E1: How to overcome challenges and build a high performance team with Dan Churches

Timestamps:

1:16 - Dan's challenges in his early career days
3:23 - Importance of Self-Awareness
8:11 - Four Quadrants of Situational Leadership
10:34 - Transitioning from Corporate Training to Enterprise Selling
12:18 - Helping underperforming people reach 110% performance
16:21 - How to help your team become more self-assured
18:58 - Pree shares the Numbers Principle

Dan Churches, the Regional Vice President of Transmit Security, has had a successful career in leadership and management in the tech industry. However, his journey towards success was not without its challenges. 

In a recent episode of the Switch Gears podcast hosted by Pree Sarkar, Dan shared his personal experiences of overcoming dyslexia and the importance of self-awareness in achieving career success.

When asked about his personal challenges, Dan immediately mentioned his dyslexia. Although his condition was not severe, he struggled with reading and writing, which made it difficult for him to construct well-rounded emails or proposals. To overcome this challenge, he had to develop his visual adaptation skills and become more visually oriented.

Dan's journey taught him that being self-aware is the first step towards achieving career success. By acknowledging his weaknesses, he was able to focus on improving his writing and communication skills. He emphasized the importance of proper grammar and structure when communicating with others, especially in the tech industry where competition is high, and communication is key.

The Importance of Self-Awareness

Dan's experience with dyslexia led him to read self-help books and seek mentorship to gain insight into the structure of success. He found that self-awareness was a common thread in all these resources. He learned that he had to own his personal and professional growth and be kind to himself when he stumbled along the way.

Self-awareness helped Dan navigate his career journey and helped him connect with others. By recognizing that everyone is on their own path, he was able to relate to others better, empathize with their struggles, and support them as they pursued their goals. Dan believes that using a framework to navigate one's personal and professional life is essential to success.

The Power of Situational Leadership

Dan's early career in learning and development allowed him to deliver programs like Situational Leadership by Ken Blanchard. This program had a significant impact on him, and he applied its principles to his leadership and management style. Situational Leadership emphasizes understanding where your staff are in the quadrants and how to help them map out their own path to success. By understanding their employees' goals and needs, managers can provide them with the necessary resources and support to achieve their goals.

When starting a new role in an organization, assessing the landscape and situational leadership is one of the first things to do. Situational leadership is a framework that helps leaders understand the development stage of their team members and adjust their leadership style accordingly.

Lead people through the Four Stages of Competence

Situational leadership is based on four quadrants that reflect the development stage of team members:

The four stages of competence are a model that describes the process of learning a new skill. These stages are:

1. Unconscious Incompetence (S1): In this stage, you don't know what you don't know. You may be unaware that you lack a skill or knowledge, and therefore, you may not see the need to learn it.
2. Conscious Incompetence (S2): In this stage, you know what you don't know. You become aware of your lack of skill or knowledge and start to seek information or training to improve your performance.
3. Conscious Competence (S3): In this stage, you know how to do the skill, but it requires your full attention and concentration to perform it correctly. You may still make mistakes, but with practice and feedback, you can continue to improve.
4. Unconscious Competence (S4): In this final stage, you have practiced the skill so much that it has become second nature to you. You can perform it without conscious thought or effort.

Dan emphasized the importance of helping team members move from quadrant one, where they don't know what they don't know, to quadrant two, where they have a grasp of the product, market, customer conversations, and differentiators.

He also highlighted the significance of paying attention to team members in quadrant four, who are highly successful and knowledgeable but need guidance to avoid becoming disconnected from the team and navigating their own progress.

The right way to coach people at each level of competence

The four stages of coaching are a model used to describe the process of coaching someone to improve their performance. These stages are:

1. Directing (D1): In this stage, the coach provides clear instructions and closely supervises the learner. This is appropriate for someone who is in the first stage of competence, the Enthusiastic Beginner.
2. Coaching (D2): In this stage, the coach provides guidance and feedback, but the learner takes more responsibility for their own progress. This is appropriate for someone who is in the second stage of competence, the Disillusioned Learner.
3. Supporting (D3): In this stage, the coach gives the learner more autonomy and encourages them to take ownership of their own learning. This is appropriate for someone who is in the third stage of competence, the Capable but Cautious Performer.
4. Delegating (D4): In this final stage, the coach delegates responsibility to the learner and provides only occasional guidance or feedback. This is appropriate for someone who is in the fourth stage of competence, the Self-Reliant Achiever.

Building a 110% mindset

Dan believes in sharing his philosophy on building skillsets with his teams and explaining why they should navigate certain situations in a specific way. He encourages his staff to understand their path to success, their aspirations, and their vision. By aligning their career goals to their personal goals, team members can see how they can contribute to achieving the vision and give 110%.

Dan's coaching methodology involves transparency, methodology, structure, and shared insights. He helps his staff understand what 110% means, how to map out what it looks like, and how to execute mindfully.

Overcoming Obstacles in Sales

Sales is a never-ending series of uncertain situations, including macroeconomic factors, new directions, plans, go-to-market strategies, and territories. Dan advises breaking down uncertain situations into smaller milestones and focusing on what team members can control.

He encourages focusing on incremental gains and celebrating them. Incremental gains are the right momentum for the next targeted goal, and they reflect fundamental and recognizable activities that are appropriate for sales activity and weekly hygiene.

Dan also emphasizes the significance of intrinsic development, taking ownership of personal growth, and focusing on what individuals can contribute to overcoming obstacles.

Final Thoughts

Dan's insights and experiences provide valuable lessons for sales leaders and team members. Situational leadership, coaching, transparency, and shared insights can help teams navigate uncertainty and overcome obstacles.

Breaking down uncertain situations into smaller milestones and focusing on incremental gains can also help teams achieve their goals and give 110%. By taking ownership of personal growth and focusing on what they can contribute, individuals can overcome obstacles and achieve success.

Hiring or replacing someone in the next 90 days?

We partner with tech sales leaders who are time-poor, under-pressure and introduce them to top performers without wasting time or risking average hires, so that they can build winning teams and careers.

Message [email protected] today