Establishing some foundational principles for self governance and accountability is a key trait of high performers in life and business. Here, Thomas Bresse - CEO of distributor BeMSP and long-time business leader, discusses a system that has worked for him.
Years ago, I was introduced to the four Toltec Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, and I have always found them very useful in my personal life. It can really help to take some distance in certain situation and have a better mindset and be less stressed in your daily life. But all those principles can be used in the business world, and I think they are even more useful in that context.
You can read many books on how to be successful in business, but it’s often a few key ideas that can make a difference. That’s really what I like about the four agreements, they are simple and easy to apply at a business level. They offer very good guidelines on just how to be a better and do what’s right for the company, your employees and you customers.
So, let’s dive into them and see how they apply to the MSP world.
Agreement 1: Be Impeccable with Your Word
Communication is a major part of our lives and the ways we interact with others is very important. This agreement emphasizes the importance of clear and honest communication. You can sometimes regret having said something, but that’s even more true in the world of digital communication. We all know that a badly written email can have a strong reaction on the recipient. Always have in mind how what you are communicating can be understood. Is the context complete? Do you clearly say what you are expecting? Can it hurt the person?
That's a lot of questions to ask, but thinking twice before pressing the send button will help you.
One area where this is predominant for an MSP is the service desk interactions with end-users, if you are asking someone to take some actions, are you clear enough so that the user can manage to do it by themself? Are you using too many technical words that makes your reply hard to understand?
This also applies to internet communication, if you ask help for escalation, do you provide the full context to your colleague so that they can be efficient in their reply or do you just pass on the ticket to get rid of it.
MSPs must strive to convey information accurately, avoiding misunderstandings and misinterpretations.
Agreement 2: Don’t Take Anything Personally
When you get critiques and feedback, our first reaction is to take it personally. But those critiques belong to the one that is giving them, not the one receiving. It’s maybe something that comes from their own experience and how they react to situations. You can always try to please everybody, but you can’t and that’s ok. This agreement is about not taking this burden but see it for a higher point of view.
In the business world, you often mix the people and the company. So, when someone complains to you about something in the company, you can take it personally. But that’s not directed to you directly but to the business.
MSP are all about avoiding problems and solving any issue that could arise. Let’s face it, when you interact with customers, it’s often because they have an issue. And often they want it fixed ASAP and blame you it happened. When you are in the first line, dealing with those interactions all day long can be hard. So, if someone didn’t go as planned, that usually not your personal fault. But someone may have malfunction in the company, maybe a process can be improved, or a proactive action can be taken to avoid the same issue twice.
MSPs should recognize that feedback is not a reflection of their self-worth but an opportunity for growth and improvement.
Agreement 3: Avoid Making Assumptions
That’s probably one of my favorite agreements that I often summarize as “Never Assume”. I believe it’s probably a strong limiter in your ability to grow a business. I often talk to business owner making the switch from Break-fix to MSP. You can often hear “my customer doesn’t want to pay a subscription for my services” or “they will never pay that amount of money”. That’s just assumptions and those assumptions are just blocking you from moving forward. And what usually happens is that a competitor will walk in and steal your customer with a more expensive subscription than what they are paying with you.
Another area where we can use the agreement is making assumptions that a problem is fixed. The classic “customer didn’t get back to us, so… it must be fixed”. Well not always, so when you have a doubt, don’t make assumptions and just verify if that’s correct or not. It is crucial to seek clarification and verify information before making decisions. Clarity and verification are essential for effective problem-solving.
Agreement 4: Always Do Your Best
You can’t regret anything if you did your best. You can’t predict what will happen, but one thing you can do is to do your best every day. That’s the one thing that is in your own hand. Striving for excellence is a core principle in MSP operations. MSPs should continuously improve their skills, processes, and service delivery to meet or exceed client expectations.
Cyber threats are all over the place, so ask yourself this question “Am I doing my best to protect my customers? What could I improve?”. Maybe that implies adding new tools and processes that cost money, doing your best is at least telling your customer what could be done to secure them more efficiently. Because the day they will be breached and ransomed, you did your best on your side.
Remember that these agreements provide valuable guidance for maintaining professionalism and effectiveness in the MSP industry. The Toltec Agreements offer actionable principles that extend beyond personal life and into the business world. These simple yet powerful guidelines can enhance our approach to work, benefiting both your MSP and its employees.
The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz is available at Amazon.