Resilience

There are moments in our professional lives when we need to deal with difficult circumstances – positions created entirely by the external environment and beyond our control. I am about to write about one such professional manger – and I tracked him from a distance. I am writing about him because he had seen extraordinary situations in his professional life – not his doing, but he displayed immense tact and maturity in handling them at the cost of sacrificing a lot of his personal time.

Jose started his career as Supply Chain specialist in a large manufacturing company and moved there after to consumer products multinational in a similar role. In course of time, Jose moved from his core area of specialisation to a general management role. He went on to lead large teams in diverse geographies and dealt with complicated situations.

Let me write about some of his character traits that I took note of:

Tough, mild at heart

Jose displayed an appearance that wasn’t suave, charming or polished – he came across as a simple, no nonsense, to the point person. His tone was aggressive and specific – he did not beat around the bush. Diplomacy and tactfulness was never in his dictionary. He projected his image as a tough task master – but probe in him and you would know that he was a kind, gentle and a thoughtful human being. During his stint in various roles at different geographies, his team got to know more of him and therefore got to appreciate him better. Soon, they realised that it was easy to work with him and get a number of their initiatives approved.

Well prepared

Well, in the organisation that Jose and a number of other wonderful managers (whom I know)worked - being on guard and being able to demonstrate and read the market for any unexpected situation and occurrence had to be a natural trait. Managers were expected to exactly know how consumer preferences and choices moved and were expected to come up with solutions. A tough position to be in – but not so, if you have a well oiled and established set of team members and trade partners. Jose worked tirelessly and had a team in place – he was always well prepared and had the pulse of the market in his fingertips. I must say that there were very few managers who had their ears to the ground and I must say that they managed their work more through their experience than hard reality.

Survive extraordinary circumstances

Jose survived through a very difficult phase in his life – both professionally and personally. Many of us would have requested a change in role and moved to another role – but Jose was different. He remained in the location and fought against all odds and came out winning the war. He was tough, resilient and level headed – he did not want to leave the location, when things were completely amiss and torn apart. The trade partners were at war with the organisation for implementing certain proposals that did not go well with them – and they targeted Jose. Heading a sales unit in your home state may at times prove difficult and Jose went through this process of educating and working with his trade partners to get their support. He eventually succeeded – but he did so with a lot of personal difficulty and trauma.

Respect processes and systems

I might be upsetting a number of my peers and colleagues - but I must mention that managers who have moved from other functions and headed sales have possibly displayed more maturity and positivity towards processes and systems. Jose was one of them – he expected other functions like marketing, finance, human resources to work alongside and contribute to the sales organisation. He believed that an efficient sales organisation could be sustainable only if there are long lasting and strong processes in place and he supported all practical tools that were being implemented by other functions. Many traditional sales managers had strong views against interference from other functions, but Jose was different.

Break and build

Jose had an uncanny ability to start afresh in any role that he moved in – he did not disregard the existing process – he refined it. And in doing so, he had to take tough measures, acts that were perceived unpopular.
When Jose moved to a different geography within the sales organisation – he felt the need to revisit and restructure the “go to market strategy” – he believed that the traditional mode of selling was not helping the organisation and therefore a new refined process needs to be experimented and put in place. The new methodology was not well accepted within the organisation and the process of change had its share of anxious moments. But Jose believed in himself and his team – he relentlessly travelled, educated the trade partners, trained his team, and sought support from the functional experts. Eventually, he was able to put in place a sales process and management that would be long lasting and sustainable.But in the process he had to live with difficult situations – both within and outside the organisation and patiently work with the stakeholders to implement the strategy. In the same market, he eventually grew sales numbers and got recognised and was awarded with the top sales honour.

Probably a lesson learnt here – Jose did not walk in to a job straight from a management school – he came in with tons of hard core operating experience, with the pulse on the ground and an attitude oozing with positive energy. Jose did not qualify as a classic sales manager – he moved from a different environment and therefore looked differently at the task at hand.