Building a culture that promotes the building of business structures and systems in your business is one of the keys to running a successful business, especially for a startup with not so solid business experience.
As an entrepreneur, the best way you might have a chance of claiming back your life while building a successful business is to set up effective business processes, systems, and structures.
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What Are Business Systems And Business Structures?
A business system is a methodical procedure or process that is used as a delivery mechanism for providing specific goods or services to customers. While a business structure is the organization framework legally recognized in a particular jurisdiction for conducting commercial activities, such as sole-proprietorship, partnership, and corporation – BusinessDictionary
Does Your Business Truly Need A Business System And Structure To Succeed?
Have you ever been to a library? Now, imagine that you are in a library with over one hundred thousand hardcopy books and over five million e-books. How do you suppose the library would operate without a system to catalog and automate the rental and return processes associated with gaining access to books in the library?
An effective business system breaks your tasks into smaller functional units; and then automates such processes for efficiency and effectiveness.
Fortunately, there are lots of softwares out there that aid building business systems through process-identification and automation. Setting up an effective business system is not an easy feat, but if achieved, can help see your business grow as expected.
4 Important Reasons Why Your Business Needs Business Systems and Structure?
Here are some reasons for putting business systems and structures in place for your business:
- Delivering Consistent Performance:
A well implemented business system and structure is designed to give you efficient, effectiveness, and scalable results, whether from the point of operational safety, quality, or timeliness.
A sound business system will provide you with repeatable results that enable long term planning. The long and short of it is that a good business system gives you a “reliable process to prevent and fix your mess when they happen”.
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- Exceeding Customer’s Expectations:
Having business systems in place affords you the opportunity to measure, analyse, and test variants of different possible needs of your customers. You will be able to see areas where improvements are needed in your product development, service delivery, and meet other needs that are unmet. With systems in place, the brand perception the community has for your business will grow, as predictability is usually associated with stability.
Suggested Reading – When It Comes To Customer Service – Don’t Be Good, Be Outstanding.
- Optimal Employee Engagement:
The objective of any system is to enable employees to complete their jobs effectively, eliminating the need for excessive handholding or babysitting. It also seeks to input their ideas and creativity into your standardized operations to avoid having lone rangers who only know how to get the work done, while their colleagues run around in circles. A business does not need ‘lone stars’; you need teammates¾those we are willing to work with others to produce shared victories. Another employee benefit here is that systems allow you to quickly integrate new hires and enable them to hit the ground running with a clear view of how they fit into your organization, what their job roles are, and what is expected of them.
- Reduce Operational Costs and Increase Profits:
A well-optimized system reduces operational costs without having to use uncharted approaches that may reduce the quality of your outcomes. Again, when your people are not spending time moving around in circles, they are able to deliver results faster, which means more work gets to be done in less time.
Here Is How Business Systems Help Businesses Scale.
To highlight and put the importance of systems in proper perspective, let us imagine that you have a talent for cooking and everyone in the circle knows you as the best cook in town. Then you decide to set up a business made up of you alone. At some point, you would need to hire people and find a way to duplicate yourself.
While these people may not have your knack for cooking, you must put down your processes for each dish in such clear and easy to follow manner that they are able to run the business for you, giving your dishes predictable and consistent tastes.
It would be much easier to get such a system to run and scale beyond you to any levels you aspire, even if you were to run your restaurant in all major cities in Nigeria. You see, this can only happen if you embrace business systems and begin to see your business beyond yourself.
A system breaks down your businesses into unit tasks with standardized and verifiable outcomes at the end of each job. Then it helps to connect all the interrelated processes that are required to work in sync towards achieving a business goal.
If you genuinely want to thrive in the world of entrepreneurship, the systems and processes are indispensable building blocks for your business. All facets of your operations, on the storefront, factory, and office administration can be added as part of your system. Your system, once set up, can be analyzed and optimized for efficiency.
The truth is, building business-systems is annoying, not as fun as regular startup topics like raising capital, product launch, or media appearances. When we think about systems and structures, we get the notion of a machine with multiple moving parts, very complex operations working in sync! However, when we think of our business, we do not yet see it as that complex. There is no difference.
Sometimes, when working in sectors that you are very proficient at or passionate about, you could say things, like: I could do it in my sleep. Well, nice. I bet that you could! However, let us imagine that you received a mail to travel out of your country for about three months, what would be the fate of your business?
Systems and processes are indispensable building blocks for your business if you truly want to thrive in the world of entrepreneurship. All facets of your operations, on the storefront, factory, or even office administration can be added as part of your system which you can manage using exact principles that optimize efficiency.
This is particularly so because of our peculiarity to business, our family ties, culture, etc that makes it hard to separate business from the owners.
