It’s time to look at your own ego along with that of each inside salesperson on your team
Ego can most easily be expressed as the opinion you have about yourself. As manager you must be aware of what each member of your team thinks about themselves.
It is important to remember that the ego is what comes from inside a person vs. other people’s view of that person.
The reason that is important to think of ego as being what people think about themselves is that in most sales organizations, expressions about an individual inside salesperson’s ego are typically NOT really about that at all. They are about other people’s impression of that inside salesperson.
Thinking about your team’s egos might begin with something as simple as listening. Some comments floating around your department that indicate you or someone on your team has an out of control ego might be:
- Stop taking yourself so seriously.
- Well SHE certainly is full of herself.
- His holier-than-thou attitude is annoying.
Where healthy egos might be described as:
- Wow, you are always so calm and in control.
- She is comfortable in her own skin.
- He really knows who he is.
If some team members don’t express enough ego, you might hear:
- You need to stand up for yourself.
- She sounds so hesitant about the solution.
- He needs to have a little more faith in himself.
You will probably agree, most people who have made it into a sales leadership or management position probably aren’t expressing those “not enough ego traits.” Instead they have either a healthy ego or an inflated one.
Jen Shirkani, author of Ego vs. EQ; How Top Leaders Beat 8 Ego Traps with Emotional Intelligence, warns people to “Take your job very seriously, without taking yourself too seriously.”
Which brings us to Leadership Step 2: look in the metaphorical ego mirror and figure out which you are taking seriously, your job or yourself.
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