Are Your Systems Obsolete?
By Dave Kahle
Recently, following a request made by a client, I compiled a list of the 25 most important lessons I’ve learned in my 30 + years of working with over 500 organizations as a B2B sales expert and Christian business thought leader. In no particular order, here’s one of the 25:
If we are going to succeed in these rapidly changing times, we need to adapt new strategies and disciplines that keep us and our organizations changing along with the pace of change around us.
It is unfortunately true that most of the policies and procedures that dictate our activities on a day-to-day basis are vestiges of days gone by, designed to be effective in a world that no longer exists. In other words, most business systems teeter on being obsolete.
Let me illustrate. I am often called on to examine a company’s sales compensation plan. Almost invariably, when I ask why they have the plan they have, the answer is, “Because it’s the plan we have.”
In other words, the only reason for the plan is history. At some point in the past, someone designed the plan to accomplish something. The rationale has been lost, the situation it was designed for has long since faded away, but the plan remains. Since then, it has been easier to deal with day-to-day issues than to redesign a piece of the company’s infrastructure.
While that is often the situation with sales compensation plans, it is not unique to them. That’s just one example of a situation which impacts all kinds of organizational systems. When I look at the other fundamental infrastructure elements in a business – the policies, the procedures the that dictate daily activity, almost all of them have the same history – they were created at some time in the past by other people for a long-gone situation. As such, they can rarely be defended as effective. They just are.
And, since these are the tracks upon which much of the company’s efforts run, their effectiveness is crucial to the organization’s success.
Test yourself. When was the last time you questioned the design of the basic policies and procedures in your business? Here are some of the most common:
* the way prospects are created and qualified
* the way new customers are created
* the way customers are encouraged to become repeat buyers
* the way partners are nurtured
* the way orders are processed
* the way invoices are created
* the way people report to their supervisors
* the way supervisors manage their teams
* the way bills are paid
* the way invoices are collected
* the way strategy is determined
* the way new products are developed.
I could go on for ages, but you get the idea. Your organizational systems are composed of processes, principles, practices and tools. And those have most likely been created at some time in the pasts and are vestiges of days gone by.
The Problem
Since much of the infrastructure was created for a different time and a different situation, and since the infrastructure dictates the behavior of the folks who work within it, much of the company’s efforts are not nearly as effective as they could be.
Left untouched, this will eventually render the organization obsolete.
A Solution
1. Identify the key components.
Create a list of the important elements in your organization’s systems. I call my list my “punch list of key systems components.” This list exists on two levels:
a) Fundamental activities the organization must be successful at if it is to continue. So, in my business, one of the six key activities is…
Key Activity. Expose people to the sales content. Nudge them to pursue excellence and influence so that they can sell better and lead better. We primarily do this by creating and publishing our content as broadly as possible.
b) The second level is composed of the key practices, policies and tools that support the first level. So, for example, under the key activity noted above we have a list that contains, among other things,
- Our list of potential publishers/distributors of our content
- Our processes for posting to our blogs.
- Our process for distributing content through our newsletters.
- Our processes for submitting content to other publishers.
2. Examine the items on the list on a regular and recuring basis. So, I keep a date as to when we last examined that item. While I have no definitive schedule, I keep the dates and items on a spread sheet and note when it has been a while since we last examined that item.
3. Examine means: to look critically at the items and ask these questions:
- Are we doing this as effectively as we could be?
- What are the best practices for this process?
- What can we change, add to or subtract from, in order to be more effective?
Sometimes we do this as a team, sometimes I do it, and sometimes I delegate it to one of my associates. The point is that the item is being critically examined by someone on a regular basis.
Benefits
This process keeps us constantly improving the key pieces of infrastructure in our business, ensures that our systems are working as effectively as they can be, and prevents us from being rendered obsolete or irrelevant by depending on decisions made in the past for a different situation.
As such, this regular “system component” review is one of the disciplines that will help us to change with the pace of change around us.
INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MAGAZINE
The November/December issue of Industrial Supply magazine features an in-depth cover story about Kimball Midwest. Plus, we're featuring articles by contributing writers Dirk Beveridge, Frank Hurtte, and Mike Marks, as well as interviews with numerous product and distribution industry experts.
