Managers are almost always reviewed by their superiors—and they get valuable feedback from that process. What’s even more valuable is getting that same kind of information and insight from those who work for them.

If your sales team perceives the sales meeting as nothing more than a “necessary evil”, then they’re missing a major opportunity. Salespeople have the ability to “tune out” during a meeting and just go through the motions. Then there’s usually the “meeting after the meeting”, when salespeople will talk among themselves about what’s really important to them.

In the digital age, selling is literally moving at the speed of light. Having a cohesive sales team is absolutely critical for success in this fast paced, high-pressure market environment. It’s just not OK to have a “collection of sellers” that do their own thing thereby missing the “force multiplier” of working as a team. Building a dynamic unit can’t be left to chance—there needs to be a blueprint and an action plan to make that happen!

Consider yourself lucky if you and your sales manager have a great relationship. And if your relationship doesn’t fall into that category, then it’s your challenge to make it work to your advantage as much as possible. There are times when salespeople don’t get the quality of sales management that they need and/or deserve. Accepting that situation is actually unacceptable. Why? Because it’s going to be more difficult to grow and prosper if you “go along to get along.” Mediocre sales managers tend to breed mediocre salespeople. Since you aren’t in a position to get rid of your sales manager, you can either seek another sales position, or take steps to have a workable relationship with the one you have now.

It happens! In today’s business world, it has become quite common for managers to be younger than some of their subordinates. Being proactive in this setting is the key to having a successful and mutually beneficial relationship! It’s not necessarily an easy arrangement, but here are some specific “To Do’s” that will make life at work a better experience for both you and your younger boss:

From Middleman to Value Creator: The Necessary Journey By Buff Parham/Parham & Associates, LLC It’s no longer a secret that information technology is wiping out middlemen from the transaction chain of a myriad of products and services. “Creative destruction” is the engine of capitalism that constantly eliminates what’s outmoded and replaces it with the latest innovations. Anyone who thinks that this perpetual cycle can be halted is simply wrong—it’s the nature of the most productive economic system that the world has ever known. The real constant in our system is value creation. And even though a particular idea or innovation may be attributed to a corporation or a government, it’s really the individual human beings in those organizations that drive that creation of value.