Photo Credit: Lööv; Unsplash
Every busy leader wants to increase productivity or at least sustain productivity, including me!
So, how do we do it?
I'm sure you have heard this phrase before from many people on your journey to figure out how to scale your business or organization.
"There is NO silver bullet when it comes to business results."
While I have been the first to agree with this statement in the past, after years of searching and testing I believe that there is a "silver bullet" to business success.
Now, before you read any further. You need to know that the solution I'm about to give you is NOT an "over night" or "out of the box" solution.
It will take time, dedication, an open mind, and a willingness to change for it to work.
However, if you have what it takes to change then this solution WILL work!
Are you ready?
Drum roll please....
What you and every business needs is an Operations Management System (OMS).
Ok, so I know what you are thinking.
Are you kidding me? That's nothing new!
My response to you is, you are exactly right! As it says in Ecclesiastes 1:9,
"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."
Now, before you stop reading here is where the guarantee comes in with this solution, EXECUTION.
Ask yourself this question.
What if I had a customized OMS that was fully aligned with my Vision & Mission for the company and I had great buy-in from my employees to execute the OMS every day?
What do you think your organization could accomplish?
It's not hard to see that this would increase productivity!
The only question left to answer is, how much would it increase?
This will vary depending on the level of commitment that you as the leader has, the amount of buy-in from your organization and your industry.
But this doesn't change the fact that you WILL grow.
Here is my simple formula that will create your customized OMS that WILL get results.
Vision + People + Processes = Productivity
Vision
First, you need a compelling vision for your company that people will want to work for and work hard for.
People don't like to give the majority of their time to a job that doesn't mean anything or that doesn't give them purpose and motivation in life.
Proverbs 29:18a says,
"Where there is no vision, the people perish."
People
It's not enough to just have a compelling vision. If you stop here then you WILL fail.
Why?
Because people need to be developed or they will become confused, frustrated and bored.
As a former college baseball coach I understand the need for player development.
If you just recruit talent but don't develop the talent then the player does not reach their full potential and the team doesn't either.
In addition, if the player is any kind of competitor then they will look for a program that can and WILL develop them.
The program that is willing and able to do this will help their players reach their full potential and the team will be better for it.
The same goes for business.
If you don't develop your people then they will leave and you will lose.
Processes
Once you set the vision, are intentionally & consistently developing your people now comes the fun part.
Processes!
I know, I know, it doesn't sound like very much fun.
However, the fun part comes when you start to see your people take ownership of the processes in the organization.
They become "owners" instead of "clock punchers" and they create rock solid processes that increases productivity!
Productivity
The last step of implementing a customized OMS that gets results is to sustain productivity.
Now that you have great people running amazing processes you can start scaling the organization.
However, just before you think that your work is done as a leader hold on just a second.
The productivity will produce time and money margin to scale your business. However increased productivity will also bring new challenges that you will have to tackle.
For example:
This is where your job as the leader changes from reactive to proactive activities.
At this point your challenge as the leader of the company is to do three proactive activities really well:
Inspire your people by keeping the vision in front of them consistently and creatively.
Empower your people to take ownership and become leaders in their circles of influence.
Provide for your people by stewarding your organization's funds well, so that you can give them the tools they need to succeed in the short term and the long term.
I'll leave you with this quote from George Washington Carver
"Learn to do the common things uncommonly well."
If you can learn to do the common thing of implementing an OMS uncommonly well, then you WILL exponentially change your company's future FOREVER.