(Minghui.org) Facing many long-term problems in the market and unmotivated sales team members, a new regional manager felt a lot of pressure. Before he assumed the post, the vice president had promised support for him to immediately terminate anyone who wouldn't cooperate in order to take control as soon as possible.
With faith in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, the principles he follows as a Falun Dafa practitioner, he first focused on people issues, gradually won the sales people's trust, and built a harmonious team. In doing this, he didn't fire any of the existing team members.
The team was able to overcome the issues that they faced in the market. The vice president who initially thought of him as “indecisive” now praised his “successful soft landing.”
Below is this practitioner's story.
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Region A in my company was known for its “troubles.” It includes city A and its neighboring nine counties. With it being a decent size, the market posed as many challenges as it had potential.
Prior to having me as the new manager, the region had seen frequent turnover of its leaders. The market was in a mess, and the sales team members were at odds with one another.
A senior salesperson openly declared that she had “destroyed” many of my predecessors. During our meetings with dealers, she often spoke with a mocking and sarcastic tone, which made the situation very awkward.
With the market problems and a toxic team environment, I felt a great deal of pressure. Before I was transferred to this city, the vice president told me in confidence, “You can remove anyone from their position immediately if they refuse to cooperate. You can fire anyone, and I will approve it immediately no matter who you want to fire.”
I thought that it might not be a bad thing to fire the incorrigible ones, but I did not do it immediately. Master’s teaching came to my mind,
“Do this compassionately no matter who it is, and with a compassion that can melt steel you'll be able to do it well.” (“Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference”)
I believe that as long as I do things following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, any situation will improve.
When I was illegally detained in a labor camp for practicing Falun Dafa, I witnessed many instances where people were moved by practitioners’ pure and sincere compassion.
They admired and respected practitioners even though they were the same people who had once brutally beat those practitioners. I had practiced Falun Dafa for more than twelve years. Dafa gave me a firm belief and when I faced difficulties, it broadened my heart and opened my mind, so that I could handle my relationship with others with more tolerance and forbearance.
I did not want to change anything too hastily. Instead, I quietly observed the market situation and the team.
The difficulties were obvious. In region A, our company’s products were sold at their lowest retail prices. Some stores even sold the products at prices lower than wholesale. In addition, stores placed our products in obscure areas where the customers could not see them and did not recommend the products to customers unless they asked for them.
We also had terrible credibility with our clients and partners. I remember one particular client visit, the person that I was meeting with threw me out as soon as he found out the company that I was representing.
Our products' dealers were also tired of working with us. For some of them, it seemed as if the only reason they continued carrying our products was because the retailers owed them for past balances due, and they weren't willing to sever the relationship.
I wasn't used to this. In other cities I had worked at, the retailers gave our products prominent shelf display, and the products were sold at good margins. For the first time in my life, I understood the phrase, “night and day difference.”
I thought I had thoroughly prepared myself for the new job. However, when I encountered the ignorance of individual salespeople, the terrible situation in the retail stores and the market challenges, I felt unprecedented stress, as all these problems seemed to be so difficult.
I almost lost my temper several times. But when I remembered Master’s teaching, “You should educate children with reason so that you can really teach them well.” (Lecture Nine in Zhuan Falun) I calmed down and thought, “I will then just treat the employees as I would treat my own children. First of all, I should be rational and calm.”
With a peaceful mentality, I could think about the situation rationally. I knew I had enough experience; that's why the vice president entrusted me with this troubled region in the first place. I also knew that a harmonious team would be a must, otherwise, all our efforts would be lost in “internal struggles,” and I would soon become another “destroyed” new regional manager.
Even though some of the senior salespeople had bad attitudes and many deficiencies in their skills, they were familiar with the local market problems, of which a new hire would have no idea. If I could help them build on their strengths, they could become powerful assistants. If I simply fired them, I would still be stuck with our problems in this market. This would also significantly increase our operational costs in bringing in new people.
My primary focus should be figuring out how to work with the existing staff. Only after we resolved our internal challenges, could we then work on resolving the market issues. I decided to communicate with the salespeople in good faith.
