Do you wonder why your business systems fail? Just ask me! I’ve heard just about everything! Go on, say it…
“We’ve TRIED implementing systems, but people don’t stick to them, so they fail!”
How many times have I heard THAT? Answer is: ALL THE TIME! Especially when giving a presentation on Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) for a business.
HERE’S A COMMON COMPLAINT…
“Philip, I’ve put systems in place, like Quality Control Checklists, but they work only for a short time. Unfortunately, people forget about them or simply stop using them.”
During a recent Webinar demo I hosted, an owner I’ll call Bob told me he had hired an expert to help systemize his company. The “expert” apparently had extensive experience writing SOP’s. He had compiled a cumbersome binder of documents, which Bob thought only added more frustration to their work. Trying to keep up with so much documentation had proved impossible.
Bob told me, he (himself) had won an award for a system he had written in File Maker, at some point, but even THAT system had failed to be sustainable. “Philip,” Bob said with no little frustration, “I have tried everything to keep our systems running with not much success. I’m still bogged down in day-to-day operations, working long hours to keep our company going.”
The answer I gave Bob, and I give EVERYONE who is plagued with failing business systems, I NOW GIVE TO YOU:
You Need Another System!
That’s right, ANOTHER system. It’s a FOLLOW-UP system to ensure all systems continue to operate in the manner for which they were designed.
Strange, that every owner or manager knows when a system stops running, but they fail to ask, “WHY?”! Why DO people stop using systems for (i.e.) Quality Control, Preventative Maintenance, Request for Leave, New Hire Orientation, etc.?
Again, because there is NO FOLLOW-UP SYSTEM!
ONE follow-up system many successful companies use is a Corrective Action System—I call that a “System Buster Eliminator.”
The Root Cause | Why Business Systems Fail
Imagine for a moment, you have implemented a quality control system with detailed checklists for every process in your organization. Then you get a call from your salesperson, who just received a call from an angry customer about an error on their job.
Okay, you KNOW something went wrong with the quality control system, so you start looking for the root cause. Eventually, you discover that one of your employees failed to do their quality control checklist. In most companies, the employee is just told to “REMEMBER to do your Quality Control Checklist NEXT TIME,” and that’s the end of it.
However, if the same company was using a Corrective Action System, the error would have been completely documented. Then the employee who made the error would SIGN the Corrective Action Document. This document records the fact that the employee failed to USE the system, which really means they failed to do their job.
After signing a few of these documents, employees KNOW the system is being followed up on by management. In most cases that I’ve witnessed over the past twenty years, employees will get with the program.
Other Follow-up Systems
Those are mentioned in detail in my book System Busters; How to Stop Them in Your Business. You can implement such as, Daily Routine Checklists for key employees, with prompts to make random spot checks on KEY SYSTEMS.
NOTE: You don’t need to follow up every control checklist to ensure conformance, as random spot checks will work just fine to keep NON-conformances in check—NO SYSTEM BUSTERS!
Remember, the key word in Follow-up System is: SYSTEM.
Did I mention? Great systems work!
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