‘Having an obstinately uncooperative attitude towards authority or discipline.’
(source: oxford dictionary)
There is some history behind this post and I just had one of those ‘sharing moments’ to blurt it out in my no crap style.
Some years ago, I was in a General Management role and I was so opposed to suggested strategies and plans (at board level I might add) that I absolutely cracked the shits and stood up for what I believed was right at the time from a sales perspective. I listened to the boardroom rhetoric in silence, observing comments from others present at the usual Monday 8am meeting to undertake and review sales performance against targets. There were four General Managers present , that is me plus 3 others, the CEO, the CFO, and a young girl taking the minutes.
So after sitting in silence, and carefully considering the somewhat tense situation, I let fly with all guns blazing like a gattling gun on steroids. Not my normal modus operandi but something deep inside of me just let go and once done and re seated I was surrounded by the eeriest silence I have ever not heard. My peers were staring at me and this overwhelming feeling of loneliness swept over me.
In front of my peers, I was labelled by the CEO as being ‘recalcitrant’ – crikey I didn’t even know what the word meant at the time. Didn’t take long for me to look it up though, and my very first thought was ‘that’s crap – that’s not me’.
Funnily enough, my peers, one by one, came to me and said ‘shit that took guts’ – and ‘you were right with your comments.’
Anyway my sales targets got doubled – happy days. (achieved within 9 months of becoming recalcitrant)
The moral to my real life experience as described in this article is to know your sales team – make the effort to enjoy some social time, and above all, just when you think you have a recalcitrant employee on your sales team, be cautious and do not off board that person in haste – he or she could be your most valuable sales asset. In fact you might just learn something. Entrepreneurs are typically recalcitrant by the way…………
Rick
www.ossaustralia.com