¶ … Sales Manager Consider scenario

Selecting a new sales manager: Overview

The five essential functions of management are defined as planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling. "Management is creative problem solving….The intended result is the use of an organization's resources in a way that accomplishes its mission and objectives" (Five functions of management, 2011, Ohio State). Truly transformational leaders bring qualities to the organization beyond their technical skills. Transformative managers are able to perform the essential functions of management in a manner that maximizes all of the human and technical capacities at their disposal and mobilizes and motivates these elements with a sense of vision and purpose.

This new manager must set the tone for the new department. The manager must communicate with employees in an empowering and motivational fashion, to ensure that all workers enthusiastically embark upon the occasionally difficult but always rewarding task of building a new segment...

Any manager can direct and tell people what to do. A transformative manager makes people want to do what they are supposed to do, and encourages them to provide input into the process.
Sales is, by definition, a service-based skill. It requires effective interacting with customers, and a good sales manager will likewise have strong interpersonal skills when dealing with his or her new charges. A new candidate must be a transformative leader with a true vision for the organization, and the ability to communicate that vision to others. Charismatic is the word often used to describe transformative leaders. The manager should thus have a proven track record in beginning new enterprises, or revitalizing failing enterprises. Experience in businesses that deal with the public is also desired, given the unique personality and capabilities that are often called forth in the field of retail.

Transformative leaders are not merely magnetic, however. Part of their appeal is their willingness to 'get their hands dirty' and…