FRAME BUILDER - VOL7 NO3 / 19 
then forgotten. Two years later 
the team has doubled, the 
service mix has shifted, and 
the original mission statement 
no longer reflects what the 
business actually does or how 
it operates.
A mission statement isn't 
a tagline. It's a short, plain 
declaration of what your 
business stands for and how 
your team is expected to show 
up. It answers the question 
your employees face every 
time they have to make a call 
without you in the room: what 
would we do here?
If your team can't answer that 
question consistently, the 
decisions they make when 
you're not around will reflect 
their judgment, not yours.
What to do: Pull up your 
mission statement. If you 
don't have one, write one. 
Keep it to two sentences. If 
it no longer reflects how the 
business actually runs, update 
it. Post it somewhere people 
see it every day, not just during 
onboarding.
2.	A Vision That's 
Written Down
A lot of owners have a vision. 
Very few have written it down 
and shared it with the team.
Think of it like a GPS. If you 
don't tell it where you're going, 
it can't help you get there. You 
might be driving, but you're 
not navigating.
A clear vision tells everyone 
in your business what you're 
building toward. Not just a 
revenue number (though that 
matters). The full picture. How 
big do you want the team to 
be? How many customers do 
you want to serve? What does 
the business look like in five 
years? In ten?
When they start working 
with a business coach, owners 
often come in with a much 
smaller vision than they end 
up with after a year or two. 
Not because we pushed them 
to think bigger for the sake 
of it. Because once they had 
space to think about it clearly, 
they realized they had been 
underestimating what was 
possible.
What to do: Write down 
where you want the business 
to be in five years and 
in ten. Go beyond 
revenue. Think team 
size, number of 
clients, how much the 
business depends on 
you personally. Share 
it with your team. It 
doesn't have to be 
polished. It just has to 
exist.
3.	Core Values 
the Team 
Actually 
Knows
This is the one 
most owners push 
to the back. It feels 
soft. Abstract. Like 
something a bigger 
company does.
But core values are 
really just the answer 
to one question: what 
behavior do we hold 
each other to?
Four to six values. Developed 
with the team, not handed 
down to them. Specific enough 
that someone could use them 
to make a decision. And 
repeated often enough that 
every person in the building 
could say them without 
looking at a poster.
If your team can't name your 
values off the top of their 
heads, those values aren't 
shaping how work gets done. 
They're just words. The goal 
is to build a culture where 
the values are visible in how 
people treat customers, how 
they handle problems, and how 
they work with each other. If 
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE BLDGS 
30 YR POST FRAME DESIGN 
         812-595-3003 
      BOB MALCOMB, PE  
  
A STRUCTURAL ENGINEER    812-595-3003 
BOB MALCOMB, PE 
4134 QUICK CREEK ROAD 
DEPUTY, INDIANA  47230 
BOBMALCOMB1@GMAIL.COM  
BILL AFTER EACH ISSUE… 2 issues would be good 
I BUILT A POLE BARN FRAME THEN PUT UP 2X12s with chinking 
On them for the outside.  It worked great. I do not have the heat 
loss of solid logs and drywall interior.  
  
   
YOUR TOOLKIT FOR BUILDING EXCELLENCE

View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.