Corporate Discipline

Corporate discipline-

There are average companies and there are good companies.  There are poor companies and then there are the great companies.  Each:

-operates in the same economy

-has the same pool of potential employees

-has the same opportunities to develop and train employees

-has competition

-must deal with the government in some way

-has opportunities for growth

-makes a variety of decisions each day

I could go on, but there are a few things that separate the poor, good or average companies with the great and outstanding ones.

For over 35 years I have been working with hundreds of organizations in a wide variety of industries and I can tell you from my unscientific but real-world research and observations that the good, poor or average companies could be great ones if they would only have the courage, discipline, will and commitment to operate with a few but basic premises or principles.  In summary they are:

1. Find what you are passionate about and only do that.  Resist the pull toward opportunities no matter how alluring or tempting that offer quick cash, fame, market share or whatever, if these opportunities are not at the core of your fundamental business.  The opposite is to try and get passionate about what you do.  See the difference? 

2. Success in business is not about timing, products/services, your competition, the state of the economy or having good people.  It is about having the RIGHT people in the RIGHT jobs doing the RIGHT things in the RIGHT way. And, it is getting the WRONG people out of your organization as soon as you realize they are the WRONG people.

3. Corporate culture is always a top-down issue.  Great companies create a corporate culture that permits freedom and initiative while providing general guidelines whereby people can operate with minimum supervision and intervention.

4. Outstanding companies understand that the key is not to motivate people but to find people who are motivated and then management does it’s best to not de-motivate these people.

5. Successful companies invest more in their people than they do any other corporate expense.    And, if they are the right people step back and watch your company soar beyond your wildest dreams.

6. Managers and executives of outstanding companies understand six simple rules of human behavior:

-You get the behavior you reward.

-Behavior rewarded is behavior that is repeated.

-Give authority with responsibility.

-You have to inspect what you expect.

-If you don’t trust your employees they wont trust you.

-You must hold people accountable for results.

Are you working for or running a great company or an average one?