Culture Of Success: Mastering The Art Of Discipline

Part 2 of a 6 part blog series on developing a culture that breeds success. Make sure you add the RSS feed to your reader so you don’t miss anything in this series!

You have a great vision, you’ve planned and prepared…so now what? When a vision is new and there has been ample preparation to build excitement around it, endorphines are flowing wildly and the place is all abuzz with the great things just past the horizon. The next experience after the enthusiastic ground swell is typically smashing face first into the proverbial brick wall. Why? Discipline.

A glowing vision is wonderful, but it doesn’t abdicate our responsibility to hard work. It has been said, “To master the discipline of any art, you must first master the art of discipline.” Truer words were never spoken. Especially when it comes to creating a culture of success. Successful cultures don’t come about because we all sat around, held hands, and thought nice thoughts. There is some serious trench work to be done. If your organization hasn’t included discipline in the planning and preparation phase, there are some rough patches for your vision for sure.

It’s very possible that there will be things that need to be done, but at the right time. I’m sure you’ve experienced the right thing being done at the wrong time. It takes discipline to have the patience to wait for that “right time”. Things get uphill pretty quickly. Proper discipline makes the climb slow and steady to make sure things get done. More on this in the next post…Perseverance.

Discipline is necessary to keep things going and having the patience to do them at the right time. There is one more area in which discipline is needed. Response to the unexpected. Visions and plans have a way of being changed unexpectedly. While no one likes to be blind-sided, it still happens to the best of us; even with the most diligent preparation and planning. Despair and poor response to the unexpected is a culture killer for sure.

As you’re conversing with those in your organization or team, in the planning and preparation stages, make it a point to communicate the discipline necessary to experience success. Properly managed expectation goes a long way with people. Don’t just mention that discipline is needed. Give them tools and ideas on how to be disciplined. Ask them how they can be supported to overcome some weaker areas they may have with discipline. Make it an open forum of how discipline can be improved to move things forward.

Plan intelligently. Prepare well. Exercise discipline.