A winning team

Masonry Construction, Feb, 2005 by Damian Lang

To win football games in the NFL, a team must field the best players. The best football coaches do this by eliminating the weakest players and then trading or using the draft to field a winning team.

As some of you may know, I have always believed that success in business is much like winning football games. Top management must get the right people in the right places first, and then everything else follows. Until we have the best players performing the work, our company results will suffer. Well, if the NFL has discovered a way of fielding the best players, why can't we?

2004 has come and gone. Now we all get to look at our end of the year financial statements to see what our yearly record is, or to see if we made any money or not. In a perfect world we would all always work at a profit. However, even if you had a profit in 2004, was it enough profit to offset the possibility of a downturn in 2005? Did you do everything you possibly could to make the most of every resource you have to work with? One thing is for sure: if you do the same thing in 2005 that you did in 2004, you will get the same results.

Although I have always believed that in order to win in business we must hire, train and maintain the best people, I got the idea of running a business like a football team off a friend of mine, Ronnie Strahler. At a Christmas party, Ron explained to me that we should run our businesses more like the NFL coaches select their teams. Since Ron is a very successful businessman, I was all ears when he shared his secret to staying successful year after year.

Ron said, "At the end of every year, we should reevaluate our team. Anyone would isn't doing their part to help the company reach its goals should be let go. Then we should go out and draft the best new workers until we field the perfect team."

Once we field the best team, how do we keep these exceptional players? Like in the NFL, if they are better, we must pay them more. But lets not just pay them based on salary or per hour worked. In my opinion, this type of compensation is entitlement compensation. With entitlement compensation, even the best will become mediocre. In my book called RACE 1 show ways to keep the best by measuring what they do and paying them accordingly. Our yardstick is made up of expected outcomes, i.e., company goals. This way, as we give more, we consistently get more in return.

So how's your team doing? Are they 3-13 or 13-3? If they are 13-3, "Great!" If they are 3-13, maybe you should look at drafting new players. Or at the very least, consider changing the game plan or systems they work within so they improve upon that record for the upcoming season.

The subject of merit pay verses entitlement pay is so important that it will be the focus of our next months Tip. And if your interested, you may also choose to read my book or attend one of our seminars held solely for mason contractors who are looking for a better way to become profitable in a difficult industry. For information call Kerri at Lang Masonry, 800-417-9272.