Write a ‘stop doing’ list and build a culture

“The Proteas are completely undisciplined,” said a friend, as we discussed their early exit from the recent Twenty20 tournament. There was a murmur of agreement around the braai. “Ja, our cricketers need a dose of Jake White,” said another. ”He’s built the discipline in the Boks.” “Discipline” is a word often used in sport and in life. It generally has negative connotations, associations with disciplinary codes, disciplinary procedures and hearings, all often ending up in some form of punishment. But, somehow, this doesn’t seem to be the sort of discipline we see in the Springboks at present. “What do you guys mean?” I asked, “and how has Jake White done it? Is he the ultimate disciplinarian?” However hard we tried, we couldn’t pin down exactly what this discipline entailed, or agree how it had been achieved. Now I think I’ve come some way to finding an answer. In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins describes research he and his team did to identify the factors which turned “good” American companies into “great” ones. They identified six key characteristics of great companies, one of which they called ”A Culture of Discipline”. This, I think, is what the Springbok rugby squad has developed. Tyrannical bosses don’t build discipline C ollins found that lasting discipline is never achieved where you have a boss who is a tyrant. This type of boss sometimes has a positive impact in the short term, but this management style never builds a lasting culture of discipline and long-term success in a company. As soon as the “tyrant” leaves, the business slips back to its old ways. What great companies did was go to enormous lengths to find and employ disciplined people – people who could control their own impulses and behaviour. With top management setting the example, and inherently self-disciplined people in their team, great companies didn’t have to set up complex disciplinary codes and procedures to keep everyone on track. Manuals and rule-books in great companies were conspicuous by their absence or small size. Teams led and selected in this way applied disciplined thought to company business and took disciplined action in furthering the interests of the company. There was a fanatical adherence and focus in these businesses. No one spent time and effort doing the wrong things. While most of us lead busy but undisciplined lives, with our “to do” lists growing forever longer, Collins found that managers in great companies had “stop doing” lists instead of “to do” lists. It takes great self-discipline to stop doing those things you enjoy, but which add little benefit to the business. There is, no doubt, a lot of “stop doing” discussion in the postmortems of Springbok matches. Give it a try in your business and see if it helps you build a culture of discipline. Call Peter Hughes on (013) 745 7303. |fw