It's well known that people are creatures of habit, reluctant to change what they know and step outside their comfort zone. That's why it shouldn't be a big surprise to sales leaders that changing the way you train your salespeople is bound to bring resistance. However, it is natural and can be easily overcome with the right tools and strategies. One of the most important ways to create a growth mindset is a continuous learning and development culture.
A continuous learning culture provides benefits to both the company and its employees:
So, how do you convince your sales team that change is beneficial? Fortunately, there are some ways your leadership can help dispel resistance and inspire excitement for new employee learning and development opportunities.
Without a clearly defined vision, 70% of change programs fail. It is challenging to get all levels of the organization on board with change if they don't understand what is changing or why.
Employees want to know how the change will benefit them. Change for change's sake with no clear advantage is demotivating. If you expect buy-in from your team, you need to define how the final result makes their job easier or benefits their career progression.
Change can be hard work and isn't always comfortable. That's why you have to reward the effort expended with celebrations. It’s an opportunity to burn off some stress and reinvigorate the team to continue making progress.
Don't be afraid to appeal to the competitive nature of your team. Give examples of formerly ordinary people who saw things in a new light, challenging conventional thinking and introducing new processes, products, or technology that vastly improved our lives. Remind them that they have a unique perspective on what they do and that expertise is invaluable to moving your company into the next era.
Invite others to ask questions, share experiences, and provide insights. Then, sit back and LISTEN. When your team feels heard, they feel validated. When you create an environment that encourages and rewards open communication, you can unlock their creativity, inspire engagement, and even create change ambassadors within the teams to help champion your efforts.
Even if you create motivation, your team still needs guidance on how they can contribute to the change effort. By assigning tasks, you can ensure that everyone is working toward the common goal. It also gives each employee ownership and accountability for the process.
Like any project, a change effort must have milestones and checkpoints to ensure you are on track. Your chances of success increase to 95% if you maintain regular checkpoint meetings with your teams.
If you are lucky, you'll inspire your team, and change ambassadors will emerge organically. However, assigning some change ambassadors initially will help advance your cause significantly. The key is to choose peer ambassadors, not a management team member, as they are able to more closely relate to the direct challenges that fellow employees may experience.
Robert F. Kennedy once famously said, "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." Leaders must treat mistakes as opportunities for learning and development. By reassuring your team that setbacks are an inevitable part of progress, you remove the barriers that prevent employees from taking necessary, growth-inducing risks. For example, Michael Alter, former president at Sure Payroll, created the "Best New Mistakes" competition where employees could nominate themselves for the most interesting and unique mistake that has proven to be a very popular and innovative learning initiative.
Change efforts are challenging, whether introducing new employee learning and development efforts or retraining employees for changing job requirements. People are naturally reluctant to disrupt what they've known without compelling reasons to do so. However, with consistency, transparency, and inspirational leadership, you can have your team looking forward to learning new skills and increasing their opportunities for career growth.
Consider working with an experienced partner that can help you train your sales team and get them excited about doing things in new and improved ways.