Larry Janesky's 6th HVA: Keep Internal Standards High

If a place is messy, people routinely use profanity, and there is litter in the yard, people assume that the company is disorganized, uncaring, and their future in in question. Everything your employees see, hear and experience sends a signal about “how we do it here.”

People judge books by their covers.

Keep your internal standards high. This means:

• You have a dress code.
• Your facility is clean, including the bathrooms and the shop.
• Your facility is kept up – freshly painted, remodeled as necessary, and furniture is replaced as needed to your standards.
• No junk trucks on the road. Equipment is maintained and accounted for.
• No bad behavior – swearing, gossip, outbursts, or telling others what a jerk a customer was when you get off the phone. (We say “She/he makes us better” as code for “it’s a difficult customer”).
• Your employees will take these standards out on the road and out to the job. We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. Remember, regardless of what you say, they watch the leader(s) to see what is acceptable. Walk the talk.

Internal Standards Exercise

Are there changes you need to make to the internal quality and standards of your company?

Do you need to change something YOU do? What? (take the next 10 mnutes and write out what you need to change at your company, in your office, or even in your own appearance).

BONUS MATERIAL: Check out IlluminationsOnBusiness.com. It’s a new video series from Larry Janesky called, “Illuminations on Leadership in Business.”  Illuminations will consist of excerpts from the Illumination videos in The School of Entrepreneurship.

Illuminations are short, thought-provoking video messages from Larry designed to help you improve on one aspect of your leadership skllis every week.

If you’re interested in more from the School, go to TheSOE.com.