I stumbled into entrepreneurship from my resolve to be more economically productive than my parents. I wanted a life similar to most 6 figure earning Americans I see on television, travelling around the world on first-class flights with the waiters at my beck and call.
I envisioned that to be economically stable, I needed to do something different from my parents. I needed to start my own business rather than work a nine to five on someone else’s business. I knew that I must set up multiple steady streams of high income to live the life I desired.
Similarly, for most people, starting a business is often motivated by their craving for an above-average lifestyle. Some of these people only seek blissful freedom believed to come from being bosses.
In reality, however, only a handful of entrepreneurs get to live such lifestyles. The most dedicated entrepreneurs are often enslaved and are at the mercy of the businesses they set up, expecting to free up time.
Such systems once set up, take away the number one impediments to entrepreneurial success – YOU. Functional structures and processes around your business help the business function without you having to scream your lungs out, and living reclusively.
Unfortunately, most business owners, especially in Nigeria, hardly talk about putting the right systems and structures in place. Instead, they proudly recount with nostalgia how they hardly sleep and how everything would collapse if they ever took a day off work.
The truth is, building business systems is boring, not as sexy as normal startup topics like funding raising, product launch, or media appearances. When we think about systems, we get the notion of a machine with multiple moving parts, very complex operations working in sync! But when we think of our business, we do not yet see it to be that complex. There is no difference.
But let us imagine that something happens: for example, you have to take a sudden important trip out of the country, or you got hit by a bus (remember the bus test?) and are confined for treatment in an ICU.
The big question is: What would be the fate of your business?
For the entrepreneur with well-developed systems, it is just a matter of someone stepping in immediately or giving a run-through of how the system works, and a reasonably qualified person replaces us at our task without the business losing a beat.
With too much to do and little time to get things done, you may just stretch yourself until you burst at the seams and you heave under the burden of burnout, or until your business suffers from the effect of too many things going wrong.
As I said before, the solution to a problem like this is the right business system.
Four Simple Steps To Create Effective Business Systems That Helps Free Up Time.
Learn to delegate.
The biggest challenge most startup founders have is the willingness to let go and leave the operational activities of their business in the hands of others. To grow your business, you must train your staff and be confident in them enough to transfer critical processes to them for implementation them to implement. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMicro-managing every detail puts you in the way of your business growth. However, with systems and the right structures in place, your employees become accountable, and you can free up time enough to focus on growing the business.
Setup Processes and Automate Where Necessary
Try to seek out repeated tasks that follow the same path every time they are implemented. What if there are processes that you can adopt, simple tech tools that can allow them to run without you always having to be present?
There are many companies in Nigeria that offer process automation as services. Take time out to research the ones that fit into your business and be willing to give them a try.
Develop Process Manuals or SOPs:
A standard business system consists of the following items: Training materials, Standard Operations Procedures, Worksheets, Sample completed orders, Documented troubleshooting steps, workflow charts, and any other resource that may be needed to render efficient customer service.
For example, process checklists are essential to ensure that output remains consistent and predictable. Airlines, for instance, use checklists to complete takeoffs and landing, regardless of the experience of the pilot.
Doctors use checklists too in carrying out routine surgeries, regardless of their experience. It is a known fact that a simple checklist can boost efficiency and maintain safety by more than 40%.
What can a 40% boost in efficiency do for your business? Think about it.
Hire Trustworthy and Competent Employees:
Of course, you cannot possibly automate all processes in your business. There would always be some complicated situations that require someone to make bold decisions on how the process should flow.
Because of this, it is crucial to accommodate for some process flexibility in your system by hiring the right people so that you can trust them to get the work done right. Line of sight decision making is the name I have for that.
Typically, you are aware of the lapses of your system, but you trust your team to make the right decision on a case-by-case basis. For example, a client calls and insists that a job that was supposed to take a week to deliver, should be submitted in two days.
Your people should be able to know how to work around your system to arrive at a decision that aligns with your business goals. Systems are meant to show the way, not rob your team of initiative or creativity.
Create a bi-directional training flow.
If you are to trust the initiative of your employee to do things right without you shadow hovering behind their backs, it is important that effective training is given to them not just on how things are done but also on why they are done that way.
This will empower your team to question your processes and weed out inefficiencies and redundancies from your workflow. If you want a process that gives result, it should to open to critique from the people that use that process in their day-to-day work.
And when process inefficiencies are identified, find a way to appreciate the staff who suggested the change. He just saved you money, so be generous. This will encourage others to have their creative juices flowing as they run process checks at work, and before long, you will have lean processes that run like clockwork.
Measure the efficiency of your systems:
If you want your system to be successful, you need to build a feedback mechanism into it. This will make it easier to see when things are going as planned, and where there is a need for optimization, you make room for that.
