What The Military Can Teach You About How to Run A Successful Business
When you join the military, you are sent to basic training where they teach you how to be a soldier and then once you pass you go onto your QL3 training and then the military teaches you how to perform your job. The Canadian Forces teach you how to be a soldier first and trade second.
This philosophy should be no different than running a successful business. I understand you have people doing certain things in your business for example one person does payroll and the other person does human resources, but what happens when its busy one day and you need all the help you can get?
This example is no different than a cook in the military, and he is posted overseas. Let’s say he is out for a drive outside the “wire” (Outside the wire means outside the secure area, usually in a danger zone) with his comrades, and they get ambushed. His rifle jams because he doesn’t know how to fix the problem, so he ends up being captured or worse.
Since this soldier forgot about the basics. (weapon stoppage )When it got jammed his life was put into harm’s way. You can’t forget about the basics including running a successful business. If your job isn’t to run the till, but that person is sick for the day, guess what you are going to be helping to run the till that day.
Soldiers require teamwork for everyone to get home safe and people that work for a successful business should strive for teamwork as well.
I see the value in a big organization chart where everyone works on a different aspect of your business, but it doesn’t mean anything if they forget the customer.