How can Sales Operations leaders inspire purpose on their team?

Sales Operations leaders can inspire purpose in their team by clarifying the team's mission, setting meaningful goals, fostering collaboration, providing professional development opportunities, and recognizing and celebrating achievements.

Most of the times for Sales Ops/RevOps its an uphill battle. Other departments view them as Ops, running the day to day tasks in the back, being the sales tools admin for tech issues and when someone needs a report. This is an issue of awareness, teams are in need of a constant reminder that Sales Ops/RevOps are much more than that. Think of them as the secret sauce your Sales teams need to go out and win, with efficiency at the heart of it. There is no Batman, if there is no Alfred feeding him constant info in his ear.

This challenge isn't just limited to sales operations - it's critical that your team and partners are inspired by a common purpose and understand how their work ties in with the bigger picture of the organization. Without this tie-back, burnout is sure to happen as employees see themselves as little more than "widget-installers"! I'm reminded of a simple activity that I learned in the class, the Oz Principle: I have my team help identify the highest level company goal and fill in the blanks on the following sentence: "My job is to (highest level company goal), and I do that by (insert their unique function)". This can easily help your team members see how their work ties into the higher purpose on their own - building more buy in!

One of the most important ways to motivate any team member including sales operation teams is to ensure their active participation in decision making processes. Team members feel valued, more willing to take responsibility and work harder for success. The team leader should know the team members abilities, strenght and weaknesses very well and should manage the team accordingly. The different charecteristis of the team members must be effectively harmonized by the leader for the same purpose. So where should a leader start first?The leader may start to listen them first and ask right questions by allowing them to unleash their creative ideas. They must be given the opportunity to implement these ideas in to daily business.

As leaders, we must communicate and have clear definitions of the various functions within a Sales Ops role (or any other Ops roles for that matter). You have to foster an environment where your team thinks strategically and plays an active role in the success of your organization. I like to walk my team through quarterly planning sessions, highlight the impact and celebrate their success in a public way. End of the day, your team isn’t here to put out fires - they’re here to prevent them from happening in the first place.

Sales Operations plays a very critical role within an organisation. Clear definition and communicating the value of each role/process helps in understanding the purpose of Sales Operations. Sharing the feedback and success stories helps in reinforcing the real purpose of sales operations. Let the team understand how their work impact the organisation and sellers. Share the big picture to the minute detail of impact they are making. This way we can certainly set the purpose of Sales Operations.

Sales Ops leaders can motivate their team by linking their role to the company's mission and showing how their work drives success. Setting clear goals and acknowledging contributions builds ownership and pride. In my 15-year career, I've seen that sharing customer success stories helps the team understand their real impact. Promoting professional growth and new challenges also enhances their commitment. This strategy aligns the team's efforts with company goals, fostering a unified, purpose-driven environment.

We spend time together to come up with a mission statement for the sales ops team. As the manager, I took the lead to help the team to link their roles to the mission statement. And explain to them that our jobs are not to help sales achieve top line but rather to help the business achieved business objectives (bottom line). In this way, the team will learn to more strategic thinking and less of daily operations matters to grow the business.

RevOps (and sales ops) leaders can inspire purpose on their teams by defining a clear mission, aligning with company values, fostering open communication, setting meaningful goals, recognizing achievements, empowering team members, leading by example, encouraging collaboration, sharing success stories, and regularly reinforcing their team's purpose. These strategies help motivate and engage the team, leading to better revenue performance.

Revenue Operations - including Sales Ops - is about driving alignment across the entire end-to-end GTM organization as well as across the cross-functional teams, like Finance, Product, Legal, HR, IT, etc. I would recommend that you provide opportunities for the individuals on your team to participate and engage in cross-functional initiatives, meetings, projects, and discussions. Be intentional about elevating their visibility and exposure to what's happening across the business for their own growth - but also encourage them to contribute based upon their Ops knowledge and expertise.

Managers need to understand that we are working for the SAME company working towards achieving the SAME goal, we are not in competition here. Also managers need to respect each other and their roles as much as we want the business and make customers happy there's policies and procedure that needs to be followed, a manager can't undermine the other one's role because they feel getting the sale is more important. Also team building activities with other departments every now and then could help the employees to get to know each other and build the trust and respect that is needed.

Alignment and collaboration with other teams together with revops (and sales ops in particular) in a business setting are crucial because they enable shared goals, enhance efficiency, improve communication, foster innovation, and create a customer-centric approach. Additionally, they break down silos, support adaptability, enhance decision-making, and increase overall accountability within an organization.

Sales Operations leaders have a massive role in letting their teams know what impact they have on their stakeholders. What can seem like a small contribution may have outsized ripple effects. Operations can often feel like a thankless profession. Showing a bit of gratitude to match the grit-itude goes a long way to building up team spirit.

I was recently told that whether you are motivated or demotivated you still need to do what you are getting paid for, which is true but when you give it 200% and you are not recognized or rewarded for your efforts, your performance will drop to the 100% that I am being "paid for" you just do what you need to do, get paid and go home you are not going to think outside the box anymore. Being a leader is about teaching people how to be a better version of themselves if someone finds better opportunities within the organization or outside that means you've done your part as their manager in growing them but unfortunately most managers suppress talents and want to keep you were you despite of your great performance.

As a leader, you need to understand that each member of your team may be motivated differently and may value different things. It's your job to figure out those individuals motivators and values and make sure that you are intentional about recognition, appreciation, and rewards for achievements. I would also recommend that you celebrate even the small wins. So important in Operations roles. Often, the team is working on a TON of smaller tasks and may not have that "BIG WIN", which may lead to being overlooked. Celebrate the small wins. Sometimes a simply "thank you, that was great! i appreciate you so much!" can go a long way....

