The Crack Attack

My friend Charlie Schofield from BQ Basement Systems was sharing a 30-second commercial and introduction at a recent MCBA local networking group meeting. He said something so simple that I wrote it down and knew it would be a podcast!
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"It's rained a lot lately. Have you had anyone come and check out your home for potential water getting into your basement. Water can crack the foundation and that is a nasty problem to fix."

I did a quick google search and found the answer I was looking for on another basement systems company blog. Here's the link to give proper credit.

"When water from rainstorms, melting snow, broken water lines, landscaping, and bedrock collects around the house, this exerts “hydrostatic pressure” against a home's foundation. This pressure can cause foundation walls to crack and bow, which can result in foundation leaks."

I can totally see this happening. The water collects underground against the basement foundation which is concrete. The sitting water alone wedged between the soil and concrete creates the same type of pressure that allows power breaks to function. This creates one method of compression on the foundation floor. The water also seeps into the basement walls and onto the floor. Concrete is rock. When it is wet through, it expands. This puts more compression force on the foundation floor. The combination of these compressive forces causes cracking and bowing of the concrete over time. I hope that made some sense. Here's the simple version. Water along the edge of your foundation or seeping through your walls is bad. You need a professional to proactively fix it before you crack your foundation. In other words, don't allow the crack attack to happen.

I thought about this and wondered what the foundation and water represented in our busineses. I have an answer to share. Go back and listen to "Introducing the C3 Experience". In that episode, I thoroughly explain the need for a mission and vision statement for your company along with core values. These collectively communicated and implemented in your company is the foundation. It is a strong concrete floor to build a massive house and business on. Then I considered the potential cracks and what could cause them. I'll use my own core values to show you.

• Arrogance - Are you losing your desire to learn more, thus believing you're always right. This cracks away at all 3 of my core values - Ownership, Excellence, and Safety.
• Compromise - Are you cutting corners to get something done. This cracks away at excellence and safety in hopes of reaching more ownership. It doesn't work this way. You can't sacrifice one or more core values to obtain another.  Rushing to get the work done takes ownership, but it compromises safety and excellence as an example
• Entitlement - Do you have the belief that you deserve something or are owed something? Are you grateful for the role you have. This undermines ownership at it's core tenant of taking full responsibility for your thoughts, actions, and results. .
  

Notice that these 3 crack attackers form the acronym ACE. I believe the ace you've been dealt is going to kill your busieness if you let it. Identify and remove these mindsets from your team whenever they arrive. We need to defend our foundation from the crack attack just like Charlie's company does for basements. It's a proactive inspection strategy that I call your Perimeter Defense System (PDS).

Do you have a way to score your core values across the team? In the book "Traction", various tools are available to do so. I have only just begun. My scorecard rates each core value from 1 to 10 for each team member. Scores over 8 are desirable. Scores under 8 are probationary and removed from the team as a cancer if not improved to 8 again within a month. We can't have any team member underperforming in a core value. Why? It's a core value! It's foundational to our business functioning well. Therefore, we regularly assess this scorecard and proactively create training and strategy for any low scores to be improved. This is called leadership. It preserves a high standard at our company and protects our foundational core values and mission statement from crack attack. It's our Perimeter Defense System. If you don't implement a PDS into your foundation, cracks will come when you least expect them. And like Charlie said. "That is a nasty problem to fix." Take leadership in your company. Proactively root the ACE cards out of your deck of cards. Otherwise companies will build something they believe is strong, but lack of leadership and complacency will allow the crack attack to happen.

Would you like to discuss any crack you may have? Make sure to check out the many free & paid resources available at the Smart Cleaning School website. Also, do you have questions for me? Book a free coaching call on my website!