You could also set a process for reviewing feedbacks, and the duration between each feedback review. As your business continues to scale, these structured feedback loops will improve the focus of your system and enable it to deliver consistent results.
Your system does not need to be perfect, yet:
Some business owners feel that before they document a system, that they have to wait until they have a perfect one. The truth is, if you do not have a documented process, you cannot improve it in the real sense of the word. So, leave a margin for error and create your system by the way.
It is not so strange that in business, as in life, things don’t always go as intended. When you have errors in your system, the important thing is to build the learnings into the system to ensure that the same error doesn’t occur twice.
When your team is able to optimize the system in this manner while things are in production, it improves their confidence and helps them further take ownership of the system.
The biggest businesses in the world are run with systems. If you want your business to outlast you, then build systems into your processes, measure, and track what works. Also learn to eliminate inefficiencies, hire the right people, and leave your system as a blueprint in their hands for implementation while you ensure control is installed.
If your business will journey towards sustainable success, your system is the map.
Tools:
- Right leadership
- Experienced Employees
- Right Cashflow
Materials: Right leadership Experienced Employees Right Cashflow
4 Important Reasons Your Business Needs Systems
- Exceeding Customer’s Expectations:
Having business systems in place affords you the opportunity to measure, analyze, and test variants of different possible needs of your customers. You will be able to see areas where improvements are needed in your product development, service delivery, and meet other needs that are unmet. With systems in place, the brand perception the community has for your business will grow, as predictability is usually associated with stability.
- Delivering Consistent Performance:
A business system well implemented is designed to give you efficient, effectiveness, and scalable results, whether from the point of operational safety, quality, or timeliness. A good business system will provide you with repeatable results that enable long term planning. The long and short of it is that a good business system gives you a “reliable process to fix your mess”.
- Optimal Employee Engagement:
The objective of any system is to enable employees to complete their jobs effectively, eliminating the need for excessive handholding or babysitting. It also seeks to input their ideas and creativity into your standardized operations to avoid having lone rangers who only know how to get the work done, while their colleagues run around in circles.
A business does not need ‘lone stars’; you need teammates¾those we are willing to work with others to produce shared victories. Another employee benefit here is that systems allow you to quickly integrate new hires and enable them to hit the ground running with a clear view of how they fit into your organization, what their job roles are, and what is expected of them.
- Reduce Operational Costs and Increase Profits:
A well-optimized system reduces operational costs without having to use uncharted approaches that may reduce the quality of your outcomes. Again, when your people are not spending time moving around in circles, they are able to deliver results faster, which means more work gets to be done in less time.
If your business will journey towards sustainable success, your system is the map.
Impediments to Building Systems And Structures In Your Business
Often, the success or failure of an enterprise depends on the entrepreneur’s mindset than any other external factor.
Here are the 2 ways an entrepreneur’s mindset could be an impediment to the success of their ventures, and how to avoid them:
1. Perfectionism
According to Wikipedia, perfectionism drives people to attempt to achieve unattainable ideals or unrealistic goals, often leading to depression and low self-esteem.
For entrepreneurs, practice doesn’t always make perfect; action does. You must learn how to take the plunge, you simply cannot wait until you have 100 percent of the resources you need before you dive into the ocean.
When I wanted to start ExpertsNg, I remember thinking that I was coming late to the party, there are thousands of bloggers in Nigeria at the moment with new ones coming into my niche daily.
I told myself that I needed to get things done right, I needed to write at least 50 blog posts, rank on Google for a few keywords and have some guest bloggers before I could launch my site.
In reality, by the time my plan was done being “perfect”, there would have been about 50 to 100 more sites that would have launched and I would have to contend with eventually.
The most important thing for an entrepreneur is to achieve set goals, unfortunately, perfectionism stands in the way, the earlier an entrepreneur learns to start with whatever is handy and at whatever level, the faster their chances at success.
2. Anxiety
Your decision to be an entrepreneur passes through fire as gold is validated by fire from the time you consider being an entrepreneur.
Whenever I hear that word entrepreneurship, what readily comes to my mind is a picture of a mouse decked in helmet trying to get a piece of cheese from a mousetrap. The mouse is not scared of being mauled by the trap, instead focuses only on the goal – A mouthful of delicious cheese.
Besides, entrepreneurs must overcome the fear of failure and focus on the goal. Not giving in to fear of failure or rejection was the secret to my success as an entrepreneur.
Let me have your opinion on this article in the comment section below, thank you.
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This article has broad my scope regarding tailoring work and how to adopt a system that work for your business as a entrepreneur. I’m enlightened now. Thanks.
Great write up. Keep it up.
very insightful.. thanks for this write up