Creating policies v’s firing the bad eggs

 Culture  No Responses »
Oct 132011
 

Growing businesses create policy after policy to stop bad situations recurring. Imagine that instead of creating more rules, you just removed the people that were causing the problems? 

For example, if one team member continually claimed excess fuel allowance by driving the long way to client sites every single day.  When their manager found out, some sort of policy like: “fuel allowance only applies when the most direct practicable route to a client site exceeds XXkm and must be verified by a manager every week”  might be created.

What if, instead of creating another policy for everyone, you respectfully (& legally) parted company with that one problematic person? The result: you’d have less petty problems to deal with and all of your best people would be left alone to keep doing what they do best.  

Instead of policy-making for the minority and upsetting the majority, why not just eliminate the problem?

A 12-minute meeting that works? Absolutely.

 Culture  No Responses »
Jun 202011
 

Every morning at The Physio Co we run a short, sharp huddle.  This stand-up meeting is called ‘To The Point’ and it’s on from 10:05-10:17am without fail. 

The purpose of To The Point is to keep our team aligned and focussed on bringing our Painted Picture of 2012 vision to life.

To The Point to is good fun and THE most important meeting that The Physio Co support team have.

A daily 12-minute meeting with 5-7 people contributing needs lots of discipline. Everyone arrives by 10:04 and our To The Point Captain kicks off at 10:05 sharp.  Being late or unprepared is not an option.

The concept of a daily huddle was introduced to me by Verne Harnish and is based upon the way John D. Rockefeller ran his business, Standard Oil (now Mobil). Rockefeller’s disciplined approach replaced the helter-skelter methods of most growing businesses and catapulted him to lead his industry way back in the 1800’s.  

Since 2009, The Physio Co has been using a Rockefeller-style meeting rhythm that has improved the way we communicate and provided a daily focus on what is important.

The Physio Co team and I LOVE welcoming guests into our support centre to join us for a To The Point.  If you’d like to join us, grab the details from over here and make it happen.  

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Branson. Could he do it easier?

 Culture  No Responses »
Feb 232011
 

Richard Branson is a phenomenal success story.  He is one of the most recognised people on the planet and his brand, Virgin, is a household name in many industries.  But the early days were a roller coaster journey.

Richard’s autobiography, Losing my Virginity, is one of the first business books I ever read.  It remains one of my favourites and I often re-read some or all of it.  I am a huge Branson fan and am inspired by what he has achieved. But..

I wonder if he’d been more disciplined in the early years of running Virgin could it have been less traumatic?  If he’d been 100% committed to Virgin Records rather than also running Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Media and various other Virgin companies, could he have avoided the string of close calls with his bankers and business partners?  Perhaps he could’ve even avoided the forced sale of Virgin Records in 1992?

I tend to think that discipline is one of the most important qualities of business leaders.  Without discipline, we can become very distracted and lose focus of why we are in business in the first place.

Branson is a success, with or without discipline in the early years.  He seemed to love the drama and he’s still alive and kicking.  But I’ve learnt a lesson about focus from re-reading Losing My Virginity.

Some people love the drama.  I reckon a disciplined approach will result in steadier, more sustainable success and a bit more balance in my life…  

Blogging everyday – check! The next challenge is…

 Culture  No Responses »
Feb 202011
 

…Reading & reviewing a book a week.

Since 1 January 2011, I’ve been creating a blog post here every day.  I thought it would be tough to find content.  52 days in, content is the least of my concerns – I have 29 drafts written and ready to post!  My daily blog is now a discipline that I just do. So much so, it’s time for a new challenge..

Like a lot of people, I have a long list of books that I want to read.  The problem is, I get to very few of them.  And it bothers me!

For the rest of 2011, I’m reading a book a week.  Watch this space… 

PS – Any suggestions?

PPS – This week’s book is The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.