"None of us is as smart as all of us." - Ken Blanchard
A successful business survives through challenges and stands out of a crowd because the whole team:
- Stands together
- Contributes to ideas
- Commits to the company’s mission
- Shares the same values
It makes the business’ best qualities luminous, attracting not only the right customers but the right talent.
Emulating a successful business starts with a culture and mission blueprint. So the team, at every level can understand the business’ purpose, values and ethos. Plus the role they need to play to drive progress.
We recently implemented such a tool into our company with help from the brilliant Martin Murphy. Discover how the Mission Power Compass will shape the future of We Are Adam.
Who is Martin Murphy?
Martin is a former Special Forces soldier, international adviser and coach to leaders and high-performance teams.
Previously, he worked in the middle east, training the Special Forces to combat terrorism and narcotics. He now applies his extraordinary insight into the business world, helping companies boost their performance through leadership, teamwork and personal development coaching.
We’ve been lucky enough to work with Martin for quite some time. He has been integral to the growth of Adam owing to his coaching on leadership and high-performance teams (which you can read more about here).
The Mission Power Compass (MPC)
The Mission Power Compass is the product of our latest collaboration and an adaptation of Martin’s Mission Power Profile which is featured in his book, From Mercenaries To Missionaries.
Its aim is to help us align the wider team around a mission and common purpose. So that they have clarity on the business' goals in terms of strategy, tactics, culture and ethos. This ensures everyone in the business understands what needs to happen to help us achieve our overall mission, making change much more transformational.
Defining who we are
To get the wider team bought-into our compass, Martin facilitated a workshop over a series of weeks.
It was a chance for the entire team to sit down together and work out what the business’ main mission was, why it’s important and what needs to be done to achieve it.
They then defined the company’s culture, ethos and purpose, answering questions such as: What kind of relationships will the team foster? What disciplines will they follow to achieve the desired results? Who is responsible for what?
By working on this together, everyone in the wider team has a voice on the type of business we are and what we will be in the future. Essentially, the team is building the business’ culture, creating a more tight-knit environment where everyone is committed to the same values and goals.
This is critical for success, as Martin explains in From Mercenaries To Missionaries:
“If the leader and their team members don’t fully understand their MPC, they will be running an operation that hasn’t tapped into the passion and potential of its people.”
With everyone on board with our compass, we can continue to cultivate a team-led culture as opposed to a top-down approach. This makes the team feel like they are a part of something big and are accountable for the business’ success.
Directing the team to glory
Our compass guides us towards set behaviours that’ll shape Adam’s identity:
- Be accountable for building trusted relationships
- Provide an honest and reliable service
- Enable change through connecting people
- Challenge the status quo
The compass is fundamental to every decision we make in the business. For example, it’s our blueprint to follow when recruiting new team members to make sure they fit in with our values. This way, our culture is reinforced with every new member of the team.
Hiring people based on whether they match our values has been a phenomenal strategy to increase staff retention. To illustrate, over the past year our employee turnover has been 12%. The average recruitment staff turnover rate is around 25%, which means we have achieved half of the industry average. In business terms, this has helped us reduce recruitment costs substantially and build an engaged team.
A distinct culture will also help us attract the right talent - people who are passionate about helping others, maintaining strong ethical foundations and working as a team. As our CEO, Richard Gahagan, explained in his recent blog:
“True success can only be attained with the right team in place. It’s about finding those people who identify with and live your values so your business is built on strong ethical foundations that support everything you do.”
Moreover, our compass ensures the business appeals to our ideal clients. This is vital not only for our team’s morale but for the business’ financial stability. It means we can build strong relationships with our clients and retain them for the long term.
High growth on the menu
We like to focus on the things we can do now to make the business stronger. But the future is also important to us. We want to keep growing without sacrificing our values to ensure we don't stray from our overall purpose: transforming lives.
The compass will play an integral role in keeping us on the right track no matter how big the business grows.
Do your personal values fit in with our compass? Can you see yourself as part of our journey? Then we’d love to hear from you. To find out more about our career opportunities, call us on 0161 359 3789 today or download our Life At Adam pack here.
