This month we explore how the FinxS Team Report helped identify the reasons for poor performance and unhappy team members. This team faced some real challenges caused fundamentally by the downturn in demand for its products caused through aggressive competition. While sales are buoyant, it is easy to overlook weaknesses but when sales become difficult to achieve, then gaps in the system will widen.
We provide some information about invalid reports. The FinxS online assessment system has an built-in validity check and will not produce reports that are unreliable. In addition to this feature, the consistency of answering is measured and it is possible to identify reports that might be suspect.
The company involved had a very good track record over some forty plus years and had weathered many ups and downs.
Interestingly, and as we have seen in many other cases, the sales team were of a similar behavioural style to that of the CEO. Not surprisingly they had been selected by the CEO, who was himself a very good salesman mainly because of his experience. This meant that the selection of the sales team was based on compatibility with the CEO.
Again, this is not uncommon but when times are tough this puts extreme pressure on the individuals to perform and in some cases can lead to stress. We all know that stress affects performance and in this particular case the matter had become a serious issue.
The CEO recognised that the team had become dysfunctional, but he didn’t know why. The team was comprised of people he knew well and had worked with, in some cases, for over thirty years. Weekly sales meetings were often ineffective with a lot of “finger pointing” and the reasons for poor performance difficult to identify.
In desperation he decided to consult an HR professional and the first step the consultant took was to obtain a FinxS Behavioural Report from each member of the sales team.
The similarity in the behavioural styles became obvious and the consultant knew that he had identified a major cause for the difficulties facing the CEO.
