Coach Sterling Broadhead
In working with our coaching clients, we start with business fundamentals, the building blocks of business. The first step we take them through is Mastery, which includes Destination Mastery. This is when an owner and their team know where the business is heading. They know what the ultimate goals are. Too often owners have a general idea, but they do not get very specific and they do not get buy-in from their team.
The first of the business fundamentals we work with clients on is a Vision Statement which identifies the goals of the organization. What are you trying to achieve as a business? What are your future stretch goals? If you do not have a Vision Statement, take the time to craft one.
Equally important to having a Vision Statement is ensuring that everyone on your team knows what it is. Share it frequently with your team, customers & clients! Post it in your lobby, include it at the bottom every email, on forms and invoices, your website and social media. Ideally everyone who knows your brand will know what your vision is.
Next, we work with our clients on their Mission Statement. I get asked all the time… What’s the difference between the Vision and the Mission? And the mission is the vehicle that will get you to your vision. So, the Mission is the how. How are you going to accomplish this vision? Another in the business fundamentals toolbox.
To give you an example, the Vision Statement of ActionCOACH is “World Abundance Through Business Re-education”. We want companies to be successful so that the communities around them are successful. Our Mission Statement in ActionCOACH is quite lengthy, but I like to tell people we kind of simplify it to our purpose, which is “A Coach in every Business”. That’s the vehicle of how we plant to achieve this world abundance through business re-education.
Hopefully this example helps you as a business owner so you can question… What is my vision statement? What am I trying to achieve? What’s our big stretch goal? And then your mission statement, what’s the vehicle we’re going to achieve that?
The next business fundamental we work with our clients on is the culture of the business. And one of my favorite parts about building a culture is that you, as the owner, get to define it! The trick is, if you don’t take time to consider what you want and define your culture (along with your team) it will be defined for you. What business owner wants their culture to be defined for them? So, we spend time with our clients asking: What are your points of culture? What are you trying to cultivate in your company?
I have a great example of how doing this can directly benefit the business, often in ways you wouldn’t anticipate. One of our clients has been looking for a new employee. A very important key position, the front office manager. And so, from the very beginning, we helped him set up his vision statement, his mission statement and define his culture. ActionCOACH founder Brad Sugars teaches that when you are trying to recruit staff, you need to recruit based on your culture, not the position details or the skills and the ability of that position. First and foremost you need to recruit with your culture.
That’s exactly what this client did. That resonated with him. First, he defined his culture. Then he created an introduction video explaining what their culture is, what their business is all about. And he posted that video along with the position that they were trying to attract and fill. After that, he made a second series of videos where he goes even more in depth about the culture and what he’s looking for.
There were several people who applied, but there was one that stood out who he eventually offered the job to. And his feedback that he shared with us is, you know, those videos worked! The first one caught her attention and she realized, yeah, I like that! That’s the kind of organization I want to work for. And then the second video that followed defined it even more. And she’s like, Yes, this is what I’m looking for. This is the type of environment I want to work in. And what was interesting was this person wasn’t desperate searching for a job.
So, by focusing on business fundamentals, this client of ours was successfully able to find the perfect match. And he’s very excited that he was able to find her. And he wouldn’t have been able to find her if he hadn’t defined his Vision, Mission, and Culture (focused on business fundamentals) and created these videos to attract that type of person. I’m very excited to see where this takes his business. It’s a wonderful example of a client working on the mastery step, specifically Destination Mastery and having a big win to celebrate.
If you would like to work on some of your business fundamentals, or would like to learn more about what a business coach can do for you, fill out this form for a complimentary coaching session. Our coaches are here to help!
