Creating a Machine
Jun 20th, 2009 by shifuxu
The creation of a machine that mostly runs itself, is a concept that most can’t seem to grasp well. It is mostly about attitude. You say you have a great attitude, but perception is reality. So how do others percieve you, your business, your employees, and you product and service.
We are so used to working hard and getting nowhere, putting in 60 hours a week, and for what. Gaining a customer or two per week doesn’t keep the doors open. My dad was always a hard worker, but in his work he always told me to work smart, not hard. Well I was smart and have always accomplished projects with greater efficiency and speed than most people due to my understanding of attitude and perception.
The very first thing I will do when given a project is clean and organize. By clean, I mean get all clutter out of your workspace. If your workspace is going to be all paper, get the clutter out of the project. It creates the clean slate we all look for. Then organize the project. From beginning to end, you should know where you are at all times due to your schedule.
Next you need to gain support from the people who are most important to the project, who may or may not be directly involved. If you are at home and the many chores need to be done due to company coming and you don’t have enough time, enlist support from other family members. You must do this in a way that they feel priviledged to help. If at work, employee satisfaction is paramount in any project.
Thirdly, you must create a great attitude toward the project. Trust me when I say this, all of your business dealings will be troublesome if there is a hardening of the attitudes in your organization. Creating a good attitude starts by understanding who is the most important person in your organization. “Well, I’m the CEO, it must be me.” you say. WRONG! “Well certainly my managers then!” you exclaim. WRONG! “Who is it then?” you ask. It all starts with the lowest of staff members. If you can’t handle this concept, don’t waste any more of your time on this site.
That’s right, I said your lowest employee is your most important. The janitor, oh lowly janitor! He’s the one you should time into. He keeps your place clean and disease free, empties your trash, does your windows, etc, etc. Then comes your staff that does not deal with the public. Next is the staff that does deal with the public, then your managers, then finally you, the CEO. Most business owners and managers, feel that all the underlings are there to support them, when if you look at a pyramid, they are right. The employee is supporting you, they are your foundation and if you don’t have a good foundation, your whole structure will crumble.
Once you’ve created a good atmosphere where morale will stay high, you must then create systems that allow that to stay in place. You must also create systems that keep your operation running the way it should. From here things become a lot more business or personally specific. Remember, Attitude, systems, and processes. After that it is all maintenance.Watch my blog to see if your questions get answered there. You can also email me at themachine@shifuxu.com or call 910-228-9342 for a free preliminary phone consultation.