Building a Winning Team

The first step to creating a winning team is to set them up to WIN! Once they win the first time, the whole dynamic changes.   

I took over a sales team a number of years ago. The team wasn’t really considered a ‘winning’ team—which was a ‘head scratcher’ to me, because the individuals on the team were very talented. When I first took it over, I did the usual things—sat down with the individuals to get to know them and understand their motivations, I reviewed their portfolios and performance with them, I joined them on sales calls to understand their approach and skill level. When I was finished, I was still scratching my head. Everything about this team said they should be ‘winners’.   

But they weren’t. 

So I decided to change their mindset. To make THEM think they were winners. 

I started by telling them what I wanted—I essentially set ‘clear expectations’. Now, I’m not talking about my expectations of their RESULTS—that takes time. And I needed to create a ‘winning team’ immediately. What I’m talking about, is my expectations of their activity. Make no mistake, my expectations were HIGH. And, as I anticipated, I immediately got their pushback, their doubt—they weren’t a ‘winning team’ (yet) after all.

Next, I set them up to WIN. I needed them to WIN so that they could start believing in themselves. Now this part takes effort—creating a winning team isn’t for the faint of heart! You have to roll up your sleeves and jump into the trenches with them. I worked individually with each one. Some of them realized quickly that they could do it. Others ran into obstacles that they needed my support to overcome. Some of them just needed an encouraging word every now and then—for me to be their confidence in those moments of self doubt. 

They ultimately reached that first milestone. They WON. 

Now you may say, ‘What’s the big deal? How does that change anything?’

The thing about winning is, once you win once, you know you can do it. 

You believe. 

It changes your mindset. 

And you want to do it again. 

That’s how it starts. They meet the milestone again. Then, they start reaching that milestone every week. The next thing you know, people are asking, ‘What did you do to that team Shawn? They seem different.’

I believed in them. 

Oh yeah, and you may be wondering, ‘So what happened with their RESULTS?’ That’s the bottom line in sales right—the RESULTS?

Well what do you think happened? Sales is typically pretty simple—higher activity = higher results. So naturally, they started winning!