Leadership and Guidance for Effective Sales

You are required to analyse and provide leadership recommendations on a complex business context, describing the context, strategies and leadership competencies that underpin these strategies.

Every organisation requires proper leadership skills so that effective guidance can be provided to the employees. The guidance is based on the effective teamwork that is required in the organisations so that proper productivity can be maintained. Situations related to work place safety, productivity, sales and maintaining ethical guidelines might occur in an organisation. Therefore, it is the duty of the leaders to ensure that proper guidance is provided to the employees so that these situations can be mitigated and organisations can improve its productivity (Goleman, 2017). The situation that is to analysed concerns the sales management and the guidance need to be provided so that the employees can improve its sales record. The leadership that is required in a sales team needs is analysed along with factors that affect it. The application of STEEP model to understand the effectiveness of the topic is also analysed in the assignment.

The situation that needs to be analysed in the assignment focuses on the importance of leadership in sales management teams. According to Bolman and Deal (2017), leadership is important in every department so the stability of the responsibility of the employees and the department can be maintained. In my opinion without leadership, it can be difficult for any organisation to continue with the effective production. In the case of the sales management team, it is necessary that the leaders play a crucial role in guiding the employees about the ways to implement effective sales tactics for the production of an organisation.

As stated by Northouse (2018) leadership in a sales management team comprises of leading as well as providing guidance for conducting and managing effective sales. Sales are an important function of any company as based on the sale of the products or services the financial stability of an organisation can be maintained. Therefore, it is necessary that the sales management team receive proper leadership from the people experienced in the department. For example, I have seen that in a company like Woolworths it is important that the sales management team develop ways to sale its lesser-known products such as beauty and health items to the public. For example, Woolworths can develop proper advertising campaigns to ensure that the products are promoted among the public.

Factors Affecting Leadership in Sales Management Teams

The sales management team need to develop ways to deliver the product that can attract the customers. The leaders need to ensure that the sales team are well prepared to continue with the selling of the beauty and health products in the market of Australia. As stated by Ward (2016) the leaders can guide the people and ensure that proper sales are made so that the market of Australia can improve economically. I believe that the leaders need to encourage the employees so that they provide effective sales for increasing the production of the company. However, I believe that certain issues can be raised that may affect the sales of the company. The financial manager can raise these issues over the budget of the company or by the marketing manager over the satisfaction of the customers.

It needs to be seen that the sales management of an organisation get the proper guidance so that the productivity can improve (Antonakis and Day 2017). The possible issue that may arise in the sales management team includes inexperience of the employees. I believe that the employees need to be guided in a manner so that they can provide effective sales in the market. Hence, the role of the leaders in order to manage the employees is to ensure that the experience is imparted to them.

At the same time, other issue that may be faced by the employees is the fact that they need to meet the target provided to them. The target of the employees need to be fulfilled so that they can provide support to the organisation and increase its productivity. The pressure of the target may affect the performance and employees may feel de-motivated in working. Hence, the approach of the leaders should be to encourage the employees and ensure that an easy way of meeting the target is provided to them (Heifetz & Linsky, 2017). These issues related to sales team can hinder the progress of an organisation and ensure that the complexity within the organisation increases. Certain factors contribute in the effectiveness of leadership in the business organisations.

The factors that contribute to the complexity of the situation may be both internal as well as external. In my opinion, the internal and external factors that contribute to hinder the effectiveness of leadership include:

The inexperience of the employees: The inexperience of the employees may hamper the leadership skills of a prominent leader. According to Fairhurst and Connaughton (2014), the employees need to be provided with effective guidance to gain success in the organisations. In the case of the sales team, it is necessary that the leaders ensure that the employees are provided with the tactics required to succeed. This cannot be done effectively as the level of understanding of the employees may vary and may pose a threat for the organisation.

The Impact of the STEEP Model on Leadership in Sales Management Teams

Capability of the organisation: According to Renz and Herman (2016), the capabilities of an organisation are important so that the development of the employees can take place. Without capabilities, it can be difficult for the organisations to motivate the employees and increase its production. The leaders need to lead from the front so that they can provide guidance to the team members and to do so the strength of an organisation is a must. The application of this trait in the case of Woolworths and its sales team, the existence of technology such as an application to search for potential customers is important so that leaders can guide the employees and gain maximum production in the company.

Technical factors: According to DuBrin (2015), the technical factors of an organisation contribute to its maximum success. Every organisation need to ensure that the technical factors be developed so that the employees can be provided with an ease of work. In the case of the leaders, it is necessary that they enrol their knowledge with the technical factors that affect the market. I believe that this can help them to guide the employees and ensure that technical prowess within the organisation is established. In the case of the sales department leadership, it is necessary that the technical factors regarding selling techniques be analysed so that the companies can be successful in the market.

The application of the STEEP model can help in analysing the factors that may contribute to the effective leadership in an organisation. Covin and Slevin (2017) is of the opinion that the STEEP model is used to analyse the market and evaluate different external factors that affect an organisation. The STEEP analysis is often conducted by organisations to get a detailed overview of the external factors that may affect its progress in the market. In the case of leadership of a sales management team, the application of STEEP can be used to identify the future trends of the business.

