Business Development Leaders aren’t just responsible for a function; they are leaders of an enterprise. This is a big shift for first-time heads of sales or heads of sales in organizations where the CEO led more, those who have been able to work successfully without deep cross-functional relationships. The best heads of sales — like all C-suite leaders — are enterprise leaders, who are defined by two types of outcomes:
They achieve strong individual leadership performance by reaching their goals and leading their teams to do the same.
They show great network leadership outcomes — working with other leaders and their teams to transfer and acquire resources and best practices.
Old hierarchical leadership approach vs new
Old - Focus on leader-owned resources and priorities for individual performance
New - Use and contribute value throughout the enterprise
Old - Provide clear, top-down directives to sales leaders
New - Give input to and take input from sales leaders, cross-functional peers and leaders to improve the broader enterprise
Old - Standardize processes to direct and control sales team performance
New - Facilitate sales team performance, rather than direct it. Connect teams with those who can enhance and benefit from the team’s performance
Old - Cascade information to the sales team
New - Push information to and pull value from multiple teams, ensuring team contributions receive the resources and visibility needed for success
Source: Gartner
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