As a successful business owner, if you were what is your least favorite task in the daily running of your operation, what would first come to mind?
If you were the head of a small performance-based enterprise you might say it was firing an employee.
If you were a restaurant owner,perhaps having to clean the restrooms is high on your list of dreaded activities.
Many retailers may be thinking at this moment, it has to be inventory. A large number of business owners loathe the inventory process.
Having to let someone go can be very stressful for many managers, but assembling a team of high functioning employees involves a good deal of trial and error. As distasteful as the process is, living with the consequence of a bad hire will affect more than just your bottom line.
As the saying goes, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Leaving a detail like clean restrooms unchecked can have a direct effect on a restaurant's future success. Patrons will often judge their experience by the overall hygiene of an establishment.They might wonder about your culinary hygiene if the restrooms don't reflect your restaurant's policies.
Bad reviews are generally bad for business.
Losing track of location and movement of product for sale can also be detrimental to the success of a retail operation. Many aspects of a business's smooth operation rely on a finely tuned inventory process. Having too much, or not enough stock on hand can have catastrophic effects on cash flow.
Failing to prepare means preparing to fail.
How are you to address any of these issues without losing focus on the growth of your business, and absorbing higher costs? How do we optimize our limited resources for effective results?
Throwing cash resources at an issue is a simple solution for quick removal from our 'to do' list. Outsourcing is an easy and relatively painless fix, serving the immediate need. Of course, the cost of outsourcing your dilemma may not be the best use of capital. As well, distancing one's self from the issue at hand may also move you as a manager, another step further from the pulse of your operation.
If an agency is hired to 'do your dirty work', how do you as the business owner ensure the job is being done to your specifications? There are significant differences between micro-management and efficient delegation. Also, when 'out of sight, out of mind' functions are performed by outsiders, the status of certain tasks can tend to go largely unchecked.
It would seem then, the best and most cost-effective solution may be just the old fashioned way; getting your hands dirty. When the problem involves our input, so then does the solution. But, it need not be a burden if approached in a manner that builds teamwork and a positive environment.
The trick then is to make the daily operational grind, palatable, and perhaps even enjoyable. When creating direct connections between all aspects of our operation, it would naturally follow that the whole gains strength by solidifying every link.
Put another way, it wouldn't seem likely that only washing and waxing the exterior of your car is going to help it last longer if you never changed the oil or tuned the engine. Each function has a definable purpose in bringing greater value to the whole.
Solutions for individual business challenges exist when woven together in a cohesive plan to create a skeletal backbone for the entire business operation. The interconnection of all your processes will empower each to the other, culminating in a driving force to move any business forward.
Full-service applications are available to address these aspects and create a powerful partner for your team. When everyone and every part of the business are pulling in the same direction with purpose, the individual task, however distasteful, will take on greater meaning.
When staff turnover is an ongoing concern, perhaps the initial hiring practices should be addressed. Mapping out and communicating full expectations from a recruit may go a long way to producing better results in the hiring process. Less turnover produces a team built with a specific purpose.
Of course, nobody wants to clean restrooms in a restaurant, but if the task came with some future reward then perhaps, volunteers will step forward more readily. An establishment's resulting bottom line will usually outweigh the cost of many perks that management can offer.
Counting stock is certainly one of the most inglorious tasks for any business operator, but if it is performed in a team environment where all other aspects of the business are interwoven, then reacting to any new situation will be handled efficiently at a moment's notice. Also, year-end audits are suddenly less painful when counts have been functioning in real-time throughout the calendar year.
A well planned and efficient business system, whichever industry it may represent, shines as a beacon for others to aspire and copy. Business models that are imitated are always the one's that lead in their field.
And after all, isn't the view so much better when you are out in front?
