“Disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought and who take disciplined action – that we find in truly great companies. A culture of discipline is not a principle of business; it is a principle of greatness.”
Jim Collins, “Good to Great Social Sector”
Discipline. Not the most exciting word is it? It kind of sounds tiring and difficult. It sounds like it might take a ton of effort and commitment. This all sounds about right. Discipline is tough but it is also life changing, career changing and even company/ culture changing. As Jim Collins shares, discipline is a principle of greatness!
In most of the organizations I get the pleasure of coaching, discipline has become a real challenge. It seems we get lulled into status quo over time and the erosion of ownership, accountability and urgency have slowly faded away. We have allowed mediocrity to creep in and become the loudest voice. But the transition from mediocre to good or from good to great is discipline. Back to the basics. A phrase used recently by a division president who reminded us as it feels like the world and the market place are changing. Let’s get back to the basics! Back to discipline.
Discipline. What does that look like for you personally? Your family? Your department? Your company? Let me share a few fundamental steps we can begin to take to move us back toward a more disciplined journey.
- Clarity: Where are you going? Are you committed to doing whatever it takes to get there?
- Team work: Do you have the right people in the right seats to help you reach your desired outcome?
- Responsibility: Does everyone know what they are doing and how, what they are doing contributes to our goal everyday. Every week. Every month? Are they empowered to own their responsibility?
- Accountability: Is every one accountable for their results or lack of results?
- Measuring: Are we measuring everything we do? Are there metrics in place for us personally or professionally that tell us and show us how we are doing? Does everyone have their number they are responsible for?
What happens over time is we get blessed and we grow and we start to move away from metrics, measuring, knowing our numbers, knowing our results or lack of results and we talk more. Conversation becomes the tool we lean on. We talk a lot. Maybe even good meetings but there is no action. No tracking. No accountability. You cannot Manage or Measure conversation. It is not real if it is not written.
So what do we do? We start measuring. We start tracking. We start doing the things that need to be done to create the results we are after. Discipline. Let’s do what needs to be done not what is easy or convenient. Let’s take the next 30 days. Assemble the family, department or leadership team and work through these 5 steps and then let’s go. Let’s commit. Let’s decide. Let’s move forward. Let’s discipline ourselves to work on the most important things not just the urgent things.
You got this! Start your new journey from Good to Great!