“What’s great about it is I didn’t have to sell it,” Guy says. “I only had to sell it to that first business unit, and then because it was working, they sold it. The individual salespeople in that business unit sold it to their peers, and the general manager sold it to his peers.”
He just created the forum for the conversation to happen.
The system, however, isn’t perfect. Business units in Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo are teaming up, sharing information and being collaborative, but offices aren’t sharing with each other as much as they should.
Guy next wants to determine what structure will help remove the hurdles to collaboration across business units.
One unintended consequence to guard against, however, is inefficiency from over collaboration.
At Air Force One, some employees focus on client development, while others concentrate on project engineering, building automation or account management. It’s important that people aren’t going on sales calls unnecessarily.
“One of the lessons is you still have to have discipline to your role, but you want to have access to the brains of those people to share and collaborate at the right time in an uninhibited way,” he says. “We have to all know and subscribe to our own roles, and then somebody has to be directing traffic.”
Team behavior
With no commissions, individual recognition is minimized.
“Sometimes organizations celebrate salespeople, and they bring them across the stage and there’s the big round of applause and they give them the nice award,” Guy says. “And what gets lost is all of the people that are back in the office that are actually supporting that person and doing all of the heavy lifting.”
Plus, sometimes the person getting the award can be a jerk around the office, he says.
In the new model you’re celebrating the team, recognizing that the team wins or loses together.
At Air Force One, Guy says you’re valued if you’re a great colleague willing to step outside of your direct scope when needed. Also, peer-to-peer accountability has grown and it’s easier to onboard new hires because everybody is aligned with helping them.
“It’s been a fun journey and I feel much more authentic as a leader,” he says. “I can use the word team and have it actually mean something.”
