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The Magic of Systems
If you were asked what MacDonald's sells, would you say "hamburgers, french fries and shakes?" Well, you wouldn't be entirely wrong but you might have missed the deeper, more important answer. That is they sell the operating system that makes the delivery of their food predictable.
I've always thought predictable was about as close to a boring quality as one could get. Doesn't "spontaneous" sound better to you? However, a customer craves predictability from a business. Just imagine going to your favorite restaurant for that wonderful beef stew you had last time you were there. Only, a different cook is on duty and they've cooked the stew to their recipe - not the one before. The new recipe may taste better or may taste worse. Whatever, it cannot be depended on. You as the client can't anticipate your experience.
If you've flown Southwest Airlines recently, you know that their boarding system is unique among airlines. Their counter at the boarding gate opens exactly one hour before the flight time. There are no seat assignments. The first person to the counter gets a colorful plastic tag with the number 1 . The second person gets 2, and so on. Then when boarding time comes, the first 30 are allowed to enter the plane and pick any seat they want. Then it's time for numbers 31-60 to enter the plane and so it goes. As a customer, you can depend on this system and you can play the game the way you like. It's predictable.
How do you achieve predictable delivery of your services? You do it one of two ways. If you are the owner and can be everywhere all the time your business is operating, you can manage to imprint your vision on nearly every action taken by your personnel. However, that is the hard and exhausting and almost impossible way to do it. And, it won't allow you to grow -- or retire.
The only other way, is to develop systems that assure that predictable delivery. Systems are standardized procedures that create consistent results by assuring that the same things are done the same way every time. Recipes are systems and standardized boarding procedures are systems. In fact, successful companies do the impossible (overnight delivery from San Francisco to Portland, Maine) because they have worked out the very best way to deliver their products or services consistently and systematically.
Many entrepreneurs try to avoid developing the company-owned systems by trying to hire extraordinary people who will think just like them. If that is the road you are currently on, let me speed you on your way by letting you know it is a dead end. No one thinks exactly like you or has the same vision you have. Few are extraordinary. So move on -- to systems. Here are the extraordinary benefits of systematizing:
*You'll create that critical predictability of delivery. The only uniqueness an entrepreneur can bring to the business table is their vision of the client experience and how they intend to achieve that vision. You will be a million miles ahead of your nearest competitor if you will systematize your vision.
*You, as owner, will be freed. Your eyes and ears won't be needed to make every decision. You'll have a company run by systems with those systems run by your personnel. That means you can golf on Wednesday or go sailing for three weeks.
*You'll reduce the stress of constant decision-making on everyone in your company. The gate agent at Southwest doesn't have to figure out how she will load the plane with all those passengers and get that quick turnaround Southwest needs. It's been pre-strategized and tested by the company.
*You'll prevent problems in this problem-prone industry. MacDonald's doesn't have to worry about burned french fries because they have pre-solved that problem within their systems. You won't have to worry whether the handoff from sales to production is clean and clear because you will have pre-solved that difficult area of this business.
*Systems reduce training time. They are usually written as well as verbally taught and modeled. We don't have to get a new carpenter thinking like us (which might take five years if successful), we can teach them "the way we do it here."
*One of the key benefits of systematizing is the value standardized procedures add to your company. They'll make you money while you're still the owner since you will be more efficient and have fewer errors. And they will make your company exceedingly more valuable in case of a sale. The new owner not only buys your reputation but also buys the systems that will maintain that predictability of delivery. Consider franchises. They don't sell things. They sell operating systems.
Did I really say predictable was a boring word?
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Remodelers Advantage Inc.
535 Main Street, Suite 211
Laurel, MD 20707
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