To conceive of their businesses as fictional entities is a difficult task for several business leaders to engage in, and for a very good reason. After all, the buildings, desks, chairs, computers, logos and employees are certainly very real, and far from fictional. So, in what way are we suggesting that all organizations are fictional?

In order for your organization to transform into a Patient Organization through utilization of the 7 Question - 7 Promise Framework, it is essential for you to identify and codify the real core values of your business. If you have already taken the steps to establish core values for your company, you are undoubtedly on the scent, we want to make sure you are on the correct path. Unfortunately, there is a strong possibility that the core values of your company have been misidentified, and if this has happened, the effects can be disastrous when it comes to solidifying the culture of your company and summarily applying those values to your organization’s hiring and firing practices.

When it comes to balance in the workplace, several different explanations are employed to describe what it means, and many of these definitions are correct in one respect or another. In fact, the most complete description of workplace balance incorporates multiple elements from the popular definitions of balance. This ultimately means true employee balance combines considerations of work-life balance with opportunities for thought and reflection within the workplace, while also understanding that keeping employees productive is not immutably connected with keeping employees in motion.

Quite often, one of the first obstacles to reconfiguring a business into a Patient Organization through the 7Q7P methodology is revealing to the owner of the company that he is not already at the helm of a patient organization. This is an understandable, yet nonetheless harmful misinterpretation of one or more aspects of their business which allows them to mentally remodel it to fit a layman’s definition of patience.

“They have to learn how to win.”  

This quote came from Packers’ QB Aaron Rodgers. He was talking about his young team, and it made me think. “They have to learn how to win as a team.”

Per usual, my mind started chewing on this thought, looking at it from all sides.

We might say that in order for a team to learn how to win, they must first learn how to lose.

Having strong, toothy core values will smoke and flush out the folks I call "core value terrorists", or CVT’s. We must eliminate these CVTs from our teams, lives, and organizations.

Tyranny (noun): Cruel and unfair treatment by people with power over others.

I see this issue manifest inside my client’s teams all the time. They always wear one or both of the following masks, and both of these terrorists are originally considered absolutely "indispensable".

"Core Values is not something you do to your people. It is something you do for your people, and yourself."

Protecting your company’s core values starts with your interview process.

(Note: Please come to grips with the fact that there is no way to "test" someone for core values alignment. They can only test themselves. Anyone can fake it for the length of your interview process.)