Business Management - Productivity/Process Improvement

A frequent objection I hear is: “It takes too long to do a checklist, so I would expect a diminishing return on the time I’ve invested!”  Over the years, our reports have PROVEN that using quality-control systems is NOT a diminishing return on investment; rather, the time and money saved is astounding, and some other benefits have been priceless!

Many small-business owners, including owners of graphic firms, think they want to retire early. I find that many, if not most, of these people have not really thought it through. There are two very important questions that must answered:

I was surprised when the systems manager of this company told me it had incurred several million-dollar errors and fines due to simple mistakes. It’s inconceivable that a company of that size would lack substantial quality controls over some of the very processes that caused the errors.

The company’s top employee is retiring very soon and the owner realizes there is NO ONE else who knows the company’s processes and how they operate like THIS person—not even the owner himself. This owner’s way of running the company was “personnel-based rather than systems-based.”

Our client, Charlie, has been systemizing his company for over two years and has seen MANY benefits and rewards, so he’s become pretty vocal about helping others overcome what seems criminal to him now in too many businesses.

If you agree that we sometimes need to find a way to reignite the flame within us that can get a little low or burn out, it may be time to attend an industry event. If you haven’t taken some time away from your business recently, I suggest you do so this fall.

Right when you’re in the middle of fulfilling a large, time-sensitive order, those all-too-familiar words ring out that send everyone into a panic—“We’re out of (this or that)!” A good inventory management system is vital to a thriving business.

“Do you have trouble keeping your desk clean!?” I asked that question at a recent conference in South Carolina, and 80 percent of the people in the room raised their hands. If EVERYTHING does not have a place, then those items without a permanent and convenient location start to break down the system.

Too often, when a job is completed—printed, finished, mailed and billed—we tend to think “it’s over.” How can a job or project be over unless we measure the results or, in some fashion, determine if the solution we provided the customer yielded the expected outcome?

We have all heard that, as managers, we should not get in the way of our staff people doing their jobs. The reality is, as a manager or owner of a small business, we find it necessary to work in the business at the same time we work on it.