Team Code of Honor - Blair Singer

 

87th of 2021 was Team Code of Honor by Blair Singer. This book is a step-by-step guide for any individual, group, or company to create their own powerful Code of Honor. The Rich Dad Advisors collection of books is designed as a how-to-series to empower individuals to succeed. Team Code of Honor is critical to this series because these team-building processes bridge all facets of business, investment, entrepreneurship and even your personal life. Team Code of Honor will give you the specific steps, graphic examples, stories and numerous case studies.

These team-building processes bridge all facets of business, investment, entrepreneurship and even your personal life.

If sales is the number one skill in business, number two has to be the ability to bring ordinary people together to build a championship team.

Why do you need Code of Honor? 

In the absence of rules, people make up their own. That will be catastrophic in the heat of the battle, particularly where stress is high and confusion is prevalent. 

We sometimes have a tough time figuring out why "those guys" don't understand, or how they could so blatantly turn their back on our feelings, our way of doing things and our rules. In most respect, "those guys" feel the same way about us. Because we assume that certain basic rules are the same. 

When pressure increases, sometimes so do emotions. When that happens, intelligence has a tendency to drop. People revert to their base instincts in times of stress, and that's when their true colors come out.  Have you ever said something to someone when you were upset that you wished you had not said a few minutes later? That is high emotion and low intelligence. In times of stress, the people involved are unable to negotiate their differences. No common code of honor or set of rules hold them together. 

Code of Honor need to be non negotiable or should not be subject to multiple interpretations. 

A Code of Honor is the physical manifestation of the team's values, extended into behavior. It's not enough to have values, because we all do. What's so crucial is knowing how to put physical behavior into practice to reflect those values. 

The Heat and soul of every team is its code of Honor. Rules like being on time, practicing, showing up, attending training sessions, committing to personal growth or never abandoning a teammate in need. 

Mission first; (includes family, self and spirit)

Team second; and

Individual third.

Who you surround yourself with will determine your wealth and success - Who's on the team? 

“How many of you would like to have a hot, high performance team?” 
and “Have any of you ever experienced the slightest bit of frustration with anyone on your 
team?” By asking these two questions and looking for a show of hands. You have taken the 
heat off of you and thrown it out to them to think about. They are immediately engaged because 
you have forced them to listen, think and answer something. 

Great players are determined by their talent, desire and willingness to play by the code. It's true that in some cases you don't have much choice who is in your group. The code, however, allows those who have not yet joined to decide if this is the type of team they want to be on. And for those who are already on the team, it allows them to decide if they want to stay or not. 

A great team is not just a group of people with a common objective. It is a group committed to working together towards a common goal in which each person's unique abilities will be tested and stretched to the fullest. They are willing to subordinate themselves to the good of the team and to follow rules that may subject them to scrutiny, correction and review. 

Team can succeed only if each team member is able to put mission first. It can be truly exhilarating. The power, trust and confidence of a hot team are unstoppable. 

Qualities of a great Team player:

1. Energy
2. Unstoppable desire to win
3. Willing to let someone else win
4. Personally responsible - no blaming or justifying
5. Willing to submit to the code
6. Unique talent or ability

Factors to ensure optimum team communication are:

• Display true interest in the team and each other in all communications
• Talk to others in their terms and in their language
• Be brief, clear and to the point
• Verify all communications through repetition or duplication of what was said

The four components that are inextricably linked, as both cause and effects, because they are constantly reinforcing each other are:

Results

 |

Behavior

|

Attitude

|

Conditioning and Talent and Unique Ability

Your results will never exceed your self-concept. Self-concept is your ideals, values, image. 
Is it important to have a break down, before you shift your conditioning.
Three examples: Public speaking, people make fun of us when in school. Avoid conditioning, go to root cause.  

Creating your own Code of Honor

A code of Honor is not a mission statement. It is not a list of Values. One need to be specific.

Sample code of Honor: For Personal development and sales organization. 

1. Never Abandon a team mate in need
2. Be willing to "call" and "be called"
3. Celebrate all wins!
4. Be on time
5. Keep all agreements and clean up any broken or potentially broken agreements ASAP
6. Deal direct. (If you have a problem with someone go directly to that person with it or get off it!)
7. Be responsible - no laying blame on others, no justifications!
8. Be resourceful - find solutions before "dumping" on others.
9. Never let personal "stuff" get in the way of your mission
10. Be loyal to the team
11. Commit to personal development
12. Don't seek or ask for sympathy or acknowledgment
13. Everyone must sell!

Correct the Behavior not the person. 

