We’re well into our way this year. Goals are inevitable. Whether you develop your goals now, or you develop them in June or November, you’ll have them down on paper in some manner (I hope – that’s what we preach here – “documentation”). Out of curiosity, have you realized the impact “systems” have on your day-to-day life? Not just your business life, but your personal life too? Did you consider developing systems in your goals for 2012?
We’ve been in business for 2-years now, and it’s been a little hectic at times. At the end of 2011 I had to make some cut backs in both clientele and staff, which wasn’t pleasant. Yes, even I – the person of systems and positive-like-OCD – had to endure the havoc and chaos from growing pains, and all because I didn’t take enough time in the beginning to develop “my” systems. I spend countless hour developing other’s systems, but I hadn’t taken the time to develop mine.
Developing Systems
Today is the day to think of your business as a “machine”. A coffee pot, (for a lame example), is a machine. There’s a system to making the coffee, but even after you press that start button, there’s a subsystem that starts. Each mechanical piece of the coffee pot then follows a specific set of steps that ultimately brews that cup-o-joe. We identify that as a system and a subsystem. Your day-to-day life and your day-to-day business is the same concept.
Another example: you wake up > you shower > you have breakfast > you have your coffee > you go to work > you go to lunch > you come home > you eat dinner > you watch TV > and you go to bed. That’s a system. It’s a simple system, but it’s a system.
What happens if you break each of those systems down into subsystems? You wake up > you shut off the alarm > you make the bed > you pick out your clothes > you walk to the shower.
Some of those subsystems may have another subsystem as well. You pick out your clothes > closet items > dresser items > jewelry > shoe rack.
Sounds finicky, right? It is – and it’s meant to be. It’s just the process of systems though. It’s only now when you break down the process into these lucid steps that you bring awareness to all the many gears you require to maintain and operate a process – or rather – a “machine”.
I know those are random examples, obviously we’re talking business here – not a coffee pot, and clean socks, however, if you take that example and use it in union with your business you’ll discover the same pattern exists. For example: Accounting > Accounts Payable > Vendors > Invoices > Checks > Reconciliation.
It’s this vision that discloses the “invisible sphere”. It’s the invisible sphere a project manager or a successful business owner needs to see clearly before they can implement secure systems. When you break the steps up, you can find the holes, the areas that need improving, and the best plan of action required to complete the process efficiently. You can also implement a preventive systems process more accurately, but we’ll get into preventive systems later.
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