Driver 8: Processes and procedures

Every business mechanism can be broken down into its driving processes and sub processes. Once you figure out what the processes driving an activity are, they can be measured, they can be quantified, and they can be vastly improved.

This occurs when you run an ad, do a sales approach, produce a product, process inventory, manufacture something, shift something, deal on the phone, handle a complaint, perform a service, or take an order. And there is massive room in that process for improvement. There are activities that can be vastly improved always! 

Most small-medium size businesses do not have any systems, procedures, or processes in place. In other circumstances they may have some procedures, but they can easily fail because there were no thought-out processes or the processes in place were not designed with the company’s vision. Why is this the case? As business magnate Henry Ford said:

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

It becomes a battle for some owners to truly embrace processes and procedures because it can feel like unproductive work, at least initially. It takes time, thought, and commitment to implement, monitor, and manage processes within business. Most business owners never find the resolve to get on with starting it. They also lack the skills (or believe they lack the skills, and therefore motivation) to do it. Just because they didn’t go to business college doesn’t mean that this is out of their reach.

But, if you can get behind the science of process improvement and implement this practice in your company, then you will be ever increasing the scalability and profitability of it. The benefits of having systems and processes in place far outweigh any drawbacks argued for investing in this kind of project. Creating an effective process takes multiple stages of planning to ensure a smooth experience for your team and clients.

Implementing processes gives you a whole new level of access and insight to your business. The insights, details, knowledge, and power that come from processes can really help you avoid the same problems from happening repeatedly, give your employees better wellbeing and motivation, and block up any revenue leaks in your daily activities.

Once you get experience with making and improving your processes, you may also want to look at processes that you have knowingly or unknowingly perfected. It could be that these are higher, far superior performing than anything, anyone else in your industry or any related industry use. Because you can take your successful processes and once you can quantify and measure them, you can sell them, license them, or joint venture their use for a share of the improved result they produce for other companies.