We tried something fun at our last marketing meeting. We took the word management and broke it into as many "other" words as possible. It was an exercise in looking at something from many angles. We came up with 22, including these 9:
a. Age
b. Gate
c. Game
d. Gem
e. Nag
f. Name
g. Negate
h. Tag
i. Team
Maybe you can come up with more. When one plays this game, it's hard not to associate some of the words symbolically with the original word and to plant some meaning into each. D.H. Robertson identifies the role of managers as, "the islands of conscious power in the ocean of unconscious cooperation." As a Business Owner, you manage the vision, mission, culture, and leadership of your organization. That's a full plate.
A lot of people mix up leadership and management. My definition of the difference is this: Leaders create a vision for the future of the organization, motivating their team through establishment of a clear vision. Of course one's style of leadership might be different from another business owner's style. For instance, you might be a task-oriented leader with the majority of your focus on work processes. Or maybe you're a people-oriented leader who makes the needs of your employees a high priority. Or you might be a combination of both. A manager controls and administers the company or different departments in the company.
Business owners need to lead, but often look at themselves as managers. Let's change that. Some say drive is what motivates them. Some say motivation is what drives them. But as business owners, we all have a common thread - a belief that what we do will make a difference, and ultimately make us a profit.
As you know, as a business owner, you must plan and forecast, organize and staff, lead and motivate, coordinate and communicate, and measure and test.
Planning involves:
a. Establishing clear goals and objectives
b. Putting strategies into place to accomplish one's goals and objectives
c. Putting strategies in practice
d. Evaluating the success or failure of the plan and making adjustments
Where a lot of business owners get hung up is in establishing the systems necessary to get more out of their business with less time and less effort. Too often business owners spend 24/7 on the job, with the belief that if they're there all the time, doing everything they can themselves to cut costs that they'll beat the odds of 80% failure within their first five years of business. But, sadly, without efficient systems in place, the business runs the business owner, rather than the other way around.
Here are 6 ways to systemize, taking the busy-ness out of business:
1. Identify Areas to Systemize
2. Develop and write the system
3. Know the 4 key areas to systemize
4. Understand the 9 steps to systemizing your business
5. Implement new systems without creating a mass panic
6. Extricate yourself from the busy-ness of business
Clearly "knowing" these six steps is helpful, but awareness is only the tip of the iceberg. Knowing how to implement the steps is the next step. Let me give you the brief version and encourage you to connect with me and our business coaches to help you actually put these necessary systems into place.
A. Organization: Would it surprise you to learn that a lot of business owners do not have their organization mapped out in terms of the general hierarchy of the firm? Certainly developing an organization chart identifies positions, and defines who each reports to. Flowcharts are part of that organizational process. What process do you have drawn up that shows what happens first, second third, etc. For instance, you may have a sales rep. To have a sales rep, you have to have either a product or service to sell. To have a product or service to sell, you have to have a customer who needs that product or service. To start, break your departments into functional areas and define what happens in each area, creating a path for your employees to follow. Involve your whole team. A team member who is very clear on expectations will get a lot more accomplished than one who has no idea what is expected, needed, or supported. Document, document, document. Many companies use documentation as a "CYA" venue, but a truly successful documentation is really for you to determine what's working and what needs adjusting.
B. Developing and Writing Systems: Once you've mastered the Organizational part of this journey, you can address actually writing the systems that will support the process. To do this, have a mindset that you are going to constantly look for ways to improve upon what you have in place.
One key thing you can start with is back activity schedules with KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). These are individual goals for each team member. These will have to be tracked and measured. For each department, define the priority of the goals. Under each goal should be a bulleted list of things that have to be done to reach that goal and what the desired outcome is. Make sure a "Plan B" is thought through in the even things don't go as planned.
C. The Key Areas to Systemize are:
a. Team and Training/Education
b. Delivery and Distribution
c. Testing and Measuring
d. Systems and Technology
In a nutshell, business owners can't expect their teams to know how to do what they want without proper training in place. And not going paperless is holding you back. Learn how to use that computer, if you've been avoiding it, and automate systems as much as possible. Make sure you have a backup system and regularly back up everything, in the event of a blackout.
Monitor what you're currently doing so that you can determine whether it's working and changes that are needed. Test and measure everything! Keep accurate monthly and yearly budgets, and track and measure what and who is working and what and who aren't.
Make sure your equipment is in top condition and upgrade to newer systems. I know some business owners who are working on dinosaurs - equipment that's so old they no longer make parts for it! Keep up with what's happening in the technical world and re-system as your company grows. Make sure your security systems can survive a major catastrophe and be sure to regularly back up and safely store vital information.
The 9 Steps to Systemizing Your Business:
1. Vision Statement
2. Mission Statement
3. Culture Statement
4. Goals
5. Organizational Chart
6. Contracts
7. KPIs
8. How-To Manuals
9. Document Milestones
This gives you a guideline on where you need to concentrate your efforts. Communication, obviously, is the key, and maybe changing your "gotta be everything to everyone, including everything to my business" attitude needs a little adjusting. To do that, do these simple things to help you put systems into place to allow you to work on, rather than in, your business:
a. Create an inviting environment
b. Accept input from your team and keep an open mind
c. Offer feedback often, keeping everyone up-to-date with developments
d. Give your team responsibilities that are valuable to the business and that make your team feel worthy
e. Delegate! What are you doing that you can delegate to a team member?
f. Trust in the systems you've set up and the dream team you've hired
I hope these tips have been helpful, but I also hope that you know you are not alone in all of this. Something as important as your business-you baby, your ship, your life- cannot be taken lightly, and no one can do all this on his or her own. That's where we come in. A business coach can help you put systems in place, hire the dream team you deserve, and celebrate your increased profit with you, as you enjoy that vacation you've finally been able to take, or time to do things you have had to put off.
So, in closing, I leave you with this word: Organizational, and the challenge for you to find as many words contained in that one word as possible. Organization is the initial key to your ultimate success. I personally find it interesting that both "Train" and "Goal" are found in the word organizational. Can you beat 15 words? Hard without an "e", but let me know how you do.
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For advice and proven systems to advance your business, visit ActionCOACH Cal Team at http://www.actioncoachcalteam.com/ and http://actioncalteamblog.com/ Master Licensee Peter Williamson, peterwilliamson@actioncoach.com, overseas overseas the California Coaches and helps business owners like you find instant and lasting solutions to increase your profits by 61% or more - guaranteed.
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