Chapter 1: WHY THE 10 TEN-MINUTE RULES?
Beyond the Entrepreneurial Whirlwind: Lies the Precipice of Teambuilding
Most of us in business will have a fond recollection of our formative years. Existing on a wave of raw energy, a burning desire for success fuelled by self-belief and vision, and every social interaction or intention was at arm’s length. However with triumph we gathered a wider workforce, and the original whirlwind of entrepreneurship became unsustainable for long-term growth. As we transitioned from "working in" the business to "working on" it, there was this unforgiving shift to embracing the “corporate structure” and a whole new reliance on teambuilding.
The implementation of proven management systems for communication, people, and data followed. Plus maintaining the company's vision and purpose by establishing the culture (see my blog on rule 6.) Given the sheer complexity, it’s little wonder, according to Experian in 2023, that 50% of new businesses fail within three years, and this is widely reported to rise to at least 65% by year ten.
As a workforce expands, channels of communication can become fragmented, where some team members feel disconnected from the core vision (see rule 7.) The higher in rank this disconnect is, the harder it is to maintain growth. Addressing this division requires nurturing a growth mindset in individuals. True effectiveness emerges when people frame best practice, conduct honest self-evaluation, control their conscious awareness (see rules 4 & 8,) and align personal goals and values with those of the business (see rule 9.)
A common challenge for finding solutions in literary circles lies in the dichotomy of resources. Some schools of thought teach business infrastructure but ignore leadership mindset, other thought leaders focus on mindset but don't connect it to infrastructure. And while insights from performance science or habit psychology genres can be useful, they are not normally linking the application to the business world.
It isn’t enough to learn about processes and systems that improve your business model and growth. Only if you can do the hard yards, self-analyse performance and habitualise routines within the process, will you truly reap the rewards, intrinsically linking operating systems, leadership mindset and introspective performance analysis.
The case study in this regard was the introduction of performance science in football - where teams started to use this self-analysis to drive the changes in the early noughties. As a sideshow to this, we all now see sport on television; blazoned with the same data and analysis as part of the entertainment experience.
Creating Winning Teams in business includes using performance analysis by applying the daily “Ten-Minute Rule" to our routine. Based on Donald Schon's "Reflective Model," this purposefully facilitates turning intentions into actions through a cycle of: FRAME (analyse best practices;) ACTION (initiate a ten-minute exercise;) REFLECT (evaluate progress;) and REFRAME (develop changes.)
By institutionalising this "Ten-Minute Rule" in the 10 pillars of business, we set new routines, turn intentions into measurable actions, and align every individual's daily efforts with the core vision.
This fusion of structural systems and a growth mindset is the blueprint for creating winning teams - the essential shift from embracing the entrepreneurial whirlwind to confidently navigating the seas of change. An improved workflow is then established, whereby the central purpose of the long-term plan is now reverberating across many hands, and a cohesive team approach will flourish.
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