By Howard Partridge
Over the last two months I shared why systems are critical to your business. This month, I want to introduce you to the five vital components of a system. If you understand and apply the following components, you can systematize just about anything. These five systems components have been proven to work for any type of business or organization.
- The Mission
Your company’s mission is the unique experience you are delivering every day. For example, the mission of my service company is “to provide the most outstanding service experience ever”. The mission of my training company is “to help small business owners stop being a slave to their business”.
- Policies
Policies are the guidelines that help us carry out the mission. Policies are to clarify expectations on conduct issues, dress code, etc. A good example of a set of policies is what would be in your Employee Handbook.
Be sure that your policies complement your mission rather than compete with it. For instance, if your mission is to provide the most outstanding service experience ever, don’t make policies that are going to frustrate your clients.
- Procedures
Procedures are “how” each task is done. Each item that is on a person’s job description should be written down step-by-step. This way, everyone in that position does it the same way insuring that the mission is carried out every time.
- Organizational Chart
Owning your own business can be overwhelming because of the number of “hats” you have to wear. Someone not only has to do the technical work of the business but someone has to market, someone has to go on sales calls, someone has to do the bookkeeping, someone has to order supplies, someone has to fix the equipment, and the list goes on.
If you are a larger company and you have people actually doing some of these things, you are most likely overwhelmed as you try to manage them and end up being involved in many things that you don’t want to be involved in (and probably shouldn’t be).
An organizational chart for most companies looks like this:
No wonder you’re overwhelmed! You’re in every box! Although this picture reveals why you are overwhelmed (and it can be quite depressing), here’s the good news – once you understand the five areas of business and the three levels of leadership plus you can see the different parts of your business and begin to develop policies and procedures for each area and assign them to someone other than yourself (assuming they are the right person for the position, that you train them properly, and they have the right attitude), you’re on your way to a more predictable, profitable, turnkey operation!
- These are the five areas of business you need to understand: Leadership – everything you do to lead your company Marketing – everything you do to attract prospects to your business Sales – everything you do to convert prospects into paying customers Operations – everything you do to serve your customers, clients, patients, guests, or members Administration – everything you do to track your stats
- These are the three levels of leadership you need to understand:
- Directing – planning your business, developing your vision of what it should look like and where you are going
- Managing – supervising what happens every day and making corrections and improvements and protecting the assets of the company
- Doing – someone has to implement the work in each area
- Position Results Descriptions
Once you’ve determined what positions you are going to fulfill in the business, you need to fill in the other boxes. Position Descriptions or Job Descriptions is the next component. Position Descriptions outline each of the roles and the duties required to fulfill that position.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Howard Partridge, President of Phenomenal Products, Inc., is the author of 7 Secrets of a Phenomenal L.I.F.E. and 5 Secrets of a Phenomenal Business. You can contact Howard by phone at 281-634-0404 or visit his website at www.HowardPartridge.com.
