Step 5: Know The Numbers In Your Business - Pt 4

Operations

Analyze the operations in your business, as you do every department.
Beware the trap of allowing someone in the business to hold your business hostage. How do you tell if someone is doing that? You’ll know by how easy it is to tell what they do in their work.

Tell-tales signs could be that you have someone in a critical role who is the only one that knows exactly what they do. They hold access to some part of the business that isn’t available to others. They are the only ones with the access password, or the skill to get in to certain parts of the business, or reports that you need to manage effectively. “They are the only one who knows how to do X” is a good indicator that you are in danger of losing control over your own affairs.

This can be a factor in IT areas particularly, and is a dangerous situation to allow it to continue. In this case, it can be worthwhile to have your external IT supplier oversee what is happening to ensure that your business systems etc are running optimally. Make sure you are not being controlled by someone with limited expertise setting themselves up as in-house ‘guru’ with only limited knowledge of the topic.

This is important as it can affect decisions and be costing you untold thousands of dollars of value in loss of facility to manage your business because of this stranglehold. You will eliminate the possibility of this by ensuring that all tasks are identified, documented and available in the procedure manual and position description for each role identified fully. If someone is away, someone else can grab the manual and know exactly how to do what is required. And you have the knowledge you need to assess their performance throughout the year.

You can’t afford your business to be captive to someone else. Ensure that your knowledge-base remains within the business, and the wisdom in your business is not walking out the door when someone leaves, or holding you afraid of getting rid of non-performers, or keeping employees who are not carrying their weight because they are the only ones with the knowledge of that role.

While overseeing employees is vital, let the systems you set up help you manage this. This should be something you can do easily and without taking enormous amounts of time or requiring you to micromanage every staff member. That’s not your job!

If setting up systems is not your strong suit, then get help from outside to put this into place. Remember: Not having systems in your business is costing you money that won’t show up any place on your balance sheet. It is like ‘leaving money on the table’, and it is through working out your systems that you can find this extra opportunity and money that you would otherwise let slip through your fingers without notice.