Get Your Operations In Order
Efficient internal operations can add immense value to your business during an exit event. Below are a few ways you can evaluate your current processes and identify areas of improvement:
Define the company vision - Before evaluating existing business processes, the first priority should be to define the company vision by stating exactly what the company does, why the company does it, and for exactly whom the business does it for. This should be done at the leadership level and made public to the entire company, ensuring that every staff member understands the purpose of each business process.
Update the accountability chart - A company-wide accountability chart should publicly detail who is responsible for each task. A chart like this will enable each staff member to understand whom they should rely on while executing each process in place. This chart will also clarify to whom a leadership role should designate any specific task.
Imagine doubling your output tomorrow - Assemble your leadership team and make the following statement: “We have to double our output tomorrow.” Immediately, it will become clear which areas of the business act as bottlenecks that would prohibit such a rapid business growth from occurring smoothly. These bottlenecks should be the primary focus when we begin to brainstorm different processes to implement.
Implement new processes - Because you have defined 1) bottlenecks restricting business growth and 2) the role and responsibility of each staff member, you can now begin reshaping and implementing new processes. Rather than restricting the creation of such processes to your leadership team, try defining ‘what’ and ‘why’ for each bottleneck and let each respective team of staff members determine ‘how’ to achieve such results.
Clarify channels of communication - as with any change there will be an adjustment period that will require fast and reliable intercommunication systems to be in place. These communication channels should enable staff members to quickly receive answers while learning newly implemented processes.
To learn more about implementing efficient processes in your business visit:
Entrepreneurial Operating System - EOS
Review and Improve Business Processes With These 13 Strategies - Forbes
It’s Never Too Early to Start Mapping Business Processes - Forbes