Social: I have observed that the social factors of an organisation can be developed based on the responses of the customers (Certo et al., 2016). However, in this case the social factors can be related to the production of the organisation and the effective leadership that exists in the business. As stated earlier, the intellect of all employees are not equal and because of this leadership provided may not be accepted by the employees. Hence, it can be said that the leadership of an organisation particularly in the sales department can be related to the social activities performed by an organisation. For example, Woolworths can contribute to the society by taking initiatives to educate the children and the community about various aspects of the market.  

Technological: The technical aspects of an organisation can be analysed with the help of this factor. Inclusion of factors such as innovation affects the technological aspects of the organisation. The leadership in the sales management team that exists in Woolworths need to encourage the innovative characteristics of the employees and provide them with an opportunity to conduct the business in an effective manner. Hence, the leadership in the organisations need to encourage the use of technology so that they can contribute in the success of the organisation.

Economic: This particular attribute can be associated with the buying behaviour of the customers. For an organisation like Woolworths, the economic condition is important as it helps in understanding the factors that raise the economic concern of an organisation. It can be said that the duty of the leaders in this case is to ensure that the jobs and tasks provided to the employees contribute to the growth of the economy of an organisation (Bessis, 2015). The rise in the economic factors may encourage the leaders to develop the team in a proper manner.

Environmental: In the modern days, sustainability of the environment is necessary for the development of an organisation (Priest & Gass, 2017). The environment factors include the natural resources and the manner in which it can be kept safe from harmful chemicals and effluents. The leaders of Woolworths need to ensure that the sales team take into consideration these factors while preparing to sell products in the market. The environmental factors involve maintaining the environmental regulations such as protection of flora and fauna. The sales team need to be guided keeping in mind the effectiveness of the resources so that the future generations can take proper advantage of the factors contributing to the development of the society (Daft, 2014).

Political: The political factor influences both the organisation as well as individuals. This is mainly because the political factors comprise of the legal rules that are needed to be followed so that the ethical management of work can take place. The development of political ties or tax policies may help an organisation to gain success in the international market. The leadership need to be such that the sales management in an organisation like Woolworths can be provided with an understanding of the legal factors that affect the international as well local market. Tourish (2014) is of the opinion that the stability of the political factors can provide organisations with an opportunity to conduct business in a legal manner. Therefore, the leaders can even benefit from the effectiveness of the factor.

 

Figure: STEEP framework

(Source: Johnston & Marshall, 2016)

After the analysis of the effectiveness of leadership in the sales department, it can be said that a company like Woolworths or any other company need to implement certain tactics that can help in the development of the organisation. The tactics require the leaders to undertake a particular style so that they can encourage the employees. It has been seen that in the technological aspect, every organisation need to maintain innovation to gain a competitive advantage. Therefore, encouragement needs to be provided to the employees and to do so it is necessary to undertake the style of authoritative leadership.

The leaders need to encourage the employees to take decisions so that the dependence upon the leaders can be reduced. At the same time, it is also necessary that the external factors need to be considered so that the leaders and the sales team       can prepare their tactics based on the effectiveness of the factors. Hence, these changes can help an organisation like Woolworths to dominate or establish itself in the market and encourage leaders to develop with the organisation.

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be concluded that leadership is important for the proper guidance of the employees. Every employee requires a role model inspiration from whom can provide the employees with an urge to grow in the organisation. The duty of the leaders is to ensure that they provide guidance as well as encourages the employees to undertake work that they are capable of performing. However, the characteristics of the leaders changes and it is important that these characteristics are analysed based on the personality of the leaders. The application of the STEEP model can help in the analysis factors that affect leadership in an organisation.

References

Antonakis, J., & Day, D. V. (Eds.). (2017). The nature of leadership. Sage publications.

Bessis, J. (2015). Risk management. John Wiley & Sons.

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons.

Certo, S. T., Busenbark, J. R., Woo, H. S., & Semadeni, M. (2016). Sample selection bias and Heckman models in strategic management research. Strategic Management Journal, 37(13), 2639-2657.

Covin, J. G., & Slevin, D. P. (2017). The entrepreneurial imperatives of strategic leadership. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, 307-327.

Daft, R. L. (2014). The leadership experience. Cengage Learning.

DuBrin, A. J. (2015). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Nelson Education.

Fairhurst, G. T., & Connaughton, S. L. (2014). Leadership: A communicative perspective. Leadership, 10(1), 7-35.

Goleman, D. (2017). Leadership That Gets Results (Harvard Business Review Classics). Harvard Business Press.

Heifetz, R., & Linsky, M. (2017). Leadership on the Line, With a New Preface: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Change. Harvard Business Press.

Johnston, M. W., & Marshall, G. W. (2016). Sales force management: Leadership, innovation, technology. Routledge.

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.

Priest, S., & Gass, M. (2017). Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming, 3E. Human Kinetics.

Renz, D. O., & Herman, R. D. (Eds.). (2016). The Jossey-Bass nonprofit leadership and management. John Wiley & Sons.

Tourish, D. (2014). Leadership, more or less? A processual, communication perspective on the role of agency in leadership theory. Leadership, 10(1), 79-98.

Ward, J. (2016). Keeping the family business healthy: How to plan for continuing growth, profitability, and family leadership. Springer.