Gain fresh perspectives from Maja Smith, Dealer Sales General Manager at Ford South Africa, as she reflects on stepping into a new role and embracing the challenges that come with it in this edition of Leadership Insights: Five Questions with a Ford Leader.
From bridging the gap between OEM and dealer realities to shaping her evolving leadership style, Maja shares a candid view on learning through doing, the importance of authenticity in teams, and how sleepless nights and puppy antics sometimes go hand in hand.
1. What are your biggest focus areas this year?
I took on a new role towards the end of last year and with that came a bunch of new challenges, many of which I was not prepared for. My biggest focus area this year will be to learn my new role from the bottom up and deepen my understanding of not only our Sales operation, but also that of our Dealers. Because whether we like it or not, the two go hand in hand.
I also want to continue building on the strengths of our Sales team, which is made up of incredible hard working, passionate people with diverse skills and backgrounds. The magic lies in finding a consistent way of working towards a singular goal, but still encouraging everyone to bring their experience, personality and unique point of view to the table. That is what makes a winning team.
2. What keeps you up at night?
My new puppy! But I also spend a lot of time thinking about how to mesh our Dealers’ reality with our own. We often seem to pull in different directions, despite having the exact same goal: to sell and service more cars and make our customers happy so that they come back to buy and service more. Unfortunately, the reality is slightly more complicated, and I have spent many a midnight hour thinking about how to simplify the issues that lie at the heart of the tug-of-war this industry seems to find itself in. None of my sleepless musings have amounted to anything useful yet but watch this space 😊. Because if there is one thing I do know, it is that a strong OEM/Dealer Network relationship is THE winning ingredient in the fight for market share.
3. What are you most excited about this year?
I’m excited to work with a new team of fantastic people and I am excited to learn more about my new role. But most of all, I am excited about what I will learn about my leadership style - what works and what doesn’t. I’ve been deeply enmeshed in FCSD in various capacities since 2018, and I understand the dynamics both locally and regionally. I know what to push, when to push, and how to push. But the Sales dynamic is entirely new to me and requires a completely different approach. Leadership is an ever-evolving journey and the more humbly and openly we embrace it, the better leaders and human beings we become.
4. How do you use the Ford OS behaviours in your role and skill team?
Like everyone, I have areas of strength and weakness in OS Behaviours. For our team, Delivering It is paramount and Solving Together – between departments and with our Dealers – is key to success. We all understand this. The difficulty arises with the OS Behaviours that are a little harder for us to own. For example, Bias for Action, which involves taking smart risks, being agile and anticipating change. This is often difficult to put into practice in what is a highly regulated environment where process and reality are often not aligned. I try to spend a lot of time with my management team defining the things that hold us back from delivering, and then working on very targeted approaches to eliminate obstacles. This is another way of looking at Bias for Action, and perhaps more realistic than hoping for a ‘start-up’ culture that in a corporate of this size, cannot materialize.
5. Advice you would give your younger self?
Absolutely none. I would want my younger self to make all the mistakes I made because without them, I wouldn’t be who I am today. I spent some time in December looking through my old diaries, school newspaper articles I’d published, and letters I’d written to friends. And I was so proud of the younger self I was. I wouldn’t want to change her for a second. I know it’s a cliché to say I don’t have any regrets – because I do, many! – but I would never want to undo them. Of course, this doesn’t stop me giving my kids continual life advice based on my own missteps 😊 but hopefully, like me, they will ignore their mom and do what feels right in their head and in their heart.