Process is not a dirty word

If you’re like me, when you go to do your Christmas Shopping, it’s a bit like a military operation.You know what you want, where you’re going to get it, where you’re going to have a coffee, and how long you want it to take.

Of course when you get there, you get distracted…maybe by your other half or a friend who drags you into a shop you weren’t planning to go into…maybe by all the shiny objects around you…or maybe you have lunch instead of that quick coffee, with a glass of wine, or two…

As a result, you spend more money that you planned, it took longer than you planned and you’ve bought more shiny objects than you’d planned…usually for yourself!

You may well have enjoyed the expedition, but you’ve spent more time and energy than you wanted to…and you still have to get those presents.

It’s a bit like running your business!

Nobody gets excited by ‘process and systems’…in fact if I say the words I usually see people’s eyes glaze over.  …and you’ll probably stop reading about now!

But the truth is, most of us run our lives in a systematic way…we do things in the same way every day…we have a process for many of the things we do from the route we take to the office, to which sock we put on first. And we fine tune those systems to be as simple, as logical and as energy efficient as possible.We look to make things easier for ourselves.

The only reason to have a system is to make life easier.

Bizarrely though, we don’t always take the same thought process into our business.In fact, rather than simplifying the way things are done, we add complication, make things more difficult, and waste time, energy and money by the bucketload.

You do already have processes and systems in your business…you may know them simply as ‘the way we do things around here’. The truth is though, that if you are feeling overwhelmed by everything you have to get done, if you don’t trust your people and feel the need to check up on them, if you are indispensable in your business…then you haven’t taken the time to make these systems as simple, logical and energy efficient as possible.

As a former mentor so politely put it, ‘If things are crap in your business, it’s because you have crap systems!’.

So, if December is a quiet month for you, use the breathing space to think about what is working in your business, and what isn’t.

Think about what frustrates you most, what takes longer than it should, what causes your team most problems, which area of your business is not achieving the results you expect.

Think about the areas of your business that are the biggest priority for you, and look at how logical your processes and procedures are in these areas.

Have you added in unnecessary steps?

Are you making your team, or your customers, jump through hoops to get from A to B?

Do you have silly rules or policies that just get in the way of your team doing a good job for you?

Get conscious about the systems you have in your business (and life generally), work out how you could simplify them and make them more logical, and set yourself up for an easier life in 2015.

…If you want simple, logical processes inyour business…if you get the What and want to know more about the How…then do pick up a copy of my bookProcess to Profit which shares a lot of info about setting up the systems you’ll need…or, if you don’t have time to read a book, please give me a call on 0203 189 1707, or drop me a line, and I’d be happy to talk through some options with you.

For more information on how MPL can help you visit www.mariannepage.co.uk or contact me on hello@mariannepage.co.uk