Business Systems Blog

Can I get an “instant win” from systems?

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:00:00 GMT

Simple answer: Yes. Let’s look at how this could work.

Ben owns a successful business in the construction field. The business has grown and has developed a niche which it markets well. There was very little in the way of formal systems in place, however, and Ben was keenly aware of the demands on his time to keep the business humming along. His days were way longer than they should have been, and there were too many occasions when he would call Cheryl to say that he’d be staying back to finish a tender that was Blog Postsdue for submission the next day…

In the Discovery stage of his systems project, we tallied the hours that Ben spends each week working on tenders, and that number was unsupportable if Ben were to achieve his goal of spending less time in his business.

The solution we designed for Ben gave him back 10 to 15 hours every week! Even valuing Ben’s time at only $100 per hour that amounts to over $50,000 per year.

Here’s what we did. By defining what makes a successful tender – one that was worth going for – we came up with a scoring sheet that would allow one of Ben’s team to perform ‘triage’ on the available tenders. In effect, this means conducting a quick assessment of the tender against the criteria set out on the scoring sheet and placing the tender in one of three piles:

Tenders that meet the criteria;
Tenders that don’t meet the criteria; and
Tenders that might/might not meet the criteria.

What does this mean in terms of saved time and effort for Ben? After implementing the tender scoring process, Ben only needs to look over the tenders on the third pile, to decide whether or not to place the questionable tenders on the first pile or the second. There’s absolutely no value in him looking through the other piles, as the decision was based on the criteria that he had set.

Are there similar examples in your business? We find ‘instant’ fixes for most clients we work with. No, they aren’t all as noteworthy as Ben’s, but even half an hour saved each week adds up to 3 days over a year.

The easiest way to explore the value that you could get out of systems in your business is to have one of our consultants visit you for a no-obligation assessment. In the time it’d take to have a cup of coffee you’d have a good idea of the cost that not having good systems is costing you right now. Why not give us a call?

1300 799 330

What value do you place on an Operations Manual?

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:00:00 GMT

We’re across the table from the owner of the business. We ask him if he’d be happy to show us his operations manual.

Typically, we get one of three responses. It could be, “Maryanne, could you get the Operations Manual, please? It’s the blue folder on top of the filing cabinet.” Or maybe, “Yeah, I think it’s around here somewhere, but it’s probably out of date now.” Mostly we get something like, “We don’t have anything formally written down, but everyone knows what to do.”

So where do you fit? How much value do you place on your operations manual? Do you actually have one? Michael Gerber (author of The E-Myth) recently published his observation that only 19% of businesses have a functional operations manual, so maybe you’re part of the manual-free majority - maybe you don’t need one…

Before I start sounding cynical, here’s how I see the benefits of having, using and maintaining an operations manual. Underlying what I say here is the belief that people want to do the right thing.

	I always do what I think is right. I work hard to get it right.	There’s no operations manual, no systems to help me.	Even though I try, I sometimes make mistakes simply because I don’t know how to perform my tasks. They expect me to know how to do things after showing me once.
	I always do what I think is right. I work hard to get it right.	We have all our systems set out in an operations manual that is kept up to date.	By using the manual, I’m able to complete any task that’s required of me. Some of my suggestions have been used to improve the manual. We know we can rely on it.

A well-written operations manual will record the one best way of doing it for each of the tasks that make the business function. It gives a voice to all the collected wisdom and experience that makes your business thrive. By using it as a guide, your team will be able to perform to the best of their abilities. By managing through your operations manual (instead of in spite of it) you will achieve the potential you know exists in your business. You will truly have a system for running your business, so you won’t need to rely so heavily on expertise, key people or good luck.

Is it worth talking to Brain in a Box about your Operations Manual? It couldn’t hurt…

The Value of Checklists

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:00:00 GMT

I recently listened to a very interesting Harvard Business IdeaCast by Atul Gawande on the preventive power of a well thought-out checklist. (Using Checklists to Prevent Failure). The author uses a couple of examples to illustrate how a good checklist can help us non-experts deal with an unexpected situation or, and this is where I see huge value, provide competence beyond what anyone could reasonably expect to achieve through training.

Tasks that would typically only be performed by ‘experts’ now become do-able by a non-expert equipped with a checklist. This is pretty much what Michael Gerber says (have a look at p101 of the E-Myth Revisited where he explains how systems allow an ordinary person to do extraordinary things).

Gawande moves on to talk about his team’s use of the checklist in an operating theatre, both as a pre-op planning tool and as a post-op check-off to make sure that all those swabs and things that went in also came out.

So how do we rate the humble checklist? Put very simply, they’re an essential tool for any systemised business. Checklists (a Prop in the Brain in a Box 4 P’s methodology), is one of a range of tools that you can use to streamline a process and minimise inefficiency. What a checklist won’t do (as Gawande also mentions) is to instruct the user on how to complete a task. That’s the role of Process and Procedure. And a checklist isn’t giving you any help with the Policy that backs up the process, either.

So while there’s always going to be a role for checklists in every systemised business, our experience is that you’ll need all of the 4 P’s (Policy, Process, Procedure and Props) working in harmony to have a ‘system’ that guides, instructs and monitors performance in your business.

How does this fit with what you’re doing in your business right now? Should you be more focused on helping your team to do what you want them to do by building strong systems?

New Year's Resolution

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:00:00 GMT

It’s probably sunk in by now that the Christmas break you were so looking forward to just a few short weeks ago has pretty well finished. Your thoughts are drifting towards being back at work and making 2010 a great year.

I’d like to interrupt with a small suggestion, however. Don’t go back and do what you did last year. I know it would be easier, more comfortable, to do this, but don’t.

Now is the best opportunity to look at your business from a different perspective, to fine tune it and start the new year the right way, rather than the easy way. Direct some of that post-holiday energy to making your business work the way you know it should. And since systems – the process and procedure stuff - is what makes every business work, why not focus on your business systems...

Your first steps could be as easy as:

Making that one troublesome business process ‘trouble-free’ by agreeing on ‘the one best way’ to do it

Identifying where the problems usually occur in your business (so you can work out how to manage them)

‘Tighten’ some of those loose rules (your policies) that allow mistakes to occur

Creating a prop (a checklist, template, form, guide, etc) that will help your team do the right thing

If taking one of these easy steps won’t do the job, however, your business systems might need a lot more than a quick touch-up. Have you considered getting help to get your business running smoothly and efficiently?

And if you’re not sure whether it’s all worth the effort, why not check out what your business inefficiency is costing you right now! You might be surprised.

Cases Orders

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:00:00 GMT

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