Managers manage systems, systems manage your employees.

I know…systems are boring… stupid…. unnecessary ….no one does it anyways, know one will follow the systems even if I tried to install them, what’s the point.

I hear it whenever I bring the subject up, when I ask for the systems book, and get a blank stare as if I was speaking in a foreign language. I hear it mostly from small business owners who need help, who are unprofitable and are crashing during this downturn. Maybe if they had a system book and used systems, maybe if they managed by systems they would not need the help required to support their turnaround and workout during this downturn, or even during a runaway market.

Here is the deal: Smart managers have systems installed and written in a systems book. The systems manage the process, the employee activity, the manager manages the systems. This works. Its sustainable. It supports transitions, training, and yes success.

What kind of systems? Everything imaginable. For example in finance dept. there should be a system for handling and depositing receipts, reconciling purchase orders, making financial reports, inventory controls, and on it goes.

Sales and marketing should be controlled by carefully designed systems which control the salespeople’s activities such as cold calls, customer support, mistakes and complaints, activity reports, sales records, call reports, returns, order processing, account review, product reviews, to start with, the list is endless depending upon the type of business you have and the systems required to run the business smoothly, uniformly and effectively.

Operations needs systems to outline production techniques, service systems, inventory flow, quality assurances, machinery maintenance and on it goes.

How does your business operate if you are not in control of what people are doing? The answer is the employees make it up! They guess what is best and with a little help from co-worker, they invent the process. They do it the way they think it should be done, not the way you want it done. Thus your finance department is controlled by what your manager and staff think is the best way to do it, and when employees leave and new ones come on aboard, its made up again, differently, based on the new employees biases and experience. Same with sales and operations, if there are no written systems, everyone does it as they think they should.

Is this the way you ant your business to operate? Then you need a systems manual. A series of how to do it explanations. All the procedures that everyone takes for granted. A training manual of sorts, The way you want your business run. Consistently, no matter who is working, no matter who your employees are at the time. This is how to lay down a foundation for success.

There is no reason to make the same mistakes over and over. In fact the systems manual should be reviewed periodically to improve and address changing conditions. It may be boring, but it is critical for success.

Create the book now, you will be surprised to learn how everyone has a different perception of how the job should be done. In fact you may be amazed at what is actually being done and how different it may be then what you expect and thought was occurring.