Growing Your Business Without Hiring Anyone New
Growing your Business without Hiring Anyone New
Yesterday we talked about Strategy, Today we’ll talk about Efficiency, and Tomorrow we’ll talk Viabillity
Part Two: Efficiency
· Systems, Processes, and Standardized Procedures. When these are not in place, or inadequate or outdated, your organization is wasting so much time. The average worker spends up to 20% of their time looking for things and re-doing things they’ve already done, about 30% of their time responding to emails and incoming “stuff”, and if you factor in anything for disengagement (the US average is around 2 hours per day lost to disengagement), 75% of your day is already gone before you start. Now think of interruptions, overwhelm or confusion, and the fact that a negative event will trigger checmicals in your body that remain in your body for an average of 4 hours……okaym, you get my drift. We are simply not performing at our best here! To state it more mildly, there is room for improvement.
Just imagine if you could stop duplicating repetitive tasks, know where everything is, have everyone else know where everything is, always have the lastest version of what you need, and feel in control of your emotions and time……..and so on.
I just discovered a system I love, it’s so simple even I can use it, and affordable . This system has all my processes, templates, systems, scripts, collateral material, etc…. and is dynamic, so when I change anything, my virtual assistant can pull out the document and know it’s the latest version, and I don’t have to remember where I filed the 15 versions of my fee schedule, etc. Thank God for cloud computing! It solves all the problems I used to have with using a VA and any outsourced tasks done by others (such as my newsletter). it allows collaboration and ease, saving hours and hours of time every month.
I’m sure there are others out there. My favorite is: http://go.businessdesigncorp.com/demo_user/MentalIron You are welcome to check it out, there is a video and info on how it works. Whatever you do, just use something. And make sure it’s dynamic, so you don’t have to change systems as your company grows and/or changes.
So, to recap, organize your work flow using adequate systems; something simple yet complete.
· Performance Management. Here is another place that if you have employees you can really be more efficient. Use some kind of systemized, regular process for your direct reports to be able to monitor what they are doing. Many years ago, I was maanging a sales company, and also having to sell. I tracked my time and figured out I was spending 80% of my time nmanging others, which derived 20% of my income, and only 20% of my time selling, which derived 80% of my income. I’m not a rocket scientist, but I can do math. that was a great lesson for me early on in business. Back then, I didn’t have the systems and processes for managing perfomance priorities, and it sucked up most of my time. Now I use a very simple, affordable program through TTI to make sure my team is on track to meet the goals they set each week, and it reduces face time, and catches performance issues quickly! www.TTIAssessments.com
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Self Management You probably don’t need to be reminded to batch your phone calls and the time you respond to emails. You probably have a schedule you use to keep you on task, but just in case you don’t use a schedule, to stay disciplined, you need to start. There’s an important distinction between your appointment book and your schedule. Your schedule is more like your rules of engagement and blocks of time that you prioritize to actually get things done. A great resource for setting up systems of self-management is the book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen
Tomorrow we will look at Part 3: Viability.
Tags: Behavioral assessments, business growth, executive coaching, performance management, processes, standardized, systems, Time Management
