As an operations and systems guy, certain things just stand out for me… I see opportunity to fix, improve, maximize, economize, systematize and monetize. Most of my professional life was in operations, quality systems – ISO 9000, event management and training and development. My job was and is to observe, ask questions, expand opportunities, develop a plan and deploy a team together to fulfill the objective.
On my morning and evening walks I pass two Elementary schools. In the winter I’ve noticed one school in particular with an average of 1-2 windows open after hours or on weekends. Lights are also left on overnight or throughout the weekend. Not only does this scream inefficiency, but I’m paying for it with my tax dollars. Okay, so I haven’t been losing a lot of sleep over it, but since I’ve been thinking of what we do at DemGen, such things tend to come to mind and the light came on at 6AM this morning about this one!
So the question arises ~ what inefficiencies do you have going on in your business right now? Let’s narrow the focus to the human part of the equation. Are you overstaffed or understaffed? Are the wrong people in their roles and/or have the wrong skill sets? Are YOU, the entrepreneur, maximizing your revenue generating potential? We could also get into the whole EQ or emotional intelligence of the collective. I’ve read that the collective average intelligence (intellectual IQ combined with emotional EQ) can be drastically reduced by one person who exhibits poor control or ability in applying these innate skill sets. (I’ll get more into this in another post coming up on conscious leadership.)
At DemGen we invest a lot in ensuring that our team is working within their unique skills. Sometimes as roles evolve we need to make adjustments and split a role into multiple roles, for example. I sense it’s a good exercise to recommend keeping this top of mind in periodic reviews – review your workloads, who is responsible for what, and on what timelines. Ensure all know how it fits into the big picture and provide feedback loops and check points. We do this on a regular basis and it helps keep things and people healthy in all ways. If someone has been given a task that is not within their optimal skill set – we remove it while removing the de-motivated feeling and uplifting the motivation or MOJO factor.
Operational efficiencies are a key area of support that we assist our clients. Creating systems, having a plan or Future Vision Map is essential for all businesses. EMyth revisited is a great resource for any entrepreneur.
Gary Evans
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