What You Must Know Before Attempting To Systemise Your Business

When you are flat out, tired, and running on empty, it can be tempting to fantasise about "what if my business was like this…", or "I wish my business was like that…", or "why isn't my business like such and such", which eventually leads to "I'm sick of this, I'm going to streamline things because its unbearable!". These thought patterns are inevitable if your business is in a state of chaos.

But, there are a number of things that you absolutely must know and have in place before you get into "fix it" mode and trying and "make your business better". Without having these key foundations in place, trying to fix anything will be fruitless and it will probably just go back to the way it was before, simply because trying to fix something that doesn't have a strong foundation to begin with, results in patching up leaks, and putting on band aides when what is really needed is a total clean break from old ways, and a plaster cast put in place to align new habits and ways of working to create a solid foundation for the future.

From my experience in working with service based business owners over the years, I have seen many issues, large and small with some far out fixes that were really not doing too much but reducing the flow out of an already leaky bucket. So if you find that your business is a bit like a leaky bucket and you're tempted to throw everything at your business to get it into a bearable state, then there are 4 things you must know before you start applying quick fixes and band aides.

1. You need to understand the problems and all their associated issues thoroughly before you can fix them. Ie: one problem may have many issues, with may require several different approaches to fully address it. To get a clear understanding of a problem, I generally like to write each issue out on a single post it, so each issue can be examined on its own merit

2. Focus on one issue at a time. Select the most pressing issue that will yield the biggest results

3. Write down how the selected problem is occurring in as much detail as possible.. This will be your baseline for improvement

4. Next, you will need to determine, what kind of process you can put in place that will eliminate the problem or issue.

(a) To create a system solution for your problem determine WHAT the system or process will be called

(b) Determine what you want to happen in a perfect world, that is, your expected outcome.

(c) Work out how you would get there in terms of the steps needed to reach your expected outcome

Without taking the time to breakdown the issues associated with a problem, you may not consider the problem in its entirety. With each individual issue you can look at its cause and when you focus on the cause of an issue you generally begin to see that there is a "lack of something" that you need to address.

Focusing on the cause of the issue encourages you to shift your perspective to a more solution focused mindset, or a proactive mindset, rather than a reactive one, which is where, most often, quick fixes and band aides are applied.

So, take one issue at a time and work it through to completion before moving on to the next one. Loosing focus and trying to "solve" or "fix" too many problems at one time, without looking at the underlying issues, will mean results are slower, and the overarching problem will persist for longer.

The wrap up: streamlining your business can only be done when the proper foundations are in place. Its important to keep in mind that a systemised business is overall a net result of systemising many individual processes, by identifying underlying problems, issues and challenges and turning them into system solutions!

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com

How to Advice .com