Does your company have standards?

It sounds like an overly simplistic, almost stupid question, but hear me out. Last week at the Alabama Broadcasters convention, we had a follow-up meeting with our Leadership MasterClass graduates from earlier in the year. Understandably, we spent a great deal of time on the issue of wishes versus standards. As we uncover through discussion, most managers know what they "want" their teams to do, but very few have standards. The difference is two things:

Specificity – Are you specific? For example, I want my sellers to develop new business *versus* my sellers will develop a minimum of three new pieces of business a month.

Discipline – What happens if they don’t achieve the standard? If hitting your monthly goal is a standard, what happens if they don't? Thinking through what you want your sellers to achieve in all aspects of the job can help attach specifics. If sellers aren't clear on exactly what you're asking them to achieve, they will never be able to achieve what you want.

Assuming your standards are clear, let's deal with the issue of not meeting the standards. Often there is no discipline. Why? Fear or misunderstanding of what discipline is. Sadly, the first thing people think of when it comes to discipline is "punishment." Discipline is not punishment.

Discipline is from the Latin word disciplina, meaning "instruction and training." The root word discere — "to learn." Not to make this a lesson on Latin, but bear with me, the root word of discipline is "disciple," which comes from the Latin word discipulus meaning "student." Most people believe a disciple is a follower (probably because of the religious context), but, it means student — as in, "one who studies."

If your team is not meeting your standards, first they need clarity to ensure they know what is expected of them. Then when they miss, they need instruction and training, coaching and support. Often, they are punished rather than coached or supported. In short:

Discipline is something you do FOR someone, not something you do TO someone.

Our next Leadership MasterClass starts October 3. For details or to register, click here.

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@rab.com. You can all so connect with him on X and LinkedIn.