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Romeo?s Tribe

Romeo Klyne doesn?t advertise. Not for customers. Not for staff. Not for decades.

Romeo is the owner of Romeo?s Trucking. He is a second-generation trucker who loves his industry and what it stands for as an ideal. Shining old-school long-nose flat-grill Peterbilts that at Romeo?s not only stand for the traditions of his industry, but they also create the image of a promise to customers: in a world where fuel prices, competition and price-obsessed customers drive most competitors to a myopic focus on decimal-point margins, Romeo leads his tribe on a different path. The old school trucks deliver old school values like respect, service, responsibility, and commitment.

Customers, drivers, mechanics, and office professionals respond in droves. They want to be part of that story. They want to be part of Romeo?s tribe. ?They find him, and they ask where they can sign up.

What You Need

The two things needed to move any small business from one level of performance to the next are a vision and resources.

Of the resources available to leverage growth: time, people, and money; people are the closest thing we have to a secret ingredient. That is why focusing on building the best possible team you can is important. There is nothing as effective or necessary for growing a successful business as a high performance team.

This is the first of a six-part series on the elements required to build that power team.

Design Your Tribe

Success is about fit. This extends to both customers and employees.

The best word to describe that fit is ?tribe?. Not community, not market, not segment or resource, but that very raw image of the tribe. Read?Seth Godin?s description here.

The tribe is about deeply shared elements: identity, values, tastes, desires, world views. But the tribe is also about people who don?t fit. A tribe has clear boundaries. Not everyone likes punk rock or rap or Harley Davidson bikes or lululemon clothing. In fact there are people in the world who hate those things. That?s OK. The tribe is defined as much by negative space as positive. You can?t have a tribe of everyone.

That?s how you know you are looking at a tribe. Tribes have fan(atic)s and enemies. If you don?t have fans?and?enemies, you don?t have a tribe.

The trade-off for a business is between degree of loyalty and size of audience. In marketing statistics language, there is a negative correlation between target market and expected loyalty. As with all of these equations, there are trade-off?s and sweet spots.

From a team-building perspective, if you are going tribal, you need to be OK with the fact not every person will want to work for you. You need to be clear you are stronger with one fiercely loyal employee, than with 2 or 3 who may be cheaper, but who will dial it in. There will be a cost to consider. Loyalty doesn?t come cheap, but that is a future article.

To begin your journey towards a power team built on tribal loyalty, you require two things: clear leadership, and a shared language.

Leadership

Leadership in this story has nothing to do with being a CEO. This leadership is based on an idea, a vision, or a value. Leadership in this process is anything that leads, and it is leadership because it compels some to follow. This seems like a circular argument, but the key word is ?compelling?. Whatever ?it? is, it is leadership if someone feels compelled to follow.

Power teams require power leadership.

As an employee, if you want me to join your tribe I must know that my life will be better as a consequence. I must believe I will be cooler, or feel more valuable, or feel a clearer purpose by joining your journey.

Language

Tribes are delineated by an insider language.

Check out Starbucks. Is it about the coffee? Not on your life, it?s not even good coffee. It is about the tribe. It is about the whole experience, not the least of which is the ability to order your coffee using a secret language no one who is not ?on the inside? could ever understand.

Sometimes when I stand in line and listen to customers place their orders it feels more like a rite than anything in the modern western world. A call and response.

Call ?What can I get started for you??

Response ?A venti half-sweet light ice heavy?lemonade?passion tea?lemonade.?

See? I told you. It?s not even about the coffee.

After the ritual exchange, you go to the bar and accept your drink, which by now feels almost?superfluous?? except you get to walk around outside with your clearly branded cup in hand identifying yourself as the member of a tribe.

The cup is part of the language too. And that is part of the secret of great brand and organizational tribes: the language of the tribe is?ubiquitous. It is not just words. It is a language of images, actions, attitudes, the music in the staff room, the trucks we choose to drive.

It is also exclusive. Literally. It is?language?that excludes.

Many repeat the phrase ?not everyone is a xyz company employee? without thinking about it too much. Because if they thought about it, most would stop using it. It is exclusive language, and in the world of political correctness and shallow uniformity, you aren?t supposed to exclude anyone. But if you want a tribe, you have to be able to stare the idea of ?not every person?? squarely in the face. If you decide to proceed, you have to accept you must draw a line in the sand.

The Rolling Stones did that when they decided they weren?t the Beatles. Steve Jobs decided that when he opted for control and design over price and ?open?. Romeo stands on that ground every time he buys another long-nose piece of iron instead of an ?aerodynamic? piece of?plastic for a truck. These are all symbols, all language that separates.

To have a tribe creates the possibility of great?loyalty, but to have a tribe you also have to know who and what doesn?t fit. There is no such thing as a power team with room for everyone, or that uses language everyone understands. That is an idea that makes people uncomfortable today, but it is the place you have to be prepared to go if that is the kind of loyalty and engagement you are really looking for.

The tribe is a pre-condition of true power teams. High performance teams require the bonds and the motivation to stick it out and take risks that only the sense of belonging to a tribe can evoke.

If you want me to give everything as an employee, I require that you make me feel a part of something special; a part of something so special I will make sacrifices to be a part of it; a part of something special that has a mission, and even has enemies. The world of the tribe is always a little crazy, a little unbalanced, a little too much. It is by definition not for everyone. But without it, a truly great team is not possible.

Disclosure: Romeo Klyne is a cherished client.

I work with business to redesign their futures. I help them become what their owners first?dreamed them to be? Want more out of?your?business??Contact me.?From my home base on Vancouver Island, I provide planning and coaching support to businesses across Canada. Or ??read my book!

Too shy to leave a comment? ?A?Google ?+1??or?Facebook ?Like??is sweet too.

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Source: http://www.smbfundamentals.com/management/team-building/designing-power-teams-part-i

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