I believe ownership requires a level of responsibility much like that of a man to his family.
When asked to give the definition of a man one might get many answers, maybe as many answers as people you ask. I have adopted the following as my definition of a man.
We must:
Accept responsibility
Lead courageously
Reject passivity
And invest eternally
When you own a business, you must accept the responsibility to create a vision and communicate it in a way that inspires those around you to hop on board and start paddling the boat with one heartbeat, in one direction with one unified goal. To do this one must not only believe but indwell in your tribe that your vision is worthwhile. People feel good about themselves when they do good. If your vision is clear and worthwhile you can lead courageously and know that those around you will work to achieve the common goal. In fact, I believe you will see your tribe display a proudness of cause so great they will leap on any stage at every opportunity and sing their song of how satisfying it is to do such awesome things for you and your company.
At this point you must reject passivity and applaud at each good work your team achieves. You can applaud in many ways. You can literally give high fives or say, “good job”, but remember this will only take you so far. Applaud with profits. This is where I believe you can teach people to be good stewards by being a good steward. I remember a bible story that was told about a young lady gleaning a field. We are to leave a little for those that are in need. In business this means giving back to your employees as well as giving back to the community from which your profits where derived.
Invest Eternally
Now that you have built a winning team you can work on being GREAT.
In order to be great, you must focus on being GREAT
Put God first in everything you do. We are created to glorify Him.
Be Respectful of everyone. Never let any of your employees be treated with less respect than you are.
Give maximum Effort in all that you do and hold each of your employees to that standard.
Have a positive Attitude. Positive thoughts create positive actions, create positive results. Just like when I use to coach baseball I always had everyone on the team say keep your head up we got your back after an error or a strike out. If someone comes to me with a problem they know they must also offer a viable solution.
Teamwork- a team is not a group of people that work together, it’s a group of people that TRUST each other. Trust equals Total Trust, Faith and Confidence in each person on the Team. Everyone has a job to do to accomplish the goal, so motivate with inspiration not intimidation.
At the end of the day we are faced with many choices. Successful owners create an environment where people put the team above themselves.
Hire high character individuals, coach them at a three-dimensional level of physical, emotional and spiritual development and create a tribe mentality. Train, train and re-train. Practice doesn’t make perfect, only perfect practice makes perfect. A lot of reps the wrong way just makes you good at doing it wrong, one must have good reps to be GREAT.
Everyone we meet is either better or worse from the experience, there is no in between.
Billy Fields
Owner of Cougar Chemical
Serving Memphis, Nashville, Little Rock, Birmingham and Mobile with turnkey cleaning solutions since 1960