Systems hold the key to every money that your business seeks. This is so because systems-centred businesses always get higher multiples and sustainable profits.
All problems that you experience in your business are largely caused by poorly performing systems or lack of them. For instance, poor recruiting systems will lead to staffing issues and all the problems that come with hiring the wrong fit.
The only way to fix them is by deliberately creating the right systems that will make your enterprise run seamlessly.
Create a system-dependent business
No business can experience growth without systems. Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American philosopher taught, “A good system shortens the road to the goals.” What are the systems that your business needs for growth? Can you list them?
The practical process for creating systems is to start from the most important ones like cash flow, sales/marketing, operations/administrations, and people management systems. Remember, systems development is a bit like eating a cow – you have to do it one bite at a time.
In setting up systems, create an action plan detailing who is doing what by when, and how. When properly created, systems allow team members to focus on areas where they can add the most value. Whatever you do, do not isolate your key people while developing the systems.
Get them involved. Why? People support what they help to create.
Develop a system-thinking mindset
System building begins with system thinking. As you know, you can’t create or build what you haven’t thought about. You must first think it to create it. This is a universal law.
System thinking is a way of thinking and viewing things and their functionalities from a broad perspective, to identify their needs and address them. With system thinking, it is easy to resolve problems and allows for real enterprise development. The goal of system thinking is to improve problem-solving by learning, understanding, and communication.
Your team needs to develop a systems-thinking mindset. First, you should keep thinking about your business and what happens in it as a collection of systems. This mindset changes everything.
The more you focus on systemizing the key recurring activities that happen within your organisation, the more valuable it will become. (I discussed in detail system building and system thinking in my books, “On Becoming An Entrepreneur”, and “Getting Set For Business”).
Keep your systems simple
After creating the relevant systems, ensure you keep it simple. Simplicity is the highest form of sophistication. With simplicity, you can maintain the momentum that sustains your results.
Does your team know where to look when they encounter a problem? When creating any system, let it be specific, clear, and detailed enough to allow the process to be followed without any gaps or ambiquities.
When done well, simple systems will help you to unlock the creative process inherent within your organization.
They also create space, and space opens doors to creativity, inspiration, and opportunity.
You will be limited by the systems you fail to create. You wouldn’t know how important a system is to your enterprise until you start experiencing recurring business hiccups that keep setting you back. Why not give your enterprise the growth it needs with the right systems?
Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist, and the author of BUSINESS SENSE, and ON BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR. He maintains a personal blog, where he shares proven business ideas and principles for SMEs.
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