Ever heard of the Blue Man Group? I’m sure you have. Founded in 1987, it was formed by three close friends Chris Wink, Matt Goldman, and Phil Stanton who desired a comedic celebration of the end of the 1980s. On Manhattan’s Lower East Side, they would wear blue masks and stage creative disturbances on the city streets, which would soon become a series of small shows at downtown clubs, and eventually a full performance at Astor Place Theatre in 1991.
As their popularity grew, so did their bookings. And soon, the Blue Man Group found themselves touring the USA, International venues, and even ocean cruises. They wanted to expand, but found they could only be in 1 place at a time. So they put their heads together and voilà …the idea emerged of scripting their shows down to the absolute detail, and cast other sets of ‘blue men’ to execute the show around the country. This also had the added benefit of allowing the Founders to not tour as much, spend time with family, and focus their time on building the business.
While the official count is a well kept secret, most believe there’s between 68 – 75 Blue Man Groups at any given time. All doing the same show, the same antics, the same fun and laughter, all scripted to a tee and replicable in all venues all over the world.
What’s your Blue Man Group setting? There’s only 1 of you. Don’t you wish sometimes you could create a carbon copy of yourself so you can get more done? My wife is a stay-at-home mom and oftentimes she finds herself needing to be in 3 different places to pick up 3 different kids all at the same exact time. I’m a Financial Advisor. I have a set of clients that I provide advice to and help manage their financial situation. I’ve been in the business for 20 years and new prospects come in expecting to work with me. But I can’t do it alone, there’s not enough hours in the day to provide the service our firm does to a multitude of people that need our help.
So, what did we do? We wrote out our policies and procedures. We detailed every circumstance we could think of down to the smallest detail. We haven’t been perfect, but we’ve made progress. And as our team has grown through the casting of more Financial Advisors and operational support, so has our ability to serve a larger audience. Each team member has hit the ground running knowing our unique ways of handling things, and it’s allowed our firm to continue to provide unparalleled service while not watering it down the larger we’ve grown.
For the ‘group’ that you lead (whether a family or a business or a committee or a club), nothing can be repeated or replicated to your standard of excellence, unless that standard is written down. It’s painful to take the time to do it, but it’s worth it.
Businesses around the world have done it. That’s how Starbucks repeated it’s business in over 33,295 locations. You can get the same cup of coffee in Findlay that you can in Bahrain. By having a set of operating standards, you can provide excellent, repeatable value for people across the globe!
PS – Fun fact: The Blue Man Group was acquired by Cirque du Soleil in July of 2017.
PSS – The software we use to detail our policies and procedures is SweetProcess.
PSSS – How does my wife get to 3 different places at the same time? I call it the power of the Mom’s Club. We live in a small community, where all of us are there to help one another out. We see each other at school events, church, at the post office. It’s a good community. And there’s always another mom ready and available to help another family out when needed. And we’re there to do the same!
