During the last two decades, my wife and I have travelled 140 miles from Dallas to Tyler, Texas, many times to see one of our Naga elders who’s now in his 80s.
To get there, we would usually follow a computer-generated map for driving directions. But still, we would get confused about roads because of too many construction works, causing detours now and then. This happened to us several times. Fortunately, it was different this time. Thanks to a technological device called a GPS-based navigator in our car! This time we didn’t have to read any map or ask anyone for directions. We simply typed in our destination, and our GPS system did all the work for us: it plotted the route, gave us spoken turn-by-turn directions, showed our progress along the route, and got us right in front of their house in just 2 hours and 24 minutes.
When you have a good system in place, it gives you efficiency and productivity in what you do. For example, the label “Made in Japan” was synonymous with inferior quality products before Dr. W. Edwards Deming, an American statistician, arrived in Japan in 1950. Only after Deming taught the proper use of systems to ensure quality production, the new products began to earn a new label which eventually became synonymous with high quality.
Based on years of his statistical analysis, Deming was able to validate that 94% of all failures is caused by wrong systems, not people. Put it another way, most failures happen not because people don’t want to do a good job, but because the system they are using is faulty. So, if you’ve ever failed in your venture despite putting so much hard works into it, you probably shouldn’t blame yourself because the root cause could be your lack of a system or a faulty system you were using.
In a business context, what is a system? A system is a set of processes and procedures that workers follow on a regular basis so that their efficiency and productivity can be exponentially increased. If systems aren’t put in place, it’s very hard to keep everything organized and consistent.
To build a system, you have to learn to take a step back so you cansee everything from a higher vantage point.
Systems have a lot to do with figuring out how your work fits into everyone else’s work and seeing how you can improve the interfaces between upstream and downstream activities so that less time is wasted in translation. Also, as your business grows, you’ll need to have systems and processes that can be automated as much as possible so that things can run even without you. You’ll need to build distribution systems, inventory systems, marketing systems, customer support systems, research and development systems, accounting and hiring systems, and performance review system, just to name the most common ones.
When the work processes and procedures are clear and well communicated, they reduce duplications and mistakes. When policies and rules in the workplace are clearly laid down, there are less chances for misunderstanding or confusion amongst workers, because what is already written in black and white can do the work of taking out potential pant-up emotion or personal conflicts.
Getting things done is not always about working harder or hiring more workers. Often what you need is to put an efficient system in place to run things smoothly. Having the right system can give you enormous leverage to your resources. It can save you time, energy, and money. With a proper system, you can ensure that every part of your business is being used to its full potential. But if you don’t have a system, it’s almost impossible to succeed.
All extremely successful people have systems that they have developed through years of trial and error. For someone who wanted to make a lot of money, his goal would be to develop a system that would unleash a steady flow of income for years to come. He would want to find a way to get paid over and over again for the same effort …even without any further effort on his part.
His goal would be to generate money even while he was asleep. Or more specifically, he would want a system that has the following characteristics:
1. Minimum Cash: Successful business people of all ages have been masters of the “creative non-use of cash.”
The great billionaire Andrew Carnegie bought many of his major businesses with no-money down. Even Columbus’ discovery of America was a no-money-down deal.
2. Minimum Time: Initially, you must invest sufficient time when starting your business. But you want to build a system that can be self-perpetuating and can operate on an automatic pilot as quickly as possible.
3. Minimum Energy: You want the greatest possible returns per unit of your energy invested. You must learn to “zero out” your life in some of your ventures so that you can move on to other things of interest to you, be it a hobby or a good cause.
Without having a proper system, no business venture can last or be sustained. This is true, whether it is in the private sector or government sector. When you don’t have a proper system in place, or when you have a broken one, hiring more workers to do the same things won’t produce any good. Even pouring in crores of rupees into that project won’t make any real difference. Usually, the solution lies in getting the system right so that it can produce work-efficiency and increase productivity.
