To be first in something lands you the privilege of setting the tone. In business, when you’re the first one to be right about something, you have the blessing of being able to avoid damage and maximize upward trajectory.
Entrepreneurs live for this sort of thing.
They want to be the first person to think of a solution to the world’s problems and beat out the larger heavier competition. It’s in our natural instinct to use speed to our advantage, not just to avoid danger but to get to the pot of gold first.
In business, this is no different, as the way we work defines our capabilities.
We cannot fulfil a promise to a client for finishing a service order if we don’t have the ability to catch and resolve issues as they come at us. Communication is vital, but so are the procedures we put in place to get tasks done.
Everything in your business needs to be focused on speed and efficiency.
Stop the Bureaucracy
Businesses should not look for inspiration from Ancient Rome when designing their checks and balances. So many businesses have entirely too many people checking on each other without just cause.
For example, for every leading role such as a CFO, there should only be two other people below them that take direct orders. This would be employees with the title and responsibilities of Controller and Administrator.
The Controller is someone who does the day to day enactment of the CFO’s wishes by directing teams and departments.
The Administrator does the accounting and auditing to make sure funds are being used properly and where cuts and savings could be made.
Take this line of design to every single department and C-suite rank you have. The more people you have between the workers on the floor and the leading ranks, the slower the tasks get done.
Over to You
In this day and age, expect nothing less than two junior ranking employees able to share work with each other in mere seconds. Departments are kept apart from each other for a reason, so they don’t cross-contaminate roles and tasks.
However, communication and feedback on the tasks at hand are critical to getting the most accurate quality of work done. That’s why Cloud Computing is vital in this day and age because you can store files and folders online and share them with anyone.
You don’t need to send emails to each other with documents attached, you only need to upload the projects and wait for the other person to do their part.
Cloud computing is so much faster than any other method of storing files and making them widely available than any other.
A Direct Line
Customer service desks have finally come to the forefront of consumer minds. If you have a problem with an order you just placed, should you be using email or template forms to get this across?
Live chat is now the standard every business needs to follow. You have a direct line to customers and their issues so issues can be resolved quickly as possible.
Speed is everything in business. Being first to the party means you get to choose the music everyone else dances to. Cutting down the bureaucracy in your leading roles is the first course of action.
How focused are you on speed and efficiency in your business? Are you using speed as a competitive advantage? If so, how?
