More Super Moves From A Business Coach
Super Move #1 – Share testimonials. Any time you can share with your team a company success story or a testimonial from one of your ideal and likely customers who was happy using your products and services, you must do it.
Super Move #2 – Add your company’s mission statement to all internal and external memos, newsletters, and forms of communication. You want every human working in your office to know what your company’s mission is so that this mission can motivate them to make good decisions on a daily basis as they keep your vision, your mission, and your ideal and likely buyers in mind.
Super Move #3 – Publically praise members of the team who wow your ideal and likely buyers and who achieve results that help your company move closer to turning the business coach vision into reality.
Super Move #4 – Fire people who don’t believe in your company’s mission and big vision. At Thrive15.com, we are obsessed with ongoing education and the pursuit of excellence in both business and life. Our entire mission is to “mentor millions” and anyone who is working on our team who does not understand or get fired up emotionally about this is viewed as an enemy and resource-sucking leech. As soon as I identify these people and can replace them, I always do.
Super Move #5 – Repeatedly clarify how each team member’s job and daily tasks help the company achieve its business coach mission and help your ideal and likely buyers.
Super Move #6 – Create a Core Values Document for your team that clearly expresses the values you expect your team to live up to as you pursue the achievement of your company’s mission. The mission explains why you are doing something, but the values explain how you will go about achieving this mission.
To download the Thrive15.com Core Values Document, visit: www.Thrive15.com/CoreValuesDocument
Holding Your Team Accountable
Colin Powell is a retired, four-star general in the United States Army who went on to become the 65th United States Secretary of State. He is considered one of the best leaders of our time. When discussing the subjects of leadership, accountability and responsibility, he once said, “Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.” I could not agree more. I just love this quote and I love to use it often.
At the end of the day, your company must consistently wow your ideal and likely buyers in a scalable way or you will not be able to earn enough revenue to turn your big dreams into reality. You must hold your team members accountable to completing their daily tasks whether they feel like it or not. As a consumer, when we go to Disney World, we don’t care whose birthday it is, who is sick, who is tired, or who simply forgot to do their job this morning. We expect Disney World to be incredible because we are spending a boatload of hard-earned cash to take our families there. As a consumer, when we go to In-N-Out Burger, we don’t care who is running late, who is going through a divorce, who has a headache, or who feels that working at In-N-Out may not be their life’s purpose. We expect In-N-Out Burger to provide great customer service and great tasting food because we have decided to spend the money we have earned at their establishment. For some reason in the world of small business, this concept is not always understood.
“Your customers hold you to a high standard. If you want to achieve true excellence, raise that bar even higher for yourself, your colleagues, and everyone around you.” -Lee Cockerell (A man who managed 40,000 cast members as Executive Vice President of Operations at Walt Disney World Resort)
I could write an entire business coach book about all the stupid and weak-sauce excuses I have heard over the years from small business owners who have tried to explain to me why their team members did not deliver the level of service that they promised. We all make mistakes from time to time, but you must hold your team members accountable.
Mystic Statistic: Thirty-eight percent of U.S. employees called in sick to work during the last year, even though they felt fine.
Top-ten most memorable claims (false reasons for calling in sick) reported by the employers surveyed:
1. Employee said his grandmother poisoned him with ham.
2. Worker claimed to be stuck under the bed.
3. Employee said he broke an arm while trying to grab a falling sandwich.
4. Worker claimed the universe was telling him to take a day off.
5. Employee said his wife learned he was cheating — so he had to recover his belongings from a dumpster.
6. Worker said she poked herself in the eye while combing her hair.
7. Employee said his wife put all his underwear in the washer.
8. Worker said the meal he prepared for work potluck turned out badly.
9. Employee said she was going to the beach because a doctor said she needed more vitamin D.
10. Worker said her cat was stuck inside the dashboard of her car.
The best businesses in the world are comprised of management and employees who hold themselves accountable to take 100% responsibility for their individual roles and business coach responsibilities within a company. Far too often, business people (not you, but other people) let their people get away with half-assing tasks, partially filling out checklists, missing deadlines, organizing items improperly, showing up late, overall missing the mark, and making costly mistakes that could easily be prevented if management was tough enough to hold people accountable.
“Strong managers who make tough decisions to cut jobs provide the only true job security in today’s world. Weak managers are the problem. Weak managers destroy jobs.” -Jack Welch (former CEO of General Electric who grew the company by 4000%)
Once you have gone through the growing pains associated with creating an office culture where people are held accountable, you will begin to win more and you will find that the level of drama within your office will decrease dramatically. However, this culture of discipline and rigor must start with you and your chosen management team and your business coach vision.
“A culture of discipline is not a principle of business; it is a principle of greatness.” -Jim Collins (Bestselling author of books Good to Great, Built to Last, and Great by Choice)