Case studies
Enhance the role of line managers
From Sales Manager to Performance Coach at the Manchester Evening News
Background
The Manchester Evening News Limited is a media organisation with activities which include daily newspapers, Internet sites, magazines and guide books. It is a high profile organisation in the northwest. A 200-strong salesforce is responsible for promoting an array of products to satisfy the complex demands of its advertising customers.
Although the Manchester Evening News has always been regarded as an attractive employer, historically, local career opportunities have been limited because movement of staff between other companies in the group (eg Guardian Media Group) was not easy.
Organisational restructuring
However, in 1999 the appointment of new senior managers in then northwest, and a subsequent organisational restructuring, created new opportunities for individual development and job advancement. At the same time the training department responsible for sales staff at the Manchester Evening News was given an enhanced role within the group's northern publications and redesignated 'The Media Academy'. At this time the front-line managers in the sales function, who had always been receptive to management training, were encouraged to increase their coaching and mentoring skills.
This renewed emphasis on staff development ensured that progress was made and individual sales staff was responsive to the opportunities. Indeed one challenge was the need to avoid raising expectations which could not be met.
A typical employee of the advertising and sales department, which by early 2000 comprised some 150 staff, would be a confident, energetic young man or woman who was comfortable with modern call-centre technology. Many were eager for personal development and advancement.
From 2003 there was recognition that a change in the approach to management was needed in the advertising and sales department. The nature of the sales job had changed with the arrival of new technology, competition was increasing as new forms of media offered new advertising opportunities, and the organisational distinction between the classified and display advertisement departments could be a barrier to effective sales and marketing.
Most importantly, it was recognised that the front-line managers were not spending sufficient time on people issues. Their role had become increasingly administrative with an over-emphasis on administration, on reporting on targets. There was an intention to develop staff; the culture was sympathetic, but job processes were getting in the way.
Performance coaches
The solution, implemented in March 2004, was to redesign the role and responsibilities of the front-line manager so that they could spend 80 per cent of their time on people management and development. Most importantly the seven front-line managers (in a department of 150) had their job titles changed to that of 'performance coach'. New job descriptions were issued to reflect their new accountabilities.
The all staff announcement issued in March 2004 stated that line management roles as currently understood would cease to exist. Each manager would become a performance coach. Their time would be dedicated to dual calling (calling with field sales executives or monitoring with telephone sales executives). The commitment to these sales staff was explicit.
'You can expect one-to-one attention. You can expect at least one day a week field accompaniment (field sales) or half a day a week side-by-side monitoring (telesales). You can expect to benefit from the experience of your coach in key areas such as sales skills and territory planning, lead management, personal management and client development.'
The performance coaches, who continue to report to the head of either the field or telesales functions, carry the main responsibility for their one-to-one development of staff. They can also call on the live support of training and learning professionals in the Management Academy. In this respect the Academy staff were expected to act as coaches for the performance coaches. After discussion with the Academy the performance coaches were expected to identify and implement opportunities for performance improvement for their staff. These could include work shadowing or a sales project. Formal off-the-job courses are available in a range of areas from 'structuring the sales call' to 'product knowledge'. In addition short master-class sessions are held on a weekly basis. At these forums the performance coaches are tasked to present a skills and knowledge workshop for groups of up to half a dozen staff on a rolling basis.
After three months the new structure has been well received, not least by the sales force whom benefit directly, but also the advertising customers have commented on the increased levels of professional representation. Most importantly there is a positive effect on the bottom line.
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