Strategic Discipline Blog

Ten to twelve inches or more of snow fell throughout the Midwest yesterday.  As I pulled and pulled on my snow blower to get it restarted I was reminded of the importance of customer and employee feedback which is a staple of our weekly meeting rhythms.  Had I paid attention to my own discovery during the last snow fall I wouldn’t have been stuck having to remove a foot of snow from more than half my driveway and sidewalk yesterday morning.  Why hadn’t I paid heed when my snow blower stopped several times when I last used it?

You already know I’m a Packer fan, and of course this weekend they play the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship game.  The Bears and Packers rivalry is the longest in the NFL.  It conjures up images and memories of Vince Lombardi and George Halas, figures that represent the trophies that are at stake this week and for the Super Bowl. 

Setting objectives and priorities is over stated focus of any new year.  Most of all of us do it personally and even more businesses certainly demand it.  Strategic Discipline extends to recognizing the need for balance in the priorities and metrics you establish.  You can place so much emphasis on attaining a priority or metric you may lose sight of the affect this effort puts on other aspects of your business.  Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  In our Rockefeller Habits Workshops we tell the story of Delta Airlines emphasis to have their flights arrive on time.  They reached their objective, however the affect of their efforts turned a positive into a negative when customers complained that their bags weren’t arriving on time. 

What’s the easiest way to initiate strategic discipline?  Start with a daily huddle.  Perhaps your people are accountable already.  Perhaps they have metrics that they measure each day so they know how productive they are.  Perhaps they never get stuck.  And finally quite possibly you never have miscommunication.  Even if you can answer yes to each of these you’ll find the daily huddle brings a marked improvement in communication, accountability, and performance. 

It’s half-time in a girl’s freshman basketball game.  The score 31-9.  My officiating partner and I discuss how difficult our job can become in a lopsided game.  We need to keep our heads in the game despite the score.  The team that’s leading is the first to score in the second half.  They score again, and again, still again.  By the time the third quarter is over they are the only team that’s scored and it’s now 48-9. 

Your business relies on new customers for growth.  It's experiencing an increasing number of no shows for new customer appointments.  You’ve tried a number of changes, and techniques to get your new patients to honor the first visit they’ve scheduled however nothing seems to be working.  The loss of 1 or more appointments per day is a major reduction in efficiency for you and your staff to say nothing of the revenue loss.

In my monthly newsletter this week, Without A Plan: Expect 40% Less I offered insight into how one of my client’s developed his business.  Through the practice of Strategic Discipline he put himself in position to sell his company at the end of November. 

It was before FM radio had taken the lead in listenership from AM.  That’s how long ago this story is.  I was the sales manager for a 3000 watt FM radio station in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.  My first year as a sales manager had been difficult.  We hadn’t managed to meet the previous year’s sales numbers and I was challenged to meet the new projections or the outcome would be back to a sales position.   

Routines are boring. One question I’m often asked is why do clients quit doing the Rockefeller Habits if they’re so successful?  The answer is the repetitive nature of routine.  Habits become mundane.  We all love the feeling of independence.  We yearn for the freedom to do whatever we want.  Yet in business without the right habits we fail to achieve.  You can tell the strength of a business and its leader by the strength of their routines. 

Why do most businesses fail?  It’s natural to assume most businesses fail due to poor execution.  The answer may surprise you.