Best Practice lead to Good business
It is of the utmost importance in today’s fast paced environment to understand what business practices are most important to achieve a high level of success. There are a couple of standouts I find are most closely tied to successful, high growing with good profit rate companies
Make sure your company’s purpose and vision is clear
Businesses that communicate their purpose and vision clearly to their employees, customers and partners—are more likely to experience higher levels of success. We do find that we can assume everybody understands and strives towards a common goal and vision, unfortunately as with the old saying “assumption is the mother of all misunderstandings”, this can be exactly where business fall short. A successful business tie their vision or purpose to actual goals and quite often reward their employees for duties or goals that over achieve.
A good operating rhythm
Death by meeting is something businesses should be very aware of and I think all of us have been in that situation at some time or another. Quick to the point meetings that include all levels of business greatly assist to establish a good organisational rhythm. Make a point that these meetings include communicating key performance metrics and other data, as well as a discussion on what’s not working. This rhythm allows employees and management to react more quickly to issues and implement corrective measures.
Encourage thinking outside the square
High-performing individuals and companies that have successfully created innovative ideas to circumvent or overcome organisational restraints should be encouraged to share their ideas so new patterns can be established across all levels of the organization. Staff should be well rewarded and compensated when they generate and implement improvements.
Follow the recipe
Make sure key processes and steps are well-defined and documented, and that there is a clear understanding of how value is delivered to the customer. This provides a collective knowledge across all levels of the business, and it helps everyone see where value is added and waste exists. Most successful companies use standards to control variability within the work place. By effectively documenting how the work is done and regularly auditing work to ensure standards are consistently used, business owners can confirm that the variability in output is minimized, allowing the organization to run more smoothly. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel unless there is a possible innovation to be achieved.
Communication is key
All business run into issues at some stage or another that affect their clients. How staff communicate with clients is the key to great customer service. Sometimes fixing the issue but keeping the client in the dark is worse than not fixing the issue but keeping the client informed every step of the way.
I have found that the survival of one’s business is directly related to the overall health of that business, and that the most important lesson is the journey, not the destination. Building a business is never easy, and building a world-class business is even harder. By applying the above stand-outs in my company, I hope to build a successful future for my business,
As always I will end with a favourite quote: “If it really was a no–brainer to make it on your own in business there’d be millions of no–brained, harebrained, and otherwise dubiously brained individuals quitting their day jobs and hanging out their own shingles. Nobody would be left to round out the workforce and execute the business plan.” – Bill Rancic
