Smart Lemming Diary: Promotion at the C-level
May 13, 2006
Additional Functions Added to my Job
I’ve been managing the day-to-day functions of the Sales team with regular weekly one-on-one meeting, but now the CEO will hand over the Sales function to me, but next Friday, my CEO and I roll out changes in the Sales team. My CEO will review the sales organizational changes.
There were key issues that had to be addressed: sales compensation, allocating of sales team to direct and channel, and reporting structure. We’ve hammered out the compensation plan with our Controller. My CEO’s initial proposed changes went through a review by our Executive Team. The Controller and I modeled the new approach earlier this week and our CEO approved.
CEO’s Thoughtful Management Style
My CEO’s been careful with me, as he continues to add more responsibility to my plate. He’s hasn’t wanted to add more stuff on me, if I really didn’t want to do it. I’ve had to assure him three times. The third time was a charm.
My CEO and I were going over next steps in documentation. He’s creating the Executive Summary presentation for the Sales team to explain the changes, the Controller is creating the sales compensation plan. I’m writing the Sales Operations process, new channel and direct job descriptions, and bringing it all together with the CEO and Controller’s documents.
After reviewing this list, my CEO said, “I’m rolling out your new title.” I replied, “We could go add Sales Operations if you’d like; it’s at your discretion. You are retaining some key sales functions like continuing your existing role with our channels and still asking the sales team how their pipelines are doing.” My CEO replied, “I think it’s at your discretion. You tell me what title you want.”
Perfect Job, Perfect Boss
What can I say? My CEO is my perfect boss. I love the fact that he values me and knows that I’m choosing to work there after the acquisition goes through. I don’t use the choice as a hammer, but he knows that I’m still managing my career hard, wanting to continue to work with him until we get acquired as long as he can accommodate whatever happens with my living situation. My CEO’s always tells me that he’ll work with me on my location.
Action Items for this Weekend
So this weekend, I’m creating the following deliverables that be given to each sales person:
- Sales Compensation Plan: adding language to Controller’s document.
- Sales Operations Plan: defining function, roles, and responsibilities.
- Job descriptions: writing job descriptions for the channel sales and direct sales positions.
- 2006 Sales Plan: formalizing the Sales forecast, based on Sales Directors pipelines
- 2007 Sales Plan: finalizing the Sales forecast for 2007 and have use this forecast as the Sales team’s target goals with Controller
My Work Life
While each company is different in culture, life cycle stage, and other factors, new and advanced knowledge workers (KW) should know that promotions at the C-level often occurs because a CEO trusts the person being promoted. Demonstrated success, organization, and other relevant skills are also contributing factors.
In my situation, I have a knack for creating order and repeatable processes for new departments, positions, and duties. I happen to be at the right place, at the right time. The trick is to recognize if it’s the right time to share your perception in a way that doesn’t appear to be a power grab. I never aspire to gain more power because I want it. I’m only trying to help my CEO and colleagues solve a problem.
So that’s me. At the end of next week, my two work friends will now report into me. My job will officially evolve into Vice President of Sales Operations and Marketing. Not bad since I started August 1, 2005 as Director of Marketing, and then bumped up to VP of Marketing at the end of February 2006. Cool stuff. I’m very fortunate to have found a company where my strengths were a perfect fit.
The Smart Lemming Diary is a series that chronicles a journey of laid-off worker, who becomes a Vice President of Sales Operations & Marketing for a small entrepreneurial healthcare technology company. For previous entries in this series, click here. For the first diary entry, click here. For the highlighted Smart Lemming Diary entries, click here.
