Sales managers often gravitate toward big deals with star performers, believing they are helping close revenue. However, their highest-leverage activity is coaching ramping reps on smaller deals, as this develops the entire team and prevents churn. This is a common but incorrect prioritization of activity over accomplishment.
This simplifies the manager's role into a single heuristic. Every action or meeting should be evaluated against one question: "What did I help them get unstuck with?" This focuses activity on high-leverage development and problem-solving, rather than just participating in deals or checking boxes on a forecast.
To avoid being consumed by active deals, high-performing sales teams block a specific time each week for prospecting, skill development, and strategy reviews. This structured "Super Tuesday" rhythm forces managers and reps to invest in pipeline building and long-term skills, ensuring development doesn't get sidelined by urgent deal work.
When leadership cannot articulate the specific skill or knowledge gaps of a fired employee, it indicates a failure in the organization's development process, not just a bad hire. If you would re-hire the person's resume, the failure to perform is on the company. This serves as a powerful diagnostic for identifying a lack of development focus.