I took every opportunity, such as outings, dinners and meetings to get to know my team in a relaxed environment. I tried to eliminate their resistance with the wisdom granted to me by Dafa, and with my positivity and sense of humor.
When our interaction became harmonious and when the time was right, I kindly pointed out the problems in their work. I showed them visual examples of successful product displays and how to work with clients, and showed them the differences between our and other regions. It was an arduous process, during which my compassion and tolerance underwent extreme tests.
I collected many enlightening stories from Minghui and other Dafa sites. I made slides from these stories and presented it to them. They had never seen these stories before and were very interested in them.
These stories broadened their horizons and opened up their minds. When they were in the middle of arguing with or discrediting one another, I told them, “Everyone has his own strengths and weaknesses. Working together is our opportunity to complement one another with our strengths. When we see the weaknesses of others, we should help make up for those weaknesses with our strengths and help them improve.
“Only in this way can our team put our diverse strengths to work, and we will achieve a higher efficiency. Cooperation reduces work stress and creates a more positive environment. We will benefit from our cooperation in many ways.”
I noticed that when I talked to them, they appeared to take it to heart and really give it some thought. They started changing and gradually freed themselves from their struggles for fame and personal gain; they started learning to cooperate with one another.
My colleagues also learned that I'm a Falun Dafa practitioner. They observed that I'm a dedicated manager with a good work ethic. Using the situations around us, I explained the principles of good and evil being repaid accordingly at a later time, as well as the principle of not being able to gain without first giving of yourself. My colleagues agreed and accepted the principles I shared.
Within the limited power of my position, I did my best to help them to advance in their compensation and responsibility. Over time they felt my sincerity and goodwill, saw the way I treated people and understood that I only wanted the best for them. Their resistance and rejection gradually diminished and finally stopped.
The good teamwork culminated at a large-scale promotional event we held at a local supermarket. I invited the same salesperson who was proud of her “destroying” many of my predecessors to plan the event. She got us a prime spot, and the team did successful marketing with customer contacts they had collected for many years. The event was very successful, with great traffic and impact.
In the debrief PowerPoint presentation, I acknowledged each salesperson’s different capabilities and accomplishments, and the great teamwork. The last slide was a photo of the crew taken on the scene at the event's conclusion. Every one of us, more than a dozen in all, had sincere and happy smiles.
This presentation was later shared across the company as a best practice. We were all proud of our team. The senior salesperson said that she had learned a lot from me.
With the team members cooperating with one another, we had a foundation to deal with the market challenges. We resolved the remaining problems, including retail price adjustments, retail shelf display and so on, and we enabled our dealers to collect their bad debt, which had been outstanding for years.
The difficulties we encountered in the process were hard to describe in words. However, I did not feel as stressed as when I first came because we were able to support and encourage one another. For every move we made, there were team members coming up with good suggestions, from which I learned a lot. Through our hard work, our sales improved dramatically.
The vice president came to our region for an inspection. He was happy with what he saw in the market. He said that he used to get angry each time he inspected region A.
He thought that I had effectively stabilized the market with the original team and at a minimal cost. He had once said that I was “indecisive” because I did not remove the arrogant senior salesperson, but he now praised me for my “successful soft landing.”
Because of my success, he later transferred me to be the head of region B. Before I left for the new position, my colleagues and the dealers in region A were reluctant to see me leave. They said that the two years went by too fast and was too short, and they thought that no one else could do the things that I had done.
When I later recalled my experiences in region A, I felt they were exceptionally precious because we achieved success after going through so many complicated difficulties. When I was going through the most difficult time there, I regretted going to this problematic region. If I had not practiced Falun Dafa, I would not have been able to overcome the challenge.
From the colleague who initially rejected me, I saw what I was like before I started cultivating. I was arrogant, ignorant, and had no respect for others. Reflecting on myself, I saw that I had many bad habits, but at that time, I felt I was pretty good.
It's really difficult to change one’s notions and habits formed over many years. However, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance changed me, changed the people around me and changed my environment.