As your company expands, you may find that tasks fall through the cracks unless you start to organize how key things get done. Whether you want to admit it or not, you must develop formal business processes.
While some businesses processes have a formal implementation strategy, other simple practices can make a real difference in your personal and your team’s productivity. These practices also develop healthy habits that have a direct influence on your fiscal fitness.
If you have a recurring meeting, it’s easy to write down your tasks but forget to do them before the next meeting. You may write them down in a notebook, then not refer to the notebook until the next meeting. You might have even tried writing the task on a sticky note only to lose it. You even promised yourself you would keep the notebook front and center on your desk. Yet, you still showed up at the next meeting unprepared and your tasks incomplete.
As a business leader, you set the tone. If you’re falling short on your follow up, the same is likely happening with your team. What’s often missing is an Existence System.
An underused Existence System is your calendar. Setting up a habit to use your calendar consistently can make a significant difference.
For example, each month I meet with my Profitability Lab clients. At the end of the meeting, we identify specific challenges they commit to. Since their Labs are systematized; that is, they meet the same Monday of each month at a set time, they set a recurring meeting on their calendar to lock in the time.
When they set a challenge for themselves, they type in their challenge into the next month’s meeting description. They also set a reminder for themselves on their calendar to complete their challenge before the due date.
With this process in place, they now have a way to refer to their challenge (not relying on any lost notes), are automatically reminded of their commitment before it’s due, and follow up on their promise.
Another process you may want to try comes after attending a conference. Before attending the conference, pre-set appointment times on your calendar after the conference to follow up with contacts who requested a call. Now you have time set aside for the follow up.
When done consistently, these basic business processes solve the follow up problem. This process can be replicated for any meeting or networking event you attend to ensure consistent follow up.
Do you know someone who could use these basic business processes? Share it with them.
To explore more about business management processes and your natural wiring, attend our monthly Profitability Lab: Introduction at http://www.profitabilitylab.com
A culture of continuous improvement is essential especially for a small business that needs to run lean. Depending on your industry and the governmental or economic changes that influence it, you’ll want to build your team’s capability to powerfully navigate changes.