The shift one has to make from doing to leading is one of the most difficult transitions. As admirable as it may be to get down to the brass tacks and do things yourself, there will come a time when the work becomes just too complex to be managed alone. That’s when it’s necessary to make that shift from being a rockstar contributor to an effective leader. By delegating people to do their best and help achieve your shared goal, your presence is felt in a work space through the action of others. That’s what makes a manager a good leader. According to Archana - You should delegate until it becomes uncomfortable!
Archana Subramanian is the Chief Operating Officer, ANZ & ASEAN at Salesforce. She has been a part of the sales strategy team at Salesforce for almost a decade now, A good part of which she held the title of Chief Operating Officer. So who really is a COO and what do they do? According to Archana every COO has a different definition, in her case her role is largely related to sales. Streamlining everything involved in the process of generating a sale from the start to the end, and removing all obstacles that come up, is her job.
Archana herself dislikes the idea of working in a job where one can just cruise through the work, she prefers a challenging job that pushes her to her limits. Her advice for all those hoping to grow in this business is exactly this - Go out there and seek new challenges and experiences. The more experiences one goes through, the broader you expand your horizons. There really is no playbook, it is quite literally what you make it.
On this episode of the Forcepreneur Podcast, Archana shares some of the challenges she faced when taking up the role of a manager, what exactly it is she does in sales strategy, her relationship with her seniors and juniors, making the shift from San Francisco to Sydney and much more!
Books mentioned :
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
The episode is PART 3 of the COO series sponsored by SharinPix. (https://www.sharinpix.com)
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