Hey, y’all! Brent Perry with Business on Purpose.

In the 2014 NBA draft, with the 3rd overall selection, the Philadelphia 76ers drafted big man Joel Embiid. 

At the time of the draft, the 76ers had come off a season with 19 wins and 63 losses with a ranking of 14th in the eastern conference… making them one of the worst teams in the league at that point. 

In a courtside, interview with Embiid the following year he had a response that would quickly become the rallying cry for the city of Philadelphia. He was asked by a reporter if he had anything to add to the interview and Embiid, with a smile on his face looking directly at the camera, replied “trust the process”. 

It became everything for this fanbase. Shirts, posters at games, hats, social media… it was everywhere. Trust the process. 

But what many fans didn’t realize, this wasn’t the first time these words had been used. It’s been documented that the coaching staff would tell the players before everything… coming straight down from the ownership of the team… trust the process. 

Since the 2014 season, here is how the 76ers have fared in the NBA…

2014 - 18 wins 64 losses - 14th in the eastern conference

2015 - 10 wins 72 losses - 15th in the eastern conference

2016 - 28 wins 54 losses - 14th in the eastern conference

2017 - 52 wins 30 losses - 3rd in the eastern conference

2018 - 51 wins 31 losses - 3rd in the eastern conference

2019 - 43 wins 30 losses - 3rd in the eastern conference

2020 - 49 wins 23 losses - 1st in the eastern conference

2021 - currently at 38 wins and 23 losses sitting 3rd in the eastern conference

From one of the last place teams in the NBA, to being a top 10 team in the NBA for the last 5 years. Simply because they trusted the process. 

It didn’t happen overnight, and it has come with it’s ups and downs, but the improvement this organization has seen has definitely been noticed in the sports world and beyond. They built a process, and then all stacked hands to trust in that process. 

My question to you today, what process or processes are you trusting in your business? And maybe the first question to ask is, have you built any processes that can be trusted? 

The good news is that it is never too late to start. 

As owners and key leaders, most of the time “building a process” simply means getting some of the knowledge and information out of your head and written down. You probably have the processes all thought through and detailed out, but it’s time to get it written down.

Sales processes, administrative, operations, marketing, team and culture… all processes can be documented. 

An easy place to start… next time you are working through a process, record it. Simple as that. Or take 30 minutes in your schedule each week to work on creating processes that will further your team and your business this year. 

We’ve been saying this year can be a year of flourishing for your business, and getting processes documented will be a great step along the way.

Thanks for listening. 

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