Throwing people at problems? There's a better way.

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Given a business problem, the first answer is often "we need more people." In growing companies it is not uncommon for team members to have to leap tall buildings in a single bound just to get their jobs done. The issue is not with the current people, and it's probably not that you need more of them. Rather than throw people at problems, you may need to upgrade your systems.

Signs you need a systems upgrade

  • Noise and drama
  • Preventable delays
  • Inconsistent outcomes
  • Dissatisfied customers
  • Frustrated employees

You might immediately think of IT infrastructure when we talk about systems, and that might be a contributor to the issues at hand in your business. But IT is only one aspect of systems. Are any of these keeping you up at night?

  1. Talent - mismatches, recruitment and retention, lack of accountability?
  2. Processes - out of date, slow, too variable, too costly, error-prone?
  3. Information - do the people who need it have it, and on a timely basis? Is it accurate?
  4. Technology - are you leveraging it effectively?
  5. Innovation - are you seeking it, managing it effectively, taking it to market?
  6. Systems overall - feeling uneasy and out of control as you grow?
If you want to scale you need to be able to replicate, to multiply successful processes to produce a significantly higher volume of your goods and services. Without good systems you can wind up making problems bigger. Imagine this situation: a typo on a logo goes unnoticed when it is all set to be embroidered on a shirt. If you're producing one shirt and realize you just embroidered a typo, you've only ruined one shirt. If you're producing 1,000 shirts after missing the typo you've just scaled your mistake.

Where are the biggest, costliest, most friction and frustration-inducing systems in your company? Where are the opportunities to gain advantage with upgraded systems?

Last - if your business is ready to scale, ProActive Leadership Group has the tools, the coaches, and the experience to help you create the structure, the systems, and the culture to outperform your fondest expectations.

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