Whenever we read of the great leaders of the past, we feel moved, inspired and even fearful. These great leaders ignited the passion of their followers … was it through their vision, their strategy, or their powerful ideas? All of these played a vital role, but the cornerstone of their reign was found in a tactic that society today regards as the mark of an abusive tyrant – ENFORCED DISCIPLINE!

Business leaders continually bemoan the fact that productivity levels in their organisations are severely lacking; that staff do not take ownership of, or responsibility for, their work; that staff are more interested in what they can get out of the company than what they can contribute … the lament rages on! To rectify these ailments business leaders, need to start by closely examining the extent to which they enforce discipline.

Years of experience have proven to the author of this letter that the amount of cash generated by the business in any one year bore a direct correlation to the level of discipline enforced within the organisation. Do not misinterpret this observation – I am not implying that business leaders need to be manipulative sociopaths who create wretched workplaces. The lesson learned was that all employees need to know where they stand and that they will test the boundary lines to ascertain what behaviour will, and will not, be accepted. When they were clear as to both what was expected from them and what the penalties would be for not achieving those expectations, I was amazed to find that the whole culture seemed to be a lot happier and the workforce a lot more stable. Sure, we had to rock the boat quite severely at times and had to deal with a fair degree of discontent, but as soon as people realised this was the new order and that leniency was a word deleted from the business’s dictionary, things changed for the better in a remarkably short space of time!

However, in the process of tightening up on discipline I had to take a cold, hard look at the causes of the lack of discipline. In identifying them I realised that I was largely to blame. I will share some of these reflections with you now, but know that these are just the tip of the iceberg:

• I had no clearly defined vision for the business. How could I expect others to respect me and follow my leadership if I did not know where I was leading them?
• I realised that I had been running the business as a democracy. This I had to radically change, and I had to become a dictator until the business was once again firmly under control. It was an emotionally traumatic period as ‘blood’ had to flow simply because I had to make an example of a few to garner the respect (some say I was Machiavellian) of the many!
• I had to clearly define my expectations of each of my lieutenants, one of which was forcing them to clearly define, and communicate, their expectations to all people reporting to them. I monitored the fulfilment of these expectations with monotonous regularity until my expectations, and the accomplishment of the same, had become emblazoned in their subconscious minds. The penalties for failure were severe and publicly broadcast.
• Upward delegation, which was common before the watershed, became a crime for which both the perpetrator and the receiver were punished. The staff very quickly learned to become part of the solution to any problem by having to come with recommendations to any problem they were reporting. If recommended solutions were adopted, the responsible staff member held responsibility for taking the action. In the rare case that a recommended, and acted upon, solution failed the staff member was not admonished for failure but encouraged to identify the lessons learned from the failure. Some failures were, ironically, even rewarded, simply because the magnitude of many of the lessons learned were invaluable to the business.
• In line with the general trend in the business world, which has developed over the last 30 years, loyalty by the business to staff, and therefore loyalty by staff to the business, had become almost non-existent. I embarked upon a programme, which demonstrated that loyalty to staff was paramount. Tangibly rich rewards were reaped as staff, in turn, began to demonstrate loyalty to the company. By contrast, loyalty by any staff member to a disloyal leader was severely dealt with.
• Policies and procedures were pulled out of the closet, dusted off, updated, and put into effect. These became the rulebook of the business. People were encouraged to constructively criticise any policy or procedure and come up with modifications. The result was that we had governance guidelines that were highly effective and applied with rigour. My fear was that we were becoming too dogmatic and therefore restricting innovation. The reverse proved to be true.
• The only measure we had in the business before the ‘dawn of enlightenment’ was the financial results. We overhauled this early on by identifying specific drivers in the business and setting up mechanisms to measure these drivers. More time was eventually spent monitoring these drives, on a more regular basis, than was ever spent upon financial performance reviews. The former in fact drove the latter.

The whole point to this little saga is that by enforcing discipline, not showing leniency, and not tolerating aberrant behaviour in any form or deed, the most amazing developments began to manifest themselves:

• Productivity almost doubled.
• Timekeeping and absenteeism reduced dramatically.
• Theft was almost totally eradicated.
• Quality of product was substantially improved. This in turn reduced both overall production costs and product reject rates by customers.
• Customer service levels improved to such an extent that we began to realise that customers were in fact remaining loyal to us although we were not exactly the most price competitive supplier in the market.
• We made good money.
• It became a pleasure to function in a positive and vibrant corporate culture.

It was, to say the least, absolutely astounding what impact that little word ‘discipline’ had upon the fortunes of the business!

In closing I would like to share with you the 7^th business lesson from the Mafia: “Once you reach management level in Our company, make sure you have a consigliere (mentor). Your consigliere will be able to point out which gossip is true, and which isn’t. Never share gossip with subordinates. Rather tell them anecdotes. Listen to their anecdotes. Then ask your consigliere what he thinks. That’s how you learn all you need to know.”

Remember that internal misjudgements are six times more likely to cause business failure than external factors. The message is clear … keep objective help close at hand at all times, and if you do not have it, get it without delay.

 

Success in business is all about getting the business fundamentals right … and the actions you take!

 

QUOTATION:

The essence of a strategy is not the structure of a company’s products and markets, but the dynamics of its behaviour. (George Stalk)

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