“I’ve learned that business is really simple. But the really hard part is dealing with the people.”
That’s what a little 10-year-old boy in my son’s 5th grade class said to me. Several years ago, I put his class in some business scenarios to teach them a little bit about entrepreneurship. In the middle of the class, this brilliant response came from him, and is a pretty good introduction to what I’m about to discuss with you right now.
By now, if you’ve watched by Business Success Formula video, or read that blog, you know the importance of the selling, building a team and teaching as the basic formula for creating a successful business and becoming a successful business leadership facilitator? Also, you’ve learned how that nagging little voice that’s going on inside your head could be detrimental to your success if you don’t know how to manage it.
But it’s not just your little voice that matters — it is your entire team’s little voices, as well. Realizing this is part of the job as a Business Leadership Facilitator.
So, let’s take on the analogy of a coffee cup. Inside this cup, is coffee, tea, whatever you want. Let’s call this the content of your business. That could be a variety of things:
- Your products/services
- Your team and vendors
- Your customers
- Your business systems
- Your cash-flow
…the list can go on.
What’s inside this cup almost doesn’t matter. You may think to yourself, I need better product, a better accountant, better vendors, but those aren’t the most critical elements.
You could have the best coffee in the world, but what if your cup cracks? Your coffee — or rather, the contents in the cup — spill out, and in business, we would call that a business failure. The cup itself is a model for the context or the environment of which your business is run. And, it doesn’t have to be your business — it also relates to your health and your family.
Let’s say you’re on a diet. It doesn’t matter what diet you’re on (as long as it means eating healthier and exercising). It doesn’t matter what the content of your cup is. But if you don’t have an appropriate environment around your diet to keep you disciplined and motivated, (the equivalent to cracks in your cup), then the whole health system falls apart.
So how do you create a stronger cup?
Setting up the best environment to run your business is one of the best tools for any entrepreneur to guarantee success in the long-run. If you remember in the first sell-team-teach model, it’s the Code of Honor that really supports the system.
And it’s the values you have that will help you create this Code of Honor, or the set of rules, in order to have that strong environment.
The difference between values and rules are simple. Let’s say traffic safety is one of your values. Now, the rules would be:
- Always stop fully at a stop sign or red light
- Drive at or below the speed limit
- Always wear your seat belt
Creating a set of solid rules to support your values is important, particularly in times when the heat is on. While your content may reach a boiling point, it’s your cup that needs to stand strong in tough time to ensure that the business (or your family or health) do not spill out.
I have business partners all over the world. I communicate with them all the time about my values and rules, because no matter where or when my business is being conducted, I know that my overall mission of improving people’s quality of life is constantly being upheld. Also, having values that we can strive for is one of the best motivators for any team.
One of my teachers, Mack Newton (highest ranking Taekwon-Do instructor in North America) once said to me: The single most defining factor of success in your life may be the people you hang around with most often. Are they playing by the same rules? Do they subscribe to the same code of honor? Do they operate with the same values?
All of this not only applies to people in business, but teachers, family members, leaders in organizations can all benefit from learning how to leverage this tool, this idea of creating a sustainable environment with solid values and rules worth striving for.
One of my bestselling books Team Code of Honor talks about it in intimate detail step by step.
