July 10, 2014- ISSN# 1545-2646
Strength in Systems
Today’s questions are – Do you have business systems and secondly – do you (your business) actually follow them?
As I go to various businesses and talk with their leaders, I tend to get feedback like – yes we have systems, procedures, processes and policies and yes people follow them.
All good statements until we start to dig into how the business actually is operating. Some of the businesses do in fact have very good business systems and they do get followed. To many unfortunately have paper systems but they are not used to conduct the business at hand. When asked about why this or that system is not followed the list of reasons start to flow. It is almost like every item the business touches is an anomaly and therefore requires a unique way of handling it.
This article is not about nit picking systems but more about the integrity of the systems put in place to run the business. Without good systems in place and holding the business accountable to the workflow then chaos begins to rule the business. It happens gradually but eventually the business systems once thought were being used/followed are just remnants of business systems gone away.
I have been to a business where the owner trying to prove the business systems are in place and working well. He starts to ask one of the employees about a particular situation and the answer is very different from what the systems would have delivered. Embarrassed we moved along quickly to another part of the business.
This week, pull out those business systems/procedures and dust them off. When written they had the best of intentions to be the backbone of building your business. Over time they have become less tangible on a day in and day out basis. Some of them might need refinement as the business has changed – new technology etc. Others may simply need to be put back into place where they have drifted away. Make sure your team knows the importance of a system and why it is in place. Sometimes people drift away from following a system because they don’t understand the the downstream impact.
In a future article we will discuss putting in place measurements for your systems so you can tell when they have gone astray.
Wondering if your systems are being used and delivering the best they can? Give JKL Associates a call at (313) 527-7945
Questions or comments – email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Office at (313) 527-7945
Copyright – JKL Associates 2014
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