Geno Auriemma and the Power of Accountability

The ASLAN Other-Centered^® Leader 
Coaches Quiz Blog Series

Editor's note: This post originally appeared March 1, 2016. Congratulations to Coach Auriemma on taking UConn to 100 consecutive wins.

Every winner has a coach, and every coach has a philosophy.  The ASLAN Other-Centered^® Leader Coaches Quiz matches your coaching style with some of the legendary coaches in sports.  Here is a deeper look inside the philosophy of one of today's best.

Geno Auriemma has been head women's basketball coach at the University of Connecticut for the last 29 years and has the highest winning percentage among NCAA basketball coaches who have coached at least ten seasons (.871). His UConn Huskies have won 10 national championships and 19 Conference Tournament titles.

An immigrant from Italy, Auriemma spent his childhood assimilating into American culture and playing sports, becoming a basketball coach after college. He took a job coaching women out of desperation but found that he liked the women's combination of toughness and emotion. He calls himself a "gender-neutral" coach, expecting as much from his female players as he would from men. His high expectations combined with a strong perfectionist streak attract women who know that equal treatment for women doesn't include making excuses or cutting breaks.

As a leader, Auriemma can be a hard taskmaster, but his girls have risen to the occasion and found that they have more strength and skill within them than most of them ever thought possible. His players have gone on to professional careers in the WNBA in disproportionate numbers, including Rebecca Lobo, Swin Cash, and Diana Taurasi.

Auriemma refuses to do for his players what he knows they can do for themselves. Instead of telling them exactly what to do in each situation, he gives them the basic skills they need to play and tells them to figure out how to best handle the specifics. The result is a more versatile and creative team who can step up to the challenge of unexpected or surprising circumstances.

As a sales coach, you know that accountability is important. Average employees will never rise to the level of doing their absolute best without a sales coach who demonstrates high expectations and accountability to back them up. Like Coach Auriemma, you can be an excellent teacher of the skills your sales force needs to excel, then show them you expect sales excellence for the benefit of the company and themselves.

In this excerpt from the ASLAN Training & Development whitepaper "Is it Possible that What You Learned About Coaching is Wrong?" some basic principles for accountability show sales coaches how to focus on outcomes rather than the behaviors of sales team members.

It's Not How You Hit the Ball But Where It Lands

Successful managers have a very common sense approach to assessing a rep's ability to sell. They don't get overwhelmed or distracted by 50+ sales behaviors but zero in on the five to eight simple outcomes that ultimately determine how well a rep can execute in the field. In other words, great sales managers have a different definition of competency than most. They measure competencies by customer outcomes and not by looking at what the rep attempted to do (e.g., questions asked, communicated prescribed benefits, etc.).

Let's consider a golf analogy. A golfer's success is based on a score (similar to a rep's quota) but how do you measure the competencies they must possess that ultimately will determine that score? Some would say "look at their short game - that's a key competency." True, that's like saying "prospecting" is a core sales competency - also true. But again, how do you measure that competency?

The key is to break sales down into competencies that can be measured by a defined outcome. Let's go back to the golf analogy. What if we broke down the "short game" into three competencies: chipping, sand shots, and putting? Now it is a bit easier to define and measure the competency. I can easily measure putting by number of putts per round or sand shots by how close the ball consistently lands near the hole. It really doesn't matter how they hold the putter or their stance - this is key. If they consistently have a low number of putts, as a coach, I don't have to get bogged down with all the elements that go into putting, as long as the desired outcome is achieved (i.e. the ball consistently goes in the cup with an acceptable number of putts), move on. Even if their total score is off, it is not due to a putting problem. On the other hand, if the putting number is high, then it makes sense to take a look at the elements of putting that may be causing the problem. Great managers define these as "behaviors" (i.e., stance, grip, alignment). This is the level at which development occurs. They zero in on the behaviors that affect the competency (or outcome).

A sales example might be helpful. Let's say a manager wants to measure a rep's ability to build value in a solution. Should that manager first focus on the rep's ability to communicate benefits, identify barriers or handle objections? No. The manager will certainly look at those behaviors if needed - but the key is to first look at building value - the competency - as a customer outcome. For example, the rep successfully built value IF the customer embraced recommendation and/or positively changed their opinion of the product/service/company and was willing to advance. If the rep achieved this "outcome", they were successful. If they achieve this "outcome" consistently, they are competent at building value. The "why" or "how" really doesn't matter. But if they failed to achieve the desired outcome, then we focus on the five or six key behaviors that contribute to success in building value (e.g., communicating benefits vs. features, handling objections, delivery) and diagnose which behavior is causing the rep to miss the mark.

Two major benefits of this approach . . . first, the manager is able to quickly narrow the focus to the root cause of the problem (vs. wasting time measuring 50+ sales behaviors on every call). And second, managers will eliminate arguments with reps who are achieving results but don't do it the "company" way.

If they can consistently hit the ball 300 yards down the middle of the fairway with their putter, leave them alone.

Geno Auriemma knows the importance of providing his team with the right tools to succeed and that giving them the autonomy to choose the right combination of those tools in any given situation is what gives them the winning edge. As a sales coach and manager, do you do the same with your sales reps?

For more information about sales coaching, download the entire whitepaper, "Is it Possible that What You Learned About Coaching is Wrong?" or contact ASLAN with your questions and comments.