Leverage yourself and your resources

Effective people know to focus their attention and their resources on the small number of tasks that get the greatest results. It's called the eighty-twenty rule - eighty percent of the results produced by a person or a business are produced by twenty percent of the work. 

There's nothing magic about the "eighty percent" number. Just remember that smart people know to leverage themselves and their impact by putting their attention and their resources where they'll get the greatest results. 

The trick is in knowing which work and resources will get the results they want.

What are the driving forces in the business? That's where you put your attention.

What elements of value drive the customer's purchase decision? That's where you put your attention.

What business systems are the ones that get the most important results? That's where you put your attention.

What are the highest priorities for work to be done? That's where... well, you know.

This basic principle of business development asks you to figure out what "drives" your business, your customers, your employees, and to focus your attention on those drivers.

A business is a system of systems within systems. That may sound like gobbledygook, but it's not. Systems are the foundation of business excellence and the best way to make simplicity out of complexity.

Systemizing your business is the surest way to getting the reliable, consistent, high quality, and cost-effective results that are necessary for success. Systems are the primary tool for building a business that delivers value for everyone.

At the heart of most business frustrations are one of three causes:

• Lack of written policies or procedures
• Faulty documented policies or procedures
• Documented policies or procedures that work if they are complied with, but are not being followed.

A basic principle of business development is the documentation of key policies and procedures to ensure that important aspects of your business are performed the same way every time. This provides everyone that has an experience of your business with consistent outcomes and certainty about what to expect.

Where most small businesses have trouble is knowing how to document their policies and procedures and having the time to undertake a task that seems overwhelming in its scale.

Like all big projects, having a plan and the right tools allows the job to be broken down into smaller tasks that can more easily be accomplished.

The key to success with policies, procedures and systems is simplicity. Some points to consider when documenting policies and procedures in your business are:

• Clearly define expected outcomes or results on every document
• State which position in your organisation is resposible for producing the outcome or result 
• Keep policy documents short and to the point
• Don't mix several policies into one document
• Consider whether a checklist, form, flowchart, diagram etc can replace a narative document
• Keep work steps in action plans or work plans short and to the point
• Number work steps
• Identify resources required to produce the expected result
• Clearly identify expected performance standards and key performance indicators, where necessary.

There are a number of software tools that are now available to help make your business documentation easier.  These include TKO Business Modeller and Touchstone Business System.

These types of tool allow you to:

• Organize your whole business and all its key work into Systems & Procedures
• Produce your own fully customized Operating Manual
• Create a Dynamic Organizational Chart with integrated Job Descriptions
• Develop & Control your business with Action Plans, Checklists, Forms & Policies
• Produce the framework for your professional management system.

No matter whether you use a software tool as described above, or you document and organise your policies and procedures in some other way, the key message is to get started. If necessary, seek help to get it done