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From Purpose To Systems

Do you find that in your business, even if you employ people, you are doing many of the important things yourself? Do you find it hard to find time for yourself because you’re always needed in the business because nobody else can do what you do? Do you find that you can’t scale (grow) your business because there’s only one reliable you?

When I started my business I knew that the only way it would survive was if I built it to grow. That meant it had to be scalable, allowing me to employ others or use contractors, but I had to be able to rely on them. So I started my business with built-in systems and they have been powerful in allowing me to provide my clients with predictable, quality services every single time.

On the other hand, I have also consulted to other businesses which had systems. Only they were not capable of consistently applying them and their systems became forgotten or filed into a manual somewhere – a “Standard Operating Procedure” file that was never standard and had trouble operating.

Why?

The difference is between systems and effective systems.

Effective systems are not just a set of to-do procedures, but rather a set of procedures that are based on why the business exists. Each step in every procedure can be explained in terms of what the ultimate objective of the business is.

If one of the steps in the procedure about incoming mail is to “register incoming mail in the mail register noting sender, recipient and time delivered” then everyone must know why that procedure is there. It’s not just about writing things down in a register, it’s about valuing correspondence from customers so ensuring they don’t get lost’ it is about valuing customers so that we can track that they receive satisfaction within a reasonable time. These reasons can be further traced to the business purpose of “serving customers as if they were our best friends”.

Before you start writing down procedures and designing your system, make sure the design fits the purpose of your business.

In this video training, I explain why it is important to start from the Purpose, defining the Purpose, and then designing systems that fulfil that Purpose.

 

 

 

To summarise:

  1. Make sure you have described the Purpose of your business;
  2. Write your systems based on ensuring that everything you do is aligned to fulfilling your business Purpose;
  3. Write them as step by step procedures with an opening paragraph about why these procedures are important to fulfilling the Purpose of the business;
  4. Document them in writing;
  5. Introduce them one at a time, ensuring that everyone knows what their responsibilities are and why;
  6. Start a weekly huddle to discuss them and improve them – always with a focus on the Purpose;
  7. Conduct an annual review – again focused on fulfilling the Purpose.

Implement systems and your business will become more organised.

Implement effective systems based on fulfilling the Purpose of your business and your business becomes scalable. No more having to repeat instructions.

If you want to know more about how to grow your business then go over to teikoh.com to see all the valuable resources you can use, and register for these free video lessons to be sent directly to you every week.

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