He told me that he used to work at an agency across the road. He said that most of his present team at some time or another also used to work at that agency, and these people are now producing great figures in his agency, and now his agency is his old agency’s biggest competitor.

I asked, “What happened when you made a sale?” There was no recognition, no celebration of results. Nothing. This office was joyless, all grind and no fun.

Here were good people who left purely because they were being treated like money-making machines instead of human beings. They were being over-managed and under-led.

He wasn’t being nasty, in fact he had a lot of respect for his former boss – as a MANAGER. As a LEADER, however, it was a different story.

As he told me the story, all I could think of was the previous leader and what great people-opportunities he had wasted. This is only one of many similar stories I have heard about good salespeople who left an office because they weren’t being appreciated by their leader.

Whoever runs the company must have good people skills. Fail to do this and your good people will almost certainly leave. Too much focus on the numbers will eventually lead to lower numbers to focus upon, because the producers – those who make the numbers – will leave.

Fortunately you can learn these skills, that is if you are prepared to study the art of leadership. There are plenty of good books on the subject. One I recommend is John Maxwell’s Develop the Leader Within You.