Recognizing and rewarding the achievements of the RevOps team is essential for motivating, retaining talent, improving performance, fostering a positive culture, and aligning individual and team efforts with organizational goals. It encourages continuous improvement and innovation while making the company more appealing to potential employees.

The most important thing is to be clear on objectives. Help out as a team rather than looking for issues to blame. Moving goal posts should have strong justification, but should not affect compensation.

Celebrating victories, providing feedback and recognition, offering incentives and rewards, and creating opportunities for professional development are effective ways to achieve this. By recognizing and rewarding achievements, you not only show appreciation for your team's work but also foster a motivating and safe environment that encourages members to continue giving their best.

Assigning stretch assignments to your team is an amazing way to provide growth on opportunities to the team. Getting to know their strengths and weaknesses, their professional goals, and their motivations can help leaders think from the perspective of their team. Setting up professional development plans and working with the team to execute that game plan. That's always a winning combination in my book 📚.

Another problem is micro managing people it means you don't trust them and it makes them feel like they are incompetent so they wont be creative or flexible they will just do what they are told to do especially people who are at the bottom of the hierarchy they are not there to think outside the box you learn the job and implement it, if you do come up with a great idea chances are someone else higher than you will take the credit so how does one get inspired in such environments

Our job as leaders is inspire. Sure, we have accountability and responsibility to deliver. And manage the team. And do a thousand other things. :-) But if you can inspire your team, help elevate their professional and personal growth, and help them achieve more than they ever thought possible... well, then you're pretty darn successful. Look for ways to provide new opportunities and challenges for the folks on your team. Let them shadow some meetings, attend discussions on your behalf, volunteer for cross-functional projects, work with someone outside the normal team, share their expertise by teaching the team, etc.,etc. There are so many ways to help the individuals on your team grow.

Good to identify problem areas that arise occasionally and those that are frequent. Give budget to teams for faster decision making, and challenge them to come up with solutions to improve and develop new services and products

One of the best ways to earn trust is to be transparent. Being a leader means you have to have complex or difficult conversations. You can be direct and share feedback - even when it's not good - but you can do it with kindness, with good intent, and with transparency.

See your team as a key stakeholder - understanding their needs and challenges, as well as what success means individually and as a collective, makes you more effective in offering insights, removing roadblocks and finding ways to empower. When you help your team be successful, trust follows.

INVOLVE THEM IN DECISION MAKING Involve your team in decisions that impact their roles or the overarching sales operations strategy. This not only widens the decision-making lens but also underscores the significance of each member's contributions. To instill a sense of purpose in a Sales Ops team, it's essential to draw a clear link between everyday tasks and the broader business objectives, guaranteeing that every member feels seen, heard, and crucial to the company's success.

Nothing builds stronger relationships and trust like engaging with your team, constantly asking for their opinions and being transparent. As a leader you should play a role of a mentor to your team they should be looking up to you and learning from you but unfortunately most managers don't think like this, they only exercise their powers which break the trust, now this is when your team doesn't respect you but instead they are scared of you which is a big difference, employees are not loyal to the people they are scared of, they are loyal to the people they trust, trusting that they want the best for them, trusting that they are honest and transparent.

Do not say it's top management decision, and involve staff collectively. Especially so in business planning, go to market strategies and prioritizing goals.

Uma coisa que achei útil para construir e manter a confiança. Tenha sempre regras claras e sobre a mesa, sem tratamentos diferenciados com os membros da sua equipe. Quando todos sabem o que vão encontrar e como serão tratados, fica fácil construir uma equipe motivada e com quem você pode apostar e contar. Isso também promove um ambiente onde a colaboração e a criatividade podem florescer. Transparência e respeito também têm que fazer parte do dia a dia.

Sales Ops teams should cultivate and model purpose to align with organizational goals, motivate employees, enhance resilience, prioritize customer satisfaction, make ethical decisions, foster collaboration, attract and retain talent, ensure long-term success, and adapt to change effectively. Purpose is a powerful driver of performance and growth within the sales operations function. Also, it has numerous benefits, including alignment with organizational goals, employee motivation, resilience, customer-centricity, ethical decision-making, collaboration, talent attraction, long-term success, and adaptability to change. Purpose serves as a guiding principle that enhances team performance and fosters a positive work culture.

Monkey see, Monkey do" if the leader is passionate, enthusiastic and committed to bettering the team, the team does the same thing and they go an extra mile. In conclusion I'm not saying the leader needs to be soft and friendly with the team you can be firm leader while keeping your team motivated and appreciated this can be orchestrated through encouragement, giving direction and tough "love" my former boss used to say "diamonds are made under pressure, if you don't know how to do something you go and you figure it out" most of the things I am good at right now I learnt when I was in tears and at the verge of giving up because I thought they were too hard but with proper guidance I came right.

Leaders can share purpose by regularly highlighting the larger picture achieved with small steps by SOP team. First step to that is to build empathy towards what the category, the sales leaders and the team on ground are trying to achieve, brainstorm bottlenecks for daily achievements & monthly achievements with short term solutions to long term solution, always guiding them towards a long term standardisation of a process to permanently avoid the short bottlenecks. Giving them freedom to circumvent a process & showing them at times how to do it, while rigorously chasing performances a notch up. Breakdown the larger strategic goals into smaller pieces of the process linking these to the sales values and you will have an excited team always

Nothing worth having comes easy, never give up on your dreams it might take longer to get there but no matter how slow you are going forward is forward. no job is "useless" everything you do is always shaping your future or preparing you for something bigger, so whatever job you have right now give it your all, the experience there counts.

Leaders inspire teams by practising what they preach and leading by example. Setting SMART goals, communication, monitoring, feedback, R&R all are fine but what inspires the team the most when they see the leader himself what he expects the team to do.