Put the Right People into Remarkable Business Systems!
People are your greatest asset! So why are you frustrated with poor performance, low productivity, sloppy work, excessive mistakes, wasted time and a variety of other "people" problems?
Michael Gerber, author of E-Myth Revisited, has the answer.
"YOU are the problem.
YOU have always been the problem.
YOU will always be the problem.
Until YOU change!
Mark Twain once said, 'Denial ain't just a river in Egypt!'"
YOU are the problem because you have failed to put good people into well-designed and effective business systems and processes. When you blame people, you divert attention from the real problem—the faulty business system that YOU are responsible for!
Do Your Business Systems Have These Elements?
People are the most important and expensive component in nearly all business systems and processes. To get the maximum value from your people, you must place them in the right job within a proven and effective system—a system, like in football, that includes the following elements:
- Training and Development (playbooks; whiteboard instruction; weekly practice)
- Ownership and Accountability (coach; quarterback; offensive or defensive captains)
- Teamwork (offensive team; defensive team; special teams)
- Goals and Performance Standards (first downs; goal line; points scored; total offensive yards/other game statistics)
- Measurement (first down conversions, percent of completed passes; time of possession; all game and personal statistics)
- Scoreboards and Feedback (game scoreboard; yard markers to first down; cheering/booing crowd; media coverage)
- Schedules and Deadlines (time in the huddle; quarter ending time left on the clock; timeouts)
- Reporting, Evaluation and Team Meetings (half-time meeting; team meetings during the week; coaches' meetings)
- Celebration of Victories, Recognition and Reward (end-zone dance; locker-room parties; interviews; press stories and pictures)
- Appropriate Compensation (based upon performance)
Create a Culture of Discipline
Your work environment has a great influence on your people. Weaker people can become highly productive and stronger people can lose their edge, depending on your company culture. The magic really begins to happen when the right people come together with remarkable business systems to create a culture of discipline, enthusiasm and high-performance.
Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, sums it up best.
“A culture of discipline involves a duality. On the one hand it requires people who adhere to a consistent system; yet, on the other hand, it gives people the freedom and responsibility within the framework of that system.”
If you want to have a culture of discipline, you have to begin by creating measurable systems and processes. Processes create habits and habits drive culture. Most of your people naturally want to do a good job. By creating a results-driven culture, YOU will get the best out of your people; they will perform at their peak even when you are not around. It is profoundly simple!
Of course, there are occasionally people who do not make the grade. However, if this happens too often in your company, take a look at the effectiveness of your hiring system or your training system. I guarantee that an under-performing system is responsible for every one of your business problems.
So, don't blame people any more. Instead, elevate your business systems and processes by getting my free report, "Better Systems - Better Business," and 10-Day Mini-Course, "Fast Start to Systems Thinking."
Wishing You Prosperous Times,
Ron