The Foundation for Business Success

By Razelle Janice Drescher

What Does It Take to Build a Successful Business?

A common dilemma many businesses face is the recurrence of frustrations that impede smooth-running business operations day-to-day. This often results in a fire fighting mentality focused on putting out those fires. This approach to doing business is reactive rather than proactive and contributes to a stressful business culture instead of one that supports the fulfillment of the business vision in an organized, clear and deliberate way.

In a fire fighting environment, when frustrations occur, it's not uncommon to blame a person for falling short. But that mindset isn't sustainable for building a sucessful business that works to serve people's lives. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber lays out another possibility that points to a business run by systems that is not "people dependent." Find out why this perspective is so helpful...

Missing Pieces are the Clues to Improved Performance

With a systems orientation you have the opportunity to consider a proactive approach to building your business. Since I was trained in the E-Myth approach to business coaching, I know the value of establishing a foundation of soft infrastructure that sets the business up for success.

One of the best questions you can ask when a business frustration arises is "What's Missing?" A thorough investigation of that question has the potential to lead you to the missing pieces that are the root cause. Building and implementing those missing pieces are essential aspects of solving those day-to-day frustrations and ensuring that they don't keep happening.

You might ask - "But where do I start?" A good place to start is with your Business Vision. Is it in writing? Does it have the detail needed to paint a detailed picture of your 'end game'? A business vision is the place where you can share your passion about the your business and invite others to join your vision to make it happen. Describing this vision in your recruitment and hiring process creates shared expectations from the start. A lack of shared expectations creates a disconnect that can cost you time and money and often result in an unexpected parting of ways.

Once the vision is clear, the next foundation piece is the organizational strategy that you will need to fulfill the business vision. An organization chart  defines the functions needed in your business to accomplish your business goals/vision. Not all the functions are needed at first. The organization chart can serve as a roadmap to your business growth and hiring strategy based on the business vision. It is typical in small businesses that the owner wears many hats.  As the business grows, this becomes unsustainable. What often happens it that the owner becomes the glue that hold the company together. Although this can seem tp work to some degree, the owner pays a big price in terms of stress and quality of life. But there is path to a more sustainable business model. 

The organization chart can be used to plan a strategy for handing off some of those job functions as the company grows. This requires what Michael Gerber calls 'working on it,' not just working 'in' the business as the one delivering your product or service. Working 'in it' is more comfortable for many business owners but working 'on it' is essential for building a sustainable business that doesn't depend on the owner or any other individual for that matter.

A business that is people dependent is a business at risk. Working 'on it' includes strategic thinking that focuses on the big picture and ties that strategy to the day-to-day operations.. Without that kind of thinking, the danger for the business is that everyone is focused on the day-to-day 'doing' without much thought to the strategy needed to fulfill the vision. Market conditions are forever changing and strategic thinking is the focus needed to navigate current conditions and respond to them appropriately. 

A Strong Business Foundation Requires Clarity About Who Does What 

Position agreements have the potential to create clarity about an employee's role in the company, the overall result for which they are accountable, their work tasks and the standards to be met in their job. Position Agreements are the documents that solve workiplace frustrations such as duplication of work or things slipping through the cracks. There is standards section that support shared expectations and accountability.

I prefer position agreements to job descriptions as they go further to establish clarity about the overall result that the employee is accountable for and the standards to be met. Without standards, employees have to rely on their own idea about the standards of their work. Since people are so different, this doesn't always result in shared expectations

Systems are the Solution to Consistent Business Outcomes

Documenting the way work is to be done is an essential element of building a strong foundation in your business. Without systems, it is up to everyone to figure out how their work is to be done and to what standard. Since everyone is different, it would be hard to achieve consistent outcomes without the guidance that systems offer. Even if training is provided, it is unfair to expect an employee to remember a great deal of detail without having it in writing to ensure that everything will been done correctly and up to the company’s standards.

Documented systems are the key to successful onboarding of new hires. Having systems available for reference also provides long-term employees with a way to double check if they are on track. Having the ‘how to” available empowers the employee to be accountable without burdening others with many questions as they are learning. Systems include an overall result, the participants (functions, not people), action steps and standards, all of which help to keep employees on track and deliver a consistent customer experience while avoiding costly mistakes. If written systems don’t make sense in a business environment, training can also be in other forms like audio or video.

Many years ago I worked with a mortgage company. The owner was aggravated by all the mistakes that his employees kept making as they engaged in selling a mortgage to potential clients. So we documented the sales process. By the time we were finished, it had more than 80 steps. It isn’t surprising that his employees weren’t able to keep all of those details straight in their heads. Once his employees were trained in this system, the number of errors no longer was an issue.

The owner learned a valuable lesson which was that there was more to this issue than he initially thought. He was willing to point the finger at himself and realized that it was his job to provide the systems needed to get the outcomes he wanted. And if someone made a mistake, they would have what they needed to remedy the mistake by looking at the documented system and understanding where they slipped up.

A Management System Provides the Support Employees Need for Success

Many companies have managers but not all of them have a management system; a planned way to get results through the employees they manage. Having a management system includes meeting with the manager’s direct reports regularly to review what is working well and to help with the challenges that the employees encounters. This kind of relationship builds trust and encourages the employee to ask for help when they need it instead of hiding the bad news.

Often, the only time an employee gets feedback is when there is a performance review. This can be a disheartening experience. Having regular meetings with an employee’s manager is an opportunity to support the employee throughout their employment, resulting in improved overall performance. Offering recognition for things that are done well is just as important as pointing out things that need improvement and providing the needed help to ensure a better outcome.

Summary and Next Steps

In summary, a strong business foundation includes an inviting business vision, an organizational strategy that will achieve that vision, position agreements that clearly define the job functions, the systems that run the business and a management system that supports employee success.

If you would like to discover your missing pieces, call 408-884-8861 for a complimentary consultation or fill out the GAP Analysis at https://www.intentionalleaders.com. The link is on the home page.