Rule 9. Set Your Boundaries

You have to, right from day one, be totally on top of the discipline issue. Remember earlier we talked about how looking after your team can be a bit like being a parent? Well, as a parent you pretty well have to set boundaries and practice zero tolerance to survive. Give ’em an inch and they’ll take a mile. If you are seen to be soft, they’ll take advantage. The good thing with clear boundaries and zero tolerance is you have a finite line—a yardstick by which you can judge everything. All you have to do is ask, “Is this a breach of the rules?” If it is, stop it. If you do allow it, where do you stop?

Say one of your clear boundaries is timekeeping. (It might be dress or customer care or whatever, but just say it’s timekeeping.) If one minute late is fine, what about two? If two is fine, what about three? And so on until people are wandering in at whatever time they feel like. But if you don’t allow it, then that’s the end of the story. You don’t have to think about that particular issue any more. Whereas if you do allow infringements, small breaches, you are forever having to consider, “Is this a step too far?” “Can I get control back?” “How far am I prepared to go?”