Do your sales and marketing reps really want your leadership? Here are four unique ways to determine whether they view you as an advocate, a leader or neither:

1. Ask for feedback on a project. Send an e-mail asking staffers for feedback regarding a project you’re handling. If reps provide quick, honest feedback, chances are they feel like you respect their opinions and you appreciate their honesty. If not, they may feel intimidated or that their opinions don’t really matter.
2. Conduct an anonymous survey. Set up an online survey where reps can provide honest feedback about your performance. Encourage them to be honest by making the survey as secure as possible when it comes to protecting their identities.
3. Ask for volunteers. Next time a team project comes up, ask your staffers if anyone would be willing to volunteer for a new initiative that you’ll be heading up. If a lot of reps volunteer, they probably feel indebted to you. If not, they may feel you’re too overbearing or you’ve done little to help them.
4. Put someone else in charge. You can reward someone by naming them manager for a day (or week). Having a rep take the reins gives you the opportunity to focus on big-picture initiatives, but it also gives you (and others) an idea of how things would run if you weren’t there as an ongoing resource.

Source: “The Zero Turnover Sales Force,” by Doug McLeod, AMACOM, 2010.

Do you have any other unique strategies for gauging how much employees want your leadership? Feel free to add your ideas in the Comments Box below.

Tags: feedback, Leadership, survey, turnover, volunteer