It is common for growth-minded companies to focus on the straightaways to their goal. What do I mean by “straightaways”? I think of straightaways as a company’s desire to get from point A to point B — for example, from $2.8 million annual gross revenue to $5 million, from one location to three locations, etc. And then saying, “Go”.
Focusing on the straightaway has us moving as quickly as possible to achieve the growth we desire. In all likelihood, that will not get us to the outcome we want for our companies. What will get us there is creating a pathway that identifies and tracks the steps it takes to get from point A to point B.
Think of these steps as the loading and unloading zones delivery trucks follow. The local office supply store may make 50 deliveries in a single day. If all the driver knows is that there are a lot of boxes to deliver, he or she will simply pile all the boxes into the truck and drive as fast as possible for eight hours. And the deliveries may not be made. There is a possibility that not all the boxes for each customer will be delivered, or perhaps the driver will pass a customer’s location and have to return later in the day. And there is a real chance the driver will return to the warehouse and discover the seven boxes for one customer remain in the back of the truck – oops!
If, on the other hand, the office supply store focuses on the unloading zones and creates a process for making 50 deliveries in one day — i.e. defining the geographical order for the deliveries, equipping each truck with a GPS unit, entering addresses into those GPS units, and providing the driver a checklist to track the deliveries and monitor the system — those 50 deliveries may take only five hours. This leaves additional time to delight more customers and creates the desired outcome of increased annual gross revenue.
In the world of EOS®, we call those unloading zones Core Processes – the sequence of events that enable people in a business to do what they do. Core Processes establish rules, guidelines and expectations that your Leadership Team and employees follow. Once you identify your Core Processes, the appropriate manager documents the details in a simple, high-level bulleted list using the 80/20 rule.
The 80/20 rule is documenting the 20 percent of the processes that produce 80 percent of the results. It ensures you keep things simple and only cover the basic steps that your employees can easily understand and follow. After you’ve trained your employees on your Core Processes, you can implement unloading zones throughout your company.
I welcome the opportunity to talk with you further about EOS®’s Core Processes and how establishing unloading zones in your company can make your business run more efficiently. If you’d like some one-on-one time discussing your particular situation, please fill out the consult form below to request a free, 15-minute phone call with me. I’m confident that establishing Core Processes in your company will result in effective systems that will grow your business.
