There are five steps that every business owner needs to run a successful business; the problem being that the first two are very well-known. The first and second step have saturated the market so much that many business owners think that's all they have to do. They often start with the first step and finish with the second step. Then, they send out an email to congratulate everyone, pat themselves on the back, and move on.
However, you need all five steps to be successful, and most people will never get to step three, four or five. By following all of these steps, you can determine the best way to improve at every opportunity that comes your way, involve your team members appropriately, and hold them all accountable when things don't go as planned.
So, what are these five steps? They are brought to you by Michael J. Bickert.
The first step is to identify the opportunity. This is something that should be done regularly. Just because a certain tool or plan or strategy works well doesn't mean it can't be improved. Think about how you are managing your staff, how well your sales team is performing, how seamlessly your communication works among different department heads. Is there room for improvement? Is there an opportunity to increase sales during your peak season or to make communication easier and faster among staff members with fewer complications?
Each of these can qualify as an opportunity for improvement. This chance for growth and development can take place anywhere, in any department, at any time. And don't limit yourself by identifying an opportunity once and then assuming everything is fine, never looking in the same place for those opportunities again. Think of this as a lifestyle change; it is something you have to do from here on out.
Once you have identified the opportunity or the challenge that your company needs to overcome, you need to employ the Toyota method for developing your improvement strategy. The Toyota method effectively states that you need to involve those people who are, or will be, affected by the change. Ensure that you have the department heads involved in the process of finding a solution for communication problems. They know better than anyone what the issues are and what needs to be fixed. They will understand when right solution has been found. This type of personnel involvement gives those individuals ownership in the decision and its outcome. Employees now have a vested interest in making sure the solution is actually achieved, and the improvement was made because they were a part of the planning process.
Identifying the challenge and creating a strategy for improvement is where most business owners stop. This is the most time-intensive step and requires the most effort as well. Most people assume that once they have found a problem and devised a solution, they have succeeded in business, but there are still many more steps to true success.
We always want to think about our employees. However, when it comes to truly implementing a plan of improvement or a solution, you need to assume that your team will absolutely fail.
Don't assume just one person or two people will fail. Assume that every person will miraculously fail simultaneously. Plan on employees being out of town, taking off work for an illness, a death in the family, or just simply dropping the ball.
Why does this matter? Because if you assume they won’t do what they are responsible for, you can move on to step four.
When you are implementing a solution, you need to have a Fail-Safe. Most businesses, because they stopped at steps one and two, never think about what to do in a situation where half the team is out of the office or the technology being used stops functioning, or the third party company that was hired suddenly doesn't work. And this is where many business owners fail. They find the problem, they put together the team and come up with a solution, but then, as soon as something goes wrong, they don't know what to do to get things going again.
Technology or people can be used here. You can use managers to be the Fail-Safe that alerts you to situations when something isn't done, when a milestone in your overall solution hasn't been met, or when someone isn't pulling their weight. You can also use technology. Workflow automation or database tools can send you alerts when things aren't working the way they should, when certain goals haven't been met, or specific tasks haven't been completed.
Following step four leads right into the fifth and final step, which your Fail-Safe should alert you to when someone doesn't do what is expected of them. This process allows you to hold them accountable. Every team member must be culpable to ensure your problems and their subsequent solutions are actually achieved.
Identifying the problem and coming up with the solution seems like it should be the end of the process, but it's absolutely not. The end only comes when everything has been fixed, and the problem has been dealt with. The only way to truly achieve this level of success is to ensure you know when things aren't working, to have a plan in place for when that happens, and to hold your people accountable.
Following all five of the steps and not leaving out a single one will lead you down the path to business success while your competitors are stuck in a circle of steps one and two, never reaching true success.