CULTURE really does matter. What is your business's culture? If the owner hasn't set it, have the employees? Is the culture best for business, or is it an accident? At ActionCOACH, Brad Sugars has done a great job defining fourteen points of culture that guide the company and the coaches...and they're spot on for quality, accuracy and results!
For the first point of culture (the beginning to this series of sorts), please see: http://activerain.com/blogsview/567470/Culture-What-you-believe
At ActionCOACH, our second point of culture is OWNERSHIP. Here's what ownership means to ActionCOACH and to me:
"I am truly responsible for my actions and outcomes and own everything that takes place in my work and my life. I am accountable for my results and I know that for things to change, first I must change."
In practical terms, that means "I own it". When I make a mistake, it's mine. Even if I could put the blame elsewhere, I'm the one who is accountable for my results so I won't blame others. For example, if I'm late to an appointment, I don't blame traffic...I don't blame my secretary for bad directions. I own it...and by taking accountablility and ownership, I'm willing and able to change (and therefore, prevent the same thing from happening in the future).
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As a kid, I had a preacher who had a saying "An Excuse is the Skin of a Reason, Stuffed with a Lie". I live by that.
My parents were divorced, and every other weekend I was at my dad's and didn't go to church. The next Sunday, Pastor Andes would day "Vicky, we missed you last Sunday", to which I would reply "I couldn't come, I was at my dad's." Boy, was that an excuse. My church was closer to my dad's house than my mom's. My dad would have taken me to church if I had asked. My preacher knew that. One day he called me out on it, and said - "Vicky, you don't have to give me an excuse, in fact, it's probably better if you don't. God knows all. " From then on, I only said "I missed being here" - and I did... I just wanted to be with my dad MORE than I wanted to be in church. I am pretty sure God understood that, and I know Pastor Andes did.