Does it ever feel like you can’t make everyone (or sometimes ANYONE) happy? Chances are, you may need to put in some extra work focusing on the 5 Disciplines of adding zeros. The 5 Disciplines, highlighted in my book Pulling Profits Out Of A Hat, are simple principles that, in practice, will help your company succeed in serving these key constituents. The five key constituents in business are the Company, the Customer, the Team, the Stakeholders, and the Community.
 
To break it down, each of the 5 Disciplines satisfies and benefits two of the key constituent groups:

• The Discipline of Strategy satisfies the Company and the Community
• The Discipline of Business Development satisfies the Company and the Customer
• The Discipline of People satisfies the Customer and the Team Member
• The Discipline of Execution satisfies the Team Member and the Stakeholder
• The Discipline of Mission satisfies the Community and the Stakeholder

 
As you focus on the 5 Disciplines, you’ll also find that your company becomes more sustainable, predictable, stable, consistent, and emotionally connected to your customers, your community and your team. When a business is not just maintaining each discipline, but adding zeros to each one, you’ll increase revenue and profit, customer loyalty, and employee retention levels and engagement. You’ll also find you’re contributing to growing your community and a company that will last for decades or generations!
 

Satisfy Your Company and Community through the Discipline of Strategy

 
Your Company benefits from the Discipline of Strategy because planning and processes ensure it will be around long-term. Remember that your company is a constituent on its own and should outlast every person in it. This means seeing the big picture and planning for future opportunities that make a company sustainable with plans for continued revenue and a direction in which to move.
 
The company benefits when people have confidence that it will be around for a long time. An effective strategy ensures sustainability. You can increase sustainability by understanding and using these four components of the Discipline of Strategy:

• Opportunity: the demand you aim to fill
• Marketability: the likelihood that a product or service will sell
• Leverage: using what you have to get more
• Scalability: planning the company to ensure natural growth

 
Your Community benefits because of the assurance of tax revenue and long-term employment for residents. When your company has a long-term employment strategy, the community is immersed with residents who believe in the good of where they live and work.
 

Satisfy Your Company and Customer through the Discipline of Business Development

 
Your Company benefits from the Discipline of Business Development because long-term profit growth and predictability means it will be around for a long time. You increase predictability when you focus on people instead of profit because people are creatures of habit. About 40% to 45% of what we do every day feels like a decision – but it’s actually a habit! Predictability creates sustainability, and predictability comes from understanding the causes of past growth to calculate future exponential growth.
 
Excellent business development and predictability comes from testing and measuring your numbers in three essential areas:

• Marketing
• Sales
• Customer Service

 
Your Customers value stability and predictability, so increasing employee training that rewards professionalism creates expectations of excellent service, leading to repeat business and referrals. When we get business development right, people know us and where we’re going.
 

Satisfy Your Customer and Team Member through the Discipline of People

 
Your Customer benefits from the Discipline of People because it makes them feel good. When a company has the right people in place who have been properly trained and their skills have been developed, and they’re enjoying their job, they’re building up trust with customers who love how they’re being treated. When we’re wowed, we go back for more of the same. When we’re not wowed, we focus on price. It doesn’t cost that much to provide wow to the customer, and the minimal investment in empowering employees to wow customers pays off.
 
Team Members value consistency and stability. Reliable and excellent employee training produces high morale and low turnover because people are engaged and cherish their jobs. Leadership should respect a team member’s input so the team members know they’ve been heard. Coaching team members to work out for themselves whether their idea is feasible teaches them skills they can employ in the future and rewards them for engaging with the company. When we’re engaged with our jobs, we feel good about ourselves. We’re adding value to the company we work for, and we’re helping structure the shared future.
 
Attracting and retaining skilled people is the result of investing in three critical areas:

• Leadership
• Talent Development
• Recruitment

 

Satisfy Your Team Member and Stakeholder through the Discipline of Execution

 
Your Team Members value the Discipline of Execution because it creates clear expectations. Execution refers to carrying out the processes that the company has determined will achieve its goals. To execute well means that team members are taught how to perform a process and they understand the realistic results that are expected from that process. When managers make teaching and reinforcing processes a priority, team members know they have the tools to do their jobs, which is a measure of respect. Respect from the company leads to job satisfaction.
 
Consistency comes through the excellent execution of a business strategy, which depends on developing consistent habits in three critical areas:

• Processes
• Management
• Financial Controls

 
Your Stakeholders are interested in consistency and emotional connection, so they are looking for dependable performance paired with passion produces a company that does good in the world while producing a profit. The Discipline of Execution benefits the stakeholder because the return on investment increases. When a company’s financial processes are in place and correctly followed, it’s making a profit, which is of primary concern to investors.
 

Satisfy Your Community and Stakeholder through the Discipline of Mission

 
Your Community benefits from the Discipline of Mission by providing resources for sustainability. The Discipline of Mission is the reason the company does what it does. It describes the whole environment of the company, how it gives back to the community, and why it exists other than just to make money. It outlines a win-win-win situation where the organization grows and employs more people, who then have more money to spend, enabling other businesses to grow. It’s about social responsibility. When companies invest in community nonprofits by providing funds, access, volunteers, and time, they create positive emotional bonds between the community and the organization.
 
The Discipline of Mission enables people to connect to your organization. It’s composed of three main ideas that define your company:

• Core Values
• Purpose
• Giving back

 
Your Stakeholders benefit from the Discipline of Mission by finding balance. Stakeholders want to invest in a company that’s figured out how to sustain the community so that earning ROI is possible. They want to know that they are investing in a company doing good things for the world. They’re not dumping nasty chemicals into the river. They’re not testing makeup on animals, or other questionable things. Stakeholders want to know that they’re investing in something that’s good for the world, good for the community, good for the future. It’s not just about their pocketbooks.
 
Are you struggling to connect with a particular key constituent? Is there one of the 5 Disciplines that your company struggles with? Find more ways to add zeros to your profit in my book, Pulling Profits Out Of A Hat, and contact me today for a complimentary strategy session or to do a 5 Disciplines Assessment with your organization.