Steps for creating a Code of Honor:

1. Create the code in a "Sane" environment
2. Isolate recurring behavior that interferes with optimal team performance. This becomes the basis for creating the code. Do the same with behavior that supports team performance.
3. If you have an existing team, get everyone involved.
4. Discuss various instances of productive and non productive behavior and how everyone felt about them
5. From the discussions, write down the rules that will support optimal behavior and performance
6. Make sure that the rules are specific and enforceable without ambiguity, and that they are not general value statements.
7. Don't attempt to legislate moods in the code
8. Rules should be a challenge and a stretch for everyone
9. Don't make too many rules. A dozen or few is ideal.
10. When someone breached the Code - "Call it".

Personal code of Honor:

When we speak of leading by example, it's important to have personal code of Honor. What is the code as it relates to you? 

• Primary relationship(s)
• Financial Freedom
• Business and team
• Family
• Health
• Personal growth

Ultimately you are your code. 

Sit down in a quite moment in your favorite place and create your own code. Think about what's really important to you. What problems or patterns have you created for yourself in the past that you'd like to resolve, once and for all, and finally take control of?

How to implement and enforce the Code rapidly

"call" and "be called"

How to call it?

1. Pick an appropriate time to make the call but don't wait too long.
2. Acknowledge how you are feeling first to the other party
3. Get permission from him or her to make the call
4. Correct the behavior, not the person. Let the code be the policeman.
5. State specifically what did not work and offer support
6. Make clear what the benefits of correction are for the team and for the individual involved.
7. Thank the individual for listening and listen to his or her response without interruption.
8. Acknowledge the proper behavior later when you see it demonstrated by the individual.

When called upon:

1. Take a deep breath
2. Acknowledge that whatever the speaker is saying is true for that person
3. Listen actively
4. If you made a mistake, admit it
5. Ask the person how you can make it right and make amends to the team
6. If the call that's being made isn't accurate (which is possible), simply go back to the code of Honor.
7. Become truly interested and inquisitive about the call.

The code is an awesome recruiting tool and qualifier.

Stamp collection - If someone breaks a code, and it is not called out. It keeps accumulating, and you use it to your advantage. 

Leadership that teaches others to be great:

1. The ability to spot the strengths in others, and get them to play to those strengths
2. The ability to teach
3. Using mistakes to empower and strengthen the team
• Debriefing - What happened/worked/did not work/learned/action steps for correction 
• Celebrating wins
• Knowing how and when to call a time-out
4. Creating and maintaining frequency of interaction
5. Ability to see and communicate the brightness and possibilities of the future
6. Ability to sell
7. Be the champion of the code, and should be able to call out when not followed .

Biggest Impact of the Code:

• Setting the standards of behavior and conduct of the team
• Action of the team members have an impact on the lives of others
• It is a statement of who you are as a team, family or individual. It polices the team and ensures a positive impact.

Ensuring Accountability, Loyalty and Trust:

• Accountability is in the stats, no stats, no results. 
• The more feedback you accept, the easier it gets to receive it.
• Become committed to the team :  One of the keys to mastery is surrounding yourself with those who ask more of you than you do.
• Acknowledge the behavior you want.
• Get permission to hold each other accountable and be supportive in the process
• Choose your team mates and your friends wisely. Surround yourself with those who will demand the best of you and themselves.
• Demand loyalty and resist temptations to wander or seek better options
• Be accountable to yourself and set the example you want
• When in doubt, support each other

Perturbation simply means upsetting the status quo. That's where greatness comes from. 

The code hold your team together under pressure and protects all its members when things get crazy. 

Never abandon tough issues or leave them unresolved. 

Three keys for achieving greatness:

1. Pressure build great teams in all arenas. Embrace it and don't run from it.
2. Find constructive ways to release stored emotion so that the evolutionary process can proceed - exercise, sports, discussion, whatever works.
3. Use the code to hold the team together under pressure. More than ever, if you stick by it in the heat, you will emerge more powerful, with better results and with a sense of incredible pride and accomplishment. 

Find greatness, train it, develop it and use it as a tool to better your life and the lives around you. 

• Using the Code to control the growth of your organization
• Putting your team together by choosing the right players
• Increasing performance throughout your team
• Use pressure as your friend to produce extraordinary results

Your biggest asset in your business is…your TEAM! Learn how to lead your team by implementing each step with your team live, you can turn ordinary people into a CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM!

• Be a walking demonstration of what you teach and coach; physically, emotionally, financially and professionally.
• Take ownership and responsibility. No lay-blame, justification, finger-pointing or denial
• Take action to give the highest advantage to the greatest number of people and entities with the least disadvantage to all.
• Never abandon a team mate in need

Your code of Honor will make a statement about you and where you stand. Wear it like a badge of honor, and let it guide you through the challenging times in your life to the break throughs and wins on the other side. 

Think of it as a big game! Decide today who you want to be!

There comes a point in each person's life when he ask himself: How do I want to be remembered? 

We have the chance to affect the answer to that question. We should shape it. 

• Play with heart.
• Play with passion.
• Play within yourself.
• Don't let anyone take this moment away from you.
• Have fun! Relish this moment.
• Play like a champion

Be the best! It's who you are.