image:iloveclothes.com
culled from:businessinsider.com
A common challenge facing business owners is getting control of the daily mayhem in their organization. I constantly hear complaints about how everyone spends their day fighting fires and ending up exhausted after a long day with little (if any) sense of accomplishment. The result is low profits, low morale, stagnate sales growth and overall poor business performance.
When asked why so much time is spent fighting fires the exasperated owner responds with “because my staff makes so many mistakes. I don’t know why, it’s just common sense.” Herein lies the problem. When left to their own devise employees will complete tasks based on their own biases, experience (or lack of) and perceptions. The result is that tasks are not carried out in a way that is consistent with the owner’s wishes, details falling through the cracks and the mayhem begins.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. It is possible to dramatically improve business performance with the right leadership and systems in place. Implement the following three strategies and you will transform your business from chaos to a well oiled machine in no time.
Understand That You are Not The Business. Many businesses were started by someone who had specific skills or proprietary knowledge. This will carry a business to a certain point but there is a time that the success of a business is no longer dependent on the owner’s knowledge but on their ability to Hire, Train and Motivated great people. How much time do you spend doing these three essential tasks?
Develop a Strategic Plan. Does your team start their day with a clear understanding of what they need to achieve? Do they (or you) understand the direction you company is heading? Having a clear roadmap of where your company is going provides a sense of purpose to everyone in the organization allowing them to make better decision on how to spend their time and resources.
Have a Documented System for Everything. In most cases the lack of systems is the main cause of disorganization. Without the right checks and balances in place key details can fall through cracks only to be noticed when it is too late. Develop systems for all areas of your business and train your team on how to operate them. The Systems will run your company freeing you up to spend more time on productive and high value tasks such as strategizing and measuring and monitoring your business.
