Want To Find What Really Works In Small Business?

Many small business people who say they are really keen to have a management system start in the wrong place and start writing madly and making changes before assessing their problems and even all that they actually do. This simply makes their life complicated

They are making changes in their business and want to do this first….

WRONG -

This is the very best way to make your life complicated

And this is because putting in a management system properly is all about planning first then building your system AFTER you really understand what you really want so that you can keep it simple.

If you are realistic you know that your staff won't bother to look up lots of paperwork - They just want to do the job then they tick and flick your long forms.

I've got two true stories from my clients last week that I want to share with you because they totally reveal the right and wrong way to go about systems

But first let me explain why most people do systems wrong.

The big problem is lack of understanding. Like most people, you probably think that quality systems are two inch thick manuals which gather dust on shelves.

And you think their only purpose is to get the ISO ticks of approval so you can go after bigger tenders or keep regulators happy.

You probably find it hard to believe this can possibly save you time and reduce your workload. You simply don't believe me when I tell you that you absolutely do NOT need an extra staff person to manage your system.

A quality system that is implemeneted properly not only takes less time and money to develop but it also becomes an important part of your business culture. It shows you how to develop staff so they become more responsible and more flexible to cope with any problems that come up. AND it is a slimline working system that does not gather dust.

This means your business will be far more profitable. Your staff take more responsibility, your customer service improves dramatically and even more importantly you will be able to demonstrate your new found ability to deliver on larger contracts. This is what a sustianable business is about.

A key person left business A and they wanted to restructure their business. They very sensibly decided to combine this with implementing their fully integrated management system and it is really working.

They started by identifying what the business really does and where there were risks with the result that they were able to realistically decide what personnel they really needed and they have ended up with a very different structure than they had before and a much happier and more productive workforce who are turning into a very tight team.

By implementing those resources that they really need in their business, they are managing their risks and have absolutely minimised their paper work and become far more efficient at the same time.

They have booked their external audit and they are very happy with the entire process which has been surprising rapid - only just over two months.

Business B had been implementing their system for around two years on their They are lovely people and have put heaps of work into this but have no overall plan for their system and no risk analysis.

They have written a huge folder full of policies and for each policy there is a procedure and a form or record - often 4 documents for each issue. They called in an auditing body who told them that they did not have a system and were nowhere near certification. They have a pile of documents.

When they had put in all that effort it wa totally dissapointing but they have turned this around now and are getting on track.

Too much paper plus old fashioned ideas that came out of the military last century are what give quality assurance systems a bad name. It is totally unnecessary!

If you have a policy, why do you also need a procedure? One document will do!

AND please check whether you really need either before writing anything. A lot of your "house rules" can be combined into a straightforward induction.

Why waste any more of your time and effort?


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Jean Cannon has spent the last 11 years actively helping small to medium businesses worldwide save costs, increase efficiency and employee loyalty and become a truly sustainable business. For more information go to http://www.enviroaction.com.au and grab Jean's three top tips to simply and easily create a plan to run the business you want to run and receive a free CD and DVD