BLOG: On The Level

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Why are operational systems so important? Systems are the only way business owners can take the information and expectations out of their heads and effectively pass them on to employees. Without operational systems, your business will constantly be dependent on you to make every decision, to inspect all work, and to be responsible for ensuring proper execution and methods. This responsibility and workload will ultimately decrease your quality of life and limit the growth and success of your business.

If you ever hope to have a normal work-life balance and have a successful company, you need three critical components – good people, good operational systems and a culture that embraces change.

People:

The first thing to focus on is people. Great companies are made of great people. There are five important things you need to look for in the people you hire:

1.       Core values that match the company’s

2.       Self-motivated and dependable

3.       A capacity to excel

4.       Dedication to company goals

5.       You’d hire them again

Processes:

If you have processes and systems in place, and you train your people to use those processes and systems effectively, you have a business that runs itself at maximum efficiency. With the right processes and training in place, your people will be more responsible and more accountable.  Without systems in place, each employee makes decisions independently.  Their decisions don’t necessarily align with the company’s goals, the company’s culture, the customer’s expectations, or their co-workers expectations.  The result?  You’ll be constantly fixing problems related to employee decisions that were made without enough information.

Culture:

Worried about change? Don’t be. Change creates the opportunity for growth. Once you’ve begun to establish a company culture, change will be the new norm because you’ll be constantly working on improving and upgrading your systems and people.

Read the entire article at http://www.lmnblog.com/lmn/2011/planning-for-success-with-standardized-operational-systems/

Cat is proud to be a partner with Landscape Management Network (LMN). LMN offers members the tools and the training to build accurate budgets, create profitable pricing strategies, and to link estimation and pricing directly to their budgets. For more information, go to www.landscapemanagementnetwork.com.