Discipline
As a business leader, it’s up to you to set an example for the rest of your team in behavior, in dedication, and in demonstrating core values. However, you can do all of these things and still have a team that underperforms if you neglect to demonstrate one significant trait – discipline!
Discipline: Controlled behavior resulting from disciplinary training; self-control.
While most business owners have wonderful intentions to build a strong company, they may find that they lack the discipline to stay focused on the programs, the systems, and the procedures that they know are so important to long term success. Is it intentional? Of course not! But they often find themselves being pulled in all directions due to the day-to-day demands of the business while priority programs drop through the cracks.
Jim Basnett, president of J.F. Basnett Company, Inc. in Littleton, Mass., has been working for the past year to bring a new level of discipline to his company and is seeing it pay off handsomely.
“The most important area that needs a disciplined approach is the behavior of the other team members,” he says. “One of the keys to leadership is to set the rules of the company – and then hold people accountable if these rules are broken. It’s not always easy but if I don’t have the discipline to take people to task if their behavior is unacceptable, how can I ask the rest of my team to have discipline in their areas of responsibility?”
Jim’s second priority is discipline around the numbers. “This is a fairly recent development but now that we’re used to it, it’s amazing to watch our progress,” he comments. “We now keep the budget up to date and review our progress against it constantly. Doing this actually has a calming effect,” he says. He gives the example that the team was feeling down because the first quarter had been slow. But after reviewing the numbers closely, they all realized that they were ahead of where they had been a year previously . . . a year that turned into one of their best ever! Once this was known, the mood improved considerably!
A third company priority is communication within the team. “We hold weekly meetings no matter what,” he says. “Even if nothing is pressing at the moment, we need to be in the habit of communicating with one another and focusing on the priority issues.” Considered the internal Board of Directors, Jim and his management team use the time to develop and fine tune systems which will add efficiency to the organization.
Jim is working hard to develop himself as a leader and instill a disciplined attitude throughout the company but says, “I find it to be very difficult to be disciplined without a structure upon which to build so we’re putting a lot of effort into creating this structure. Once we all agree on something and it’s put in writing, it’s much, much easier.”
It’s easy to be distracted and allow important programs fall to the back burner when issues arise.
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