I’ve noticed a pattern recently. In meeting with several leadership teams for the first time, I always ask the questions, “What do you want from your business? What’s your big goal?” And lately I’ve heard the same answer from business owners at three different businesses: “I want a business that can run itself. I want to be on vacation for a month and have no one notice!”
But how can you build a business that runs itself when your company has hit the ceiling?
The autopilot can be an aviator’s BEST friend. It’s precise, alleviates workload, and provides good peace of mind. All positive factors, but if the pilot isn’t careful, it could lead to big trouble!
Over the last 11 years I have had my business, Nexus, I have probably said this phrase, “Good people in a bad system look like bad people” 300 times (if you are one of my big math people that is just about once every two weeks). The impetus of the saying goes back to the first year of Nexus when I was working with a local client.
I’m a bit of a nature lover so for my weekly “Clarity Break,” I wake up early on Sunday mornings and walk in nature. One of my favorite things to do is to be peaceful and observe the proven processes of how nature works. It’s disciplined, has a rhythm, it is repeatable and scalable.
Whether or not you play or follow golf, you may have heard that last weekend Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy won The Open Championship (British Open) and was declared “Champion Golfer of the Year”. At age 25, he is the third youngest to ever win 3 out of 4 of golf’s modern “major” championships. What you may not have heard were the two key words – “process” and “spot” – that he credited for his victory. You may also not imagine how the principles behind these words can apply to your business.
Are you satisfied that your customers consistently receive great products and services from your company? Is value dependent on who is delivering it or how it’s being delivered? Both are important, but without a written process that is followed by all, people will deliver value their way which is often not your way nor the best way.
