Solopreneurs, start-ups and even small enterprises sometimes take pride in flying by the seat of their pants. They believe that eschewing structured systems, policies, procedures and processes enables them to stay agile, flexible and opportunistic.
They couldn’t be more wrong. Systems are vital for all businesses – large and small.
Integrated systems ensure that all functions of your business including sales, customer service, follow-up, service delivery, accounts payable and direct outreach are all aligned.
With integrated, interconnected systems, tasks merge in a logical way and activities come together toward a common goal.
Systems allow people to be aligned around a single purpose instead of focusing on individual tasks in isolation. This helps ensure that the entire organization is in sync, delivering a consistent message, brand and experience to customers.
What’s more, well-defined processes are key to doing things better, faster, more consistently and more efficiently, as well as to pinpoint when and where things may go wrong.
Systems can prevent you from over-promising or underestimating and they can help keep you focused on your top customers and most lucrative business.
Organizational systems, policies and processes should be:
- Aligned to your goals and strategies
- Responsive to changing conditions
- Documented and communicated to your customers
- Open to scrutiny and modification
Keep in mind that systems are not goals but only ways to achieve goals, so they may need to bend and flex as circumstances change or new opportunities arise. Moreover, you always need to be on the lookout for ways to streamline, strengthen, simplify or automate your processes.
For more than 20 years, Sue has worked with leaders from solopreneurs to executives in Fortune 100 companies.