Ask HR: Why should my colleagues and I be penalised for such flimsy reasons?

 

Why must I be penalised in my performance rating for small issues such as how I spoke to a colleague and lose part of my bonus for being the best salesman of the year? The person reported me for answering her rudely yet she was delaying to release critical customer orders. Anyone can get upset. Surely, do we come to work for manners or money?

Profitable sales are essential to keeping businesses alive and therefore your contribution to the business as the best salesman of the year is commendable. It is positive that your company grants bonuses. Some organisations do not.
A sale emanates from a process comprising a series of actions that involve several stakeholders within and without an organisation.

The effectiveness of relationships among the stakeholders in the said process is a key factor in business success. As a sales person, you are akin to a striker on a football field. Acknowledge that there are others on the pitch playing roles that matter, just like yours, although you probably earn a bigger bonus than them by virtue of being a salesman. Some of these team mates hold back opponents who would otherwise make it difficult for you to score, others pass the ball to you so that you may score, and others cheer you on. All of them enable you shine, so they deserve your respect.

It is likely that as a sales person you do not hit all your sales targets all the time. Similarly, your colleagues will from time to time fall short. If you deserve clemency for your faults, so do they. Your success does not lie merely on a sale but in the wellbeing of the whole organisation. If you record the highest sales in a loss making organisation you are not part of a winning team. You must count much more than the goals that you personally score. 

Being rude might get someone to help you today but it is not a sustainable means of dealing with colleagues. How might you inspire your colleagues’ commitment to help you? Is your focus solely on sales transactions? Mind your relationships too. Manners are a social lubricant without which relationships may have unnecessary friction. If you cast them away, you and your sales may soon be parted.   BY DAILY NATION