. And then just think about how far inside that kind of scaffolding cage I'm using as one way of visualizing it how far inside do they need to be? Do they need to be deeply inside it? Lots of rules and clear guidelines about how to go forward. So this, as I've said, is likely to be someone who handles long-term accounts very well, is very good at connecting with people, looking after their needs, all of that or do they need to be really just touching the very top of the scaffolding setup if they are very much a very high DI and really push back against any kind of rules. So these are things to bear in mind.

Speaker 1:

So, without getting into any specifics, which clearly I can't do, I just wanted to share those thoughts. I suppose I hope they're of use to you. Maybe something has made some sense there, and if you want to know more about this aspect, I certainly recommend you learn more about this, just out of interest. I found it really interesting because it told me a lot about how I tick, why I get annoyed I'm actually textbook d but um, anyway, that's another thing but I find that really interesting to understand why I get really cranky at times and sometimes I feel like I'm not in the driving seat. But, even more important, it really highlighted to me where I have difficulty with, where I've upset certain people completely unintentionally and I was struggling to understand what I'd done but those.

Speaker 1:

This gave me huge insights and, as I said, the reason I like it is it's very easy to apply it when you meet new people.

Speaker 1:

Even within a few seconds of meeting them, you can kind of be, I reckon, within about 60, of identifying what kind of personality they are, and that then means that you can modify, change your approach with them, the way you talk to them, how you try and get to whatever goal you have in that meeting.

Speaker 1:

You can use a different strategy, and that's one that would align much more with them. You can use a different strategy and that's one that would align much more with them, and the benefit is not only will that conversation go more smoothly, but they're likely to warm to you a lot more, because most salespeople in my experience don't have a clue about this stuff and they just pile in assuming everyone's like them, and they really get other people's backs up at times, and if you manage to do that, your chances of selling to them are pretty remote. So I'm going to end it there on the. This is more of a leadership talk, but I hope that's given you some insights. I hope that's been useful and I'll speak to you in the next podcast. Bye for now.