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Today I’m going to stir the pot a bit.

I want to talk to you about the 80/20 rule and why it doesn’t work. Yep, there, I said it, it does not work. Wait, wait, wait — just give me a minute to explain here. We’ve been conditioned to think that if we achieve our overall sales targets, despite how and who got us there, we can celebrate it as a win. But I’m here to tell you that tolerating mediocrity in a sales team is an empty victory. You still with me? Ok, great, let’s get into the why, how and who.

Starts With the Coach

As with all teams, the success of the troupe lies with the effectiveness of the coach. Whether it be business or tag football, leaders — who are designated coaches — must do away with the 80/20 rule if they want to build a winning team. But why is it still tolerated in business? There’s a simple answer: it is still in place because it is easier to manage the business than to coach to excellence. Being mediocre is always easier.

The challenge can be found in our unwillingness to accept our inefficiencies as a leader. In sales, you often get distracted by the winning numbers. If you’ve surpassed a monthly goal or yearly target, you count yourself among a #winningteam. However, if you take the time to look beyond the surface, you may find an underlying culture where few work and too many are coasting. This is unacceptable.

Where Did Things Go Wrong?

This can simply be explained away with some rudimentary math. If you manage a team of more than 100 people and only 20 percent are performing to their best capability, this means only 20 people are getting the job done. Now, I’m no Einstein, but you can clearly see that 80 percent of the team is not living up to their potential. That means 80 people show up to work to do their job but are failing to perform (or are they even showing up?).

While I’m still stuck at the figures (80 people?!), this clearly highlights why the 80/20 rule is ineffective. I mean, can you imagine the targets you would hit and the heights of success that your business would achieve if they gave 100 percent? By not performing, these employees are failing you and the organization.

Coaching for Success

As coaches when we focus on making each player more successful through coaching, then the entire team will win — excellence does not have an 80/20 rule and neither does coaching!

Here are a few important factors that can affect your team’s success as taken from my book, The Sales Leaders Gameplan:

Fact 1: If a leader focuses on the weakest employees, the number of weak players will grow, and if a coach focuses on the strongest players, then the number of stronger players will grow.

Fact 2: A professional can always improve. Improving requires being coached and developed, not managed. If you want to coach your people, then spend your time with your strongest players. Make the commitment to help them get better.

So essentially, you need to dedicate the extra time to reward your strongest players by coaching them more. This will increase motivation and elevate the overall benchmark for the team. Rewarding success should motivate the weaker employees to step up to the plate. If not, you know my rule: “hire fast, fire faster!”

Reject the 80/20 Rule and Win, Big!

To climb out of this leadership comfort zone, you will need to modify your modus operandi. The focus will be less on reaction and more on proactive management. A coach is always present for the wins and for the losses, so is an effective leader.

Your employees may not even realize the need for your investment in their success and that’s okay! Removing that 80/20 cushion will only make them better. You see every athlete will say they need their coaches and that their coaches have helped them become what they are today, but athletes don’t always want a coach or want to be coached.

Despite their hesitation, an effective leader knows that coaching prepares the team for the known and the unknown. The leader’s involvement should never be viewed as a consequence for those that do not deserve the help but need it. Instead, leader-employee coaching should be appreciated as a reward to those that work hard and deliver the best results.

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].