While small businesses don’t generate the same volume of products and services or have the same level of organizational complexity as big corporations, evaluating and improving processes is critical for success.
Systems and processes that help a business run like a well-oiled machine is the premise of the management technique Six Sigma. And by keeping some of its fundamental concepts top of mind, you can help ensure your company runs smoothly and profitably. Rachel Strella can vouch for that.
Strella founded Strella Social Media, a social media consulting firm, in 2010. While she has always been a firm believer in the importance of systems and processes in her business, she has made fine-tuning them a primary focus over the past year. Those strategic and tactical changes have helped Strella Social Media double its gross profit and quadruple its net profit in just one year.
At the foundation of the changes are several Six Sigma tenets. I asked Strella about how they relate to her company’s success. I hope they serve as some food for thought as you consider what steps you can take to improve your business results.
Establish consistency in systems and processes for managing and completing tasks. “There are many layers to social media management—and a lot of details to consider,” says Strella. “We’ve taken the time to document these core processes; we keep all company procedures and protocols on a shared drive and we let the team know when we make changes (which happens often in this industry).”
Strella has documented systems and processes in place for all aspects of her business, including qualifying leads, internal flow of communication, onboarding new clients, and managing clients’ varied social media platforms. This helps ensure all five members of the Strella team know not only what they need to do, but also how they need to do it.
Find ways to measure, analyze, and improve processes—and then control them for optimal efficiency. “Every system is evaluated and refined routinely, especially as the changes in social media occur,” explains Strella. The three primary tools her company uses are a CRM, a scorecard, and its V/TO (The Vision/Traction OrganizerTM).
“Our CRM gives us the data we need. The scorecard gives a glimpse at that data (over time), and we benchmark it against specific goals. The V/TO is part of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), which gives us a macro view of our core values, our 10-year goals, our three-year goals, our one-year goals, and our quarterly goals (called Rocks),” Strella says.
According to Strella, she and her team create the V/TO in their annual strategic planning meetings and then evaluate the Rocks quarterly, monthly, and weekly. When they discover weaknesses in their systems and processes, they track them in an issues list within their V/TO. Then they tackle the challenges on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis as required.
Strella says, “We resolve issues by employing the IDS (identify, discuss, solve) approach. In our weekly leadership meetings, we address the issues for the week. Our monthly meetings, which include our whole team, address issues the team is facing in meeting their goals. In our quarterly meetings, we address big picture issues that may have affected our ability to achieve our Rocks, and we make a plan to address issues that could arise as we establish the Rocks for the coming quarter.”
Set aside assumptions and rely on data to guide your improvement efforts. As for the controls Strella Social Media has in place for keeping systems and processes intact, the company’s CRM serves as the team’s “data center.” Everyone is required to track their communication in the CRM, so they can spot when something is not in alignment with their processes. Strella also encourages her team to utilize the company’s core processes in every facet of their jobs. “When something goes wrong, we can typically identify a procedure that needs improved or was not properly followed,” she explains.
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The scorecard has been particularly effective because it includes the company’s core goals—all of which are measurable in some way (e.g., numbers, percentages, and dollar values). “We then have our monthly team meeting, which addresses a few key areas: evaluating the scorecard, benchmarking for the following month, sharing news, discussing issues, and communicating action items,” Strella explains.
This has helped Strella Social Media continually improve its company administrative and operational efforts. According to Strella, “What you can measure, you can improve. While I had data in my head, it meant nothing without tracking it on paper. Our company scorecard allows us track trends so we could see what is working and what isn’t working.”
Get buy-in from everyone in your company. Strella recognizes that running a productive, efficient company requires a team commitment to making the business as successful as it can be. “Once we were all rowing in the right direction, it was simple. We established our expectations and communicated frequently with our team,” she says. “If I had to pinpoint what helped them maintain our processes, it would be explaining the ‘why’ behind each system. It’s one thing to say we want them to document every interaction in our CRM; it’s another to tell them how this data will help our company do better and be better—and how it will benefit them individually, too.”
Continually communicate with your team to reinforce the importance of the efforts to track results and make improvements—and to show appreciation. Strella and her leadership team explain to staff the importance of following processes so the company has the data it needs to fuel its growth. “When we have data, we can track what’s effective and what needs improvement. When we find something that’s working, that increases our effectiveness—and thus, our revenue. And when our revenue increases, we give back to the team,” she says.
Showing her team members appreciation for their dedication is something she makes a priority. According to Strella, “One of the items we track on our scorecard is team satisfaction. We send a survey to the team prior to our monthly meeting, track the results in the scorecard, and discuss the outcomes.” This data is useful because leadership can pinpoint the areas that are important to the team and the areas where management needs improvement.
Strella Social Media also rewards success. In fact, half of the team received promotions this past March. “Thanking people goes a long way, too,” Strella says. “We try to thank our team for everything they do, as often as they do it. A company is only as good as the people on their team. If the team does not feel appreciated, we are not doing our job as leaders.”
Big results via a small business Six Sigma mindset
In Strella’s experience, a focus on improving systems and processes has without question enabled her business to grow. Gross profits doubled. Net profits quadrupled. Within just one year—wow!
While every business might not experience the same dramatic results, adopting a Six Sigma mindset can make a positive difference. By maintaining consistency with systems and processes, collecting relevant data, monitoring results, making changes when needed, and actively engaging your team, your small business can make big advances.
RELATED: Business Systems: 5 Reasons Every Business Owner Needs to Develop and Follow Them
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The post How the Six Sigma Mindset Helped This Business Owner Succeed appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about Nellie Akalp.
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