When you think of your business as a system, you can see that it is a collection of activities working towards a common goal, an organization of individual elements working as a unit. The effectiveness of your business is measured outcome of these activities.
Each system within your business needs to have a purpose
Systems will run most effectively when they align with the achievement of your Strategic Objective. You can more successfully meet your goals when you seek to continuously improve the efficiency or productivity of your systems. If you can reduce or eliminate problems, your system will automatically improve.
Start with accurate business systems information
How do you know your systems are working? What information is currently monitored in your business and how accessible are the results? Information is the central nervous system of your business. It provides feedback on nearly every aspect of your business, it can show whether you are actually making progress or it just seems that way. Effective business leaders use organized accessible information to make intelligent, independent and immediate decisions.
Four ways to reduce inefficiency in your business systems:
Reduce idle time
Look for gaps in your system. Must one task be put on hold while it waits for another task to be completed?
Tip: Analyze each step of your process to determine where equipment is not fully utilized.
Reduce travel time
Any time something or someone has to move from one place to another, time, energy and money are wasted. Can a more efficient route be planned?
Tip: An overlooked source of wasted travel time may exist right inside your own facility.
Reduce correction
Correction occurs when errors are found through an inspection check. The error must then be corrected, drastically reducing the efficiency of the system that produced the error.
Tip: Consider building in mechanisms to ensure that your system is followed completely.
Reduce complexity
You can dramatically reduce errors due to confusion by simplifying your system.
Tip: Test complexity by trying to explain your system to someone who doesn’t already know it.
Successful Businesses Think in Systems
Your business is a complex series of moving parts and elements. With the right information you can increase the efficiency of these elements by aiming these systems to address your strategic objective and reduce idle time, travel time, correction and complexity. Wardell can analyze your business system efficiency for free with our Business Strength Test.