3 Powerful Questions to Transform your Business

Many people I speak to can see the benefits of a systemised business. ‘Look at McDonald’s; look at Amazon,’ they say, ‘every really successful business is systemised, absolutely…there’s no getting away from it.’

But when it comes down to their own business you can see them coming out in a rash. The thought of systemising their business is just too overwhelming…

’I don’t have time’

‘I can’t afford it’

‘Systems are just a luxury’

I’ve heard them all.

The reality is that we all already have systems in our business; we all do things! But if the way we do things is not simple, logical and repeatable then we are wasting time and money and not achieving what every Customer (and every business owner) wants – consistency!  We’re spending time checking, correcting, complaining, working in our business not on it.

What I’m saying is that we have a choice, either:

a. do things haphazardly, with each team member doing things their way, reinventing the wheel every time a task is done, little being done the way you want it to be or

b. do every task in your business, in a simple, logical, repeatable way.

For me it’s a no brainer.

The question is not, ‘Can I afford to systemise my business?’ but ‘Can I afford not to?’

And the reality is, it’s really not the huge, overwhelming, expensive task you think it is.

You decide you’re going to do it, you start small, with your most routine, every day tasks and you ask three key questions:

1. ‘Is this task simple?’ 

Could anyone walking in off the street, (if it’s a basic task), or with the necessary technical knowledge (if it’s a specialist task) follow the steps to complete it?

2. ‘Is this task logical?’ 

Does the way we do it make sense? Can I answer the question, ‘why do we do it this way?’

3. ‘Is this task repeatable?’ 

Can it be done in the same way every time? Can I train people to do it this way?

A good system is simply a uniform and consistent way of doing things that makes your life easier.  If a system doesn’t make life easier – for you, your team, or your customer, then it’s the wrong system.

There aren’t five different ways to cook fries at McDonald’s; there is one way. There aren’t seven different ways to open up the restaurant and get everything set up for the day, there is one way. Everybody at McDonald’s at every level, knows ‘the way we do things around here’ and everything that is done, is simple, logical and repeatable.

Contrary to what they might tell you, McDonald’s franchisees have a great life. They have freedom to choose when they’ll work and when they won’t; when they’ll go to the golf course, or on holiday, or simply stay in bed. They have that freedom because their business has systems, because everybody that works in their business knows exactly the way things work, so they can trust their team to perform consistently every single day.

Freedom, Trust and Consistency – business nirvana!

And the only difference between them and you, is that they have effective systems.

So what are you going to do about it?

Do one thing: Draw a line in the sand and take small simple steps towards a more consistent and profitable business:

• make a list of your routine, daily, weekly and monthly tasks
• make a plan to take just one of those tasks each week and ask yourself if it’s simple, logical and repeatable as outlined above
• then make it so. Involve your team to make this an even more powerful exercise

Do that every week, and you’ll have 52 systems in your business this time next year! 

Thanks for reading.