Rainbow Thinking is a term that encompasses the ability to champion neural diversity within a team as a means of delivering high performance. In this series of 6 blogs, I'll discuss this in more detail using DiSC® as a tool to highlight our different styles, ways of thinking, approaches to different situations, how we interact with each other. The subject requires more than I can deliver in a series of blogs and so there workshops that can be delivered to bring this to life within your own team. In the meantime, I hope that some of this reasonates with you and your sales management life. Let's look at the first DiSC® style - The D Style.
About the C Style
Leaders and salespeople with C style are strongly data and fact driven, focused on accuracy and getting things right first time, maintaining stability, linearity and predictability, and challenge strongly when they disagree or have concerns.
Sales leaders with 'C Style' are primarily driven by the science of sales, using analytics and statistics to support their approach and decisions. Here we find the leaders who are heavily focused on leveraging forecasting applications, trend analysis and performance data to manage their teams. C style leaders want to be experts in their field and so they will strive for high performance and to be the best that they can be, they will be self critical of anything less and will expect the same of the team. C style leaders will react to challenges and opportunities by looking for facts and for accuracy, proof points, and decision making by gut instinct or 'a punt' is discouraged.
My Experience
I was part of a leadership team where the senior exec in the region was a C Style leader and I was trying to get a decision made for an investment in a new cloud data centre in a new region. Being a iD/Di style, I set out all the visionary reasons why it was a good idea, what the region would look like in 3 years, the results which could be achieved, all the demand generation we could do and events we could run, and I was very excited about the prospect - for me this was a no brainer and we should make an immediate decision. However, when I previewed my business case with my boss in preparation for the business case review, he told me I would have no chance of gaining the exec's approval without significantly more work on the data to back up the proposal. I thought I had included enough to justify the decision, but my 'I Style ' did not take into consideration the way that the C Style exec would think - I needed to put myself in their shoes. 3 weeks later I went to the business case review with the exec armed to the teeth with analysis and statistics to support my case. The meeting went well, the exec had a lot of questions and challenged many of the responses, but we managed to gain his confidence that we had covered everything and mitigated the risk - he approved the investment. 2 years later the exec, who had been promoted, still reminded me of the stats and predictions I had presented to him - C Style people have long memories!
C Style Leaders
Sales Leaders with the C Style are most effective in organisations which are data driven, and value accuracy and predictability, so are more operationally driven. Leaders with the C Style are more risk averse than D or I style leaders and prefer 'no surprises' and so will make very good decisions with all the facts to hand and all the options explored. Decision making will take longer than with D or I leaders but there will have been more rigour in the process and so there will be less risk of the decision being incorrect.
C Style Salespeople
Salespeople with the C style are very analytic about their patch, and their customers. They will know their environment inside out, they will calculate exactly where they should put their efforts to gain the right results, they will execute a plan meticulously. They will always put the most effort into accurate forecasting and account plans, but may need help with being creative or helping them to manage risk effectively. They do not respond well to 'fire drills' and so managing a C style salesperson needs to recognise that giving them a little more time with decision making or responding to requests, will result in getting the best information back.
Different types of the C Style
Not all people with a 'C' profile think the same, there is a spectrum of colour within this quartile dependent on how influential the other styles are to a person's makeup and the I quartile is divided into 3 sections, C, CD and CS.
A sales leader or sales person who has a C style but has strong influence of the D style (CD) is more results driven than the average C and more acceptant of risk, less rooted in stability. A CD is typically the most argumentative of the styles but with the intent to drive results from the accuracy of their activity and to challenge any misgivings vigorously. A CD leader will be most successful in an established business where there are defined processes and hierarchy. Expect a CD leader to drive sales success through accurate forecasting, predictability and a well defined sales methodology
A sales leader who has a C style but has strong influence of the S style (CS) is more aligned to stability, support and continuity than the average C and is probably the least typical style for a sales leader and salesperson, as results and action are the weakest of their watch words. A CS leader will typically want to manage the status quo, support the organisation in a background mode and ensure that everything is risk free, calculating every move. A CS sales leader is probably most successful where overt or direct sales is not the prime route to market for the organisation but provides a supporting role to its main purpose, such as Customer Success. Sectors like the voluntary/charity sector or other services or public sector aligned organisations are areas where a sales leader with the CS Style might be most effective.
Does the C, CS or CD style ring any bells with you? Who do you know with this style and how well do you relate to them?
If you want to get more specific, I can provide a full individual Workplace Profile for you and one for each of your team, with a team DiSC® map and an individual feedback session for each person. This can be followed by a half day team workshop which is fun, light hearted but informative and impactful.
To find out more, please contact me directly at timhearn@skylark-development.co.uk
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