Have you ever stepped back from your operation and suddenly realized that some tasks, frankly, just weren’t being done, either correctly or often enough? I have. In fact, we probably all have at some point.
I first realized this, as a result of a Strategic Coach workshop exercise I completed with my business coach Dan Sullivan. It was entitled: “It worked so well, I quit doing it.” In my case, I realized that there were a few tasks that had previously been completed by a member of our Team who left. After her departure, none of us had picked up this task. For a while, it literally worked out just fine. However, we took this task for granted and simply quit doing it. Eventually, the problem with this approach surfaced, and I realized where we had gone wrong.
When we had a change of personnel, we did not train the new hire sufficiently. This often happens in business. So, what did we do?
We developed “Task Worksheets” that clearly outlined all the Key Tasks that needed to be completed on a regular basis. These were created by the person who was responsible for this task. Then, if someone left or got promoted, we had no issues with tasks being completed properly. All we had to do was refer to these worksheets, and if we had questions, we talked about them. Sometimes, this even helped us to refine our processes and make them better.
If you want to land in your industry’s top 10% for profitability or some other measure, you will need to:
- Perfect & streamline your processes, assuring that they get done, no matter what.
- Once these processes are in place, automate as many as you possibly can (feed pushing, report generation, other repetitive tasks).
- Then, when you feel you have it covered, look for more tasks that you can outline a procedure for and, if possible, try to automate them. How? Gather your Team, ask them (because they typically know best), and then experiment.
- Identify potential problems, ask what could go wrong, and then build a plan to avoid or overcome these issues. As Astro Teller of Google Works explained last month at the Abundance 360 Conference, “Celebrate learning, and celebrate the process, not just the outcome. Judge yourselves on experimentation, not outcomes.” This will result in optimal steps and more positive outcomes.
What will happen? You find new solutions, refine your processes and make continual improvement. What’s wrong with that? Nothing! Let’s celebrate at the finish line!
Let’s take your business to the Next Level!
