As a Team Manager, Never Pick Favorites!

Build & Manage a Top-Performing Sales Team — Post #1

Introduction.

As a sales manager, your job is all about people. Over are the days where you were an individual contributor crushing your sales numbers and closing deal after deal. Now, you are responsible to create an environment that fosters talent and develops sales reps into the best version of themselves they can be.

And, managing people is hard. There are so many pitfalls. But, thank god, there are the few employees you can always count on. They’ve been performing far above average from the very beginning and they continued to be the best on your team. Sometimes, when you have issues managing the team, you even ask these subordinates for advice. You don’t wanna admit it, but they’re clearly your favorites.

But, if you have favorites on your team, you should

1. Question why you appreciate them so much, and
2. Reflect on the implications of your behavior on your team.

Let’s dive a little bit deeper into this.

Photo by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash

Why You Might Be Wrong About Your Favorites?

How many times have people told you that you should trust your gut? Well, usually, I’d be one of them but when you realize that you have favorites on your team, I’d be very careful for multiple reasons:

1. We All Judge People Based on Our First Impression: Researches have found over and over again that we tend to make up their mind about people very early after we meet them. This applies to both our private and professional lives. Our brains are wired to make quick decisions.
   So, if someone overperforms in the first three months after a promotion, their bosses oftentimes tend to overlook mistakes that are made later.
   And, reversely, when people make mistakes in the early days of a new job, we unconsciously hold grudges and trust them less. No matter how much they improve.
   So, oftentimes we never reflect on people’s performance and just keep on thinking “they’re good” or “they’re bad employees.”
2. Picking Favorites Is Based on Similarity and Empathy: I’m a people person. I love social interactions, making friends, and social selling. I hate analytics, I don’t like rigid plans, and god, I’ve always been bad at math. So, when I let my subconscious self pick the people around me, I oftentimes pick people who are more like me. This might be because I’m intimidated by the skills that more analytical people have or because we just don’t vibe that well based on the fact that our brains are wired differently.
   So, chances are that you pick favorites who are just like you. And, if you do that, you clearly put people at a disadvantage just because they have different traits that you have.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t appreciate employees who undoubtedly perform well and who based on data and facts are the unicorns on your team. You should just be aware that when you get the feeling that you like an employee more than others, there might be a chance that you’re biased for the wrong reasons.

But, no matter, if there is a legitimate reason to like them more or not, picking favorites, can have detrimental effects. Let’s explore!

Photo by Hello I'm Nik on Unsplash

Why Picking Favorites Has Negative Impacts on Your Team, Your Company, and Your Individual Performance.

If you pick favorites, the following things will inevitably happen:

1. You Might Favor the Wrong People: You shouldn’t have favorites in the first place, but if you do, you even pick the wrong ones. Just to restate it: You might be picking your favorites for the wrong reasons. You should never ever pick favorites in a professional environment based on a gut feeling that is not substantiated with data.
2. It‘ll Decrease Individual Morale: If you’re liked you’re motivated but if you get the feeling that — no matter what you do — you’re disliked, you stop performing at some point. So, you’ll actively contribute to an environment where some of your employees can’t live up to their full potential.
3. It’ll Create Tension and Splits Teams: The people on your team aren’t dumb. This applies to the ones you like and don’t like. And, they are human beings with real emotions. So, when people feel that they’re treated poorly while others are treated like favorites, it’ll create friction and destroy the team spirit.
4. Your Team’s Performance Will Decrease: If you can’t keep up individual motivation and tension arises, your overall team performance will decrease because people won’t put in the same effort and will need to spend time dealing with the negative implications of your behavior.
5. You’ll Fail as a Manager: Again, your performance as a manager isn’t tied to your individual performance anymore. It’s tied to you being able to bring out the best in people. And, if you pick favorites, you’ll get out the worst.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

How to Avoid Picking Favorites?

Picking favorites is a natural human behavior. So, not doing it requires continuous work and awareness. So, here are three things that can help you avoid picking favorites:

1. Commit Publically to Not Picking Favorites: Telling everybody on your team and your peers will ensure that people will feel that they can hold you accountable to your commitment.
2. Ask Your Employees If They Feel Like You Pick Favorites: The easiest way is to ask people. If they don’t wanna tell you directly, ask them to have a conversation with trusted people in HR or elsewhere or use anonymized surveys.
3. Take a Look at Your Calendar: Are you spending more time with some employees than others? Ask yourself if there’s a legitimate reason or if you’re playing favorites.

But, these are only suggestions. The most important thing is that you continuously reflect and admit to yourself that you are a human being and that you might make flawed momentary decisions.

Make yourself aware of the fact that picking favorites will be detrimental to everyone on your team, including yourself. And commit to not picking favorites!

About the Author.

Teddy Lange is a co-founder at Resonaid and is responsible for business development and customer experience. Before joining Resonaid, he’s been a Sales Rep and Junior Sales Manager, and co-founded various companies. He has just finished his graduate degree in Public Policy with a focus on communication at Harvard University. Feel free to reach out to him at teddy@resonaid.co.