In uncertain situations, companies that thrive as those companies who are seriously disciplined in business practice. But what does that actually look like, and how can you as a business owner get every team member working with the same level of discipline as a navy seal?

Having operating procedures that are durable and specific will help breed consistency, clarity and ultimately success. 

In Jim Collins book – Great by Choice – he talks about the importance of tried and tested operating procedures that almost provide a series of commandments for the company to follow and the discipline to follow them. He refers to them as ‘SMaC’ – specific, methodical and consistent. 

Over the coming weeks, we will go into more detail about this method, and why it’s different to other companies who may have not reached 10x status. 

Here are four key determining factors that make 10x companies stand out from the rest. 

1. It starts from the top. 

Like all great organisations, a leader’s level 10 performance is the company’s level 10 performance. 

When a leader is unable to function or perform at an exceptional level, this trickles down throughout the organisation. 

A company can only perform at the level a founder / CEO / Director / Manager is performing at. In order to start performing like a 10x company, a leader has to start performing like a 10x leader. 

What does this mean? 

In Jim Collins’ book – Great By Choice, he explains three types of intelligence required to be an exceptional leader:

IQ – Intelligence Quotient: a measure of one’s cognitive capabilities, reference to overall human intelligence.

EQ- Emotional Quotient: the capability of individuals to recognise their own emotions and those of others.

AQ- Adapational Quotient: One’s ability to effectively change and thrive, given a constraint to achieve a certain goal.

10x companies have leaders that hold high levels of all three of these types of intelligence. Although it can be argued these intelligences remain relatively static, these can in fact be developed through learning, development, experience and training.  

2. Reward, Recognise & Trust. 

10x companies not only reward and recognise individuals based on performance, but they also trust their employees explicitly. 

Netflix – a 10x company recognised for their fast growth and ingenuity, make it clear in their company culture outline that they reward and recognise their staff financially based on reputation and contribution, as opposed to length of service or seniority. 

They also inherently trust their staff to take control of their own length of leave and freely self-regulate their own travel, entertainment and meal expenses required, by using a four word rule… “in Netflix’s best interest”. 

3. Communicate ‘discipline’ as a company core value. 

Include discipline as a core value within the company, and make sure it is effectively communicated. 

Have a conversation with key team members and ensure everyone in the organisation not only knows what “discipline” looks like, but also has a clear understanding and definition to refer to, in regards to what it doesn’t look like. 

In many high performing companies, not only do individuals hold a strong level of discipline, but it is often recognised that individuals also hold others to account when it comes to discipline.  

4. Cultivate “Level 5 Ambition”. 

Jim Collins believes there is a key underlying force that drives disciplined behaviours in an organisation, which makes up what he likes to call – Level 5 Ambition.

Level 5 Ambition has three determining factors:

1. An individual channels their ego and intensity into something larger than themselves.
2. They’re passionately driven for a cause beyond themselves. 

They reject the idea that luck, chaos, or any other external factor determines their success or failure.

Want to get access to the frameworks that 10x companies use? 

The 90 Day Culture Accelerator is an intensive 3 month online coaching program designed to build a business you and your people love. 

Based on practical HR methods and high performance team management, the 90 day program guides you through a step by step system to with ACTIONABLE steps to:

✔️Define your big vision and develop a comprehensive blueprint to turn it into a reality in the next 90 days

✔️Attract 10x company standard talent, and keep them motivated and engaged in growing your business

✔️Set standards in your business so all team members clearly comprehend what your business’ expectations are. 

✔️Manage your team with ease, efficiency and empower them to work with high autonomy

✔️Level up your leadership with intensive leadership training and emotional intelligence development

✔️Identify, find and hire rockstar talent that fits your specific needs and is the perfect fit for your company culture

✔️Radically improve your communication skills and run highly productive meetings

✔️Understand any personality on your team and learn how to effectively communicate and understand the differences of the four main personality types

✔️Leave a legacy and begin building something greater than yourself

✔️Create your own culture code – a unique philosophy of how “you do business” that enables all staff to instantaneously understand your vision, mission and goals, and meet you there.

✔️Think big and develop innovative strategies to keep your business growing and thriving into a new revolution of disruption and technological advancement.