So the Rugby World Cup is over, and this time even my Aussie mates concede that the best team won.
At times the All Blacks looked imperious in reaching the very pinnacle of their sport. An incredulous coming together of supremely talented individuals possessing extraordinary skills, speed, strength, awareness, discipline and teamwork.
Only it isn’t incredulous.
It’s down to hard work, practise and no doubt the execution of a clearly defined and well thought out vision over a long period of time. They simply were the best prepared, fittest and most cohesive team at the tournament and that showed in the outcome. 
Wouldn’t it be great if your business performed like the All Blacks?
A little while back, I found myself with a business owner who was having a tough time. His business was profitable, but he had a list of challenges longer than both arms. This owner was feeling stuck. To him, the challenges he faced were insurmountable.
He needed more capacity, but couldn’t a afford more sta ff; he had customer complaints, but struggled to stop more arising; every now and then orders would go missing, and money that was due wasn’t being collected on time.
Every time a challenge went away, a new one would pop up. Painful stuff.
As we worked through the list, it was very clear that whilst each of these was fixable in a short space of time, he had a fundamental problem in his business.
Whilst his team got their work done they didn’t have a cohesive system in place.
Without that, it was just a matter of time before something else fell through the cracks and the next challenge showed its ugly face.
If you were at the EC’s November National Event at the NEC, you would have heard business legend Michael Gerber speak. Michael is a great advocate of small businesses creating their ‘business system’.
Your ‘business system’
IS THE WAY YOUR BUSINESS WORKS
in its entirety…
Michael knows that having a system in place is critical for developing a business. Why? Because a system creates a platform.
A platform for providing outstanding and repeatable service to your clients, for developing a high performing team, for preventing issues from arising and ultimately, a platform for growth that will free you to focus on getting new customers safe in the knowledge that your business is running itself in the way you want it to run.
And that sounds worth having.
But, let’s get back to the All Blacks.
If we were brave enough to look under the scrum, we’d find five key aspects that make up the All Blacks Way.
- The behaviours and expectations of our team: On and o ff field, in training, during television appearances and interviews, talking to sta ff, fans, press…
- The environment we operate in: Our facilities, the layout, content and cleanliness, pitch quality, the atmosphere in the ground on match day…
- The way our work gets done: How we train, our game plans and plays, individual skills, team spirit, the tools we need (kit, posts, balls) to play our game, how we interact with each other…
- How we interact with our customers: The Haka, ‘tough love’ for our opponents during the match, respect after the game…
- How our team can improve our system: All the video playback, fi tness and performance data, individual and team feedback…
Do those five apply to your business?
If you answered “Yes” – which I hope you will have – you now have the basis for creating your business system.
Now, I doubt that the individuals who make up the All Blacks fell out of bed the day before the World Cup began, picked up a rugby ball for the very first time, decided they all wanted to be World beaters and met up lunchtime to plan their route to the final.
Instead, they all developed through Club, Regional and National teams raising their skills and fi tness along the way. They mastered their craft, perfected their game, and took every win and loss, bruise and battering on the chin. They learned from each game, to make the next one even better.
The passage of time is critical too, since continual development over time increases an ability to perform.
What is it going to take for you to implement your business’ way?
Wouldn’t it be great to have a holistic and structured programme for your business that pushes you to be the All Blacks of your sector? That generates genuine gains in performance and underpins true long term success for your business?
Even if you’re not a sports fan, there is so much you can – and should – take from this attitude for your own business.
If you want to BE World Class, you have to THINK and ACT World Class. It’s not enough to have a minor league attitude when you want to be playing with the Big Boys. So pull your socks up, get your game face on, and channel the All Blacks.
