Building a Stronger Business
Recently, I published an article on the 5 P’s of Business Success. When I work with business owners, I find there are typically two of the 5 P’s that can have the most immediate impact on Profit, and those are Process and People.
Many business owners spend a considerable amount of time working in the business; yet, few of us take the time to leverage our people to maximize the results. And, this is not because we don’t recognize the benefits. More likely, it’s because we don’t have the skill set to implement which can easily lead to frustration.
As a financial expert I know that leverage is a key concept in growing a business. One of my colleagues, David Vedera of BV Alan, Inc., has developed a simplified approach for developing the Process + People equation to generate success. With his permission, I’m sharing his thoughts with you.
Investing in Human Capital to Achieve Extraordinary Results – by David Vedera, BV Alan, Inc.
Excelling in today’s marketplace requires investing in human capital. No longer are physical assets the key differentiator for business instead, a company’s competitive advantage lies in the hands and hearts of its employees. Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, introduces the reader to of getting the “right” employee, into the “right” position, and in the “right” culture or environment where they can leverage their strengths. Selecting and investing in the right employees is an essential attribute to a company’s success because they create the cornerstone to enabling a high performing workforce.
Leading and/or managing a company, organization or team can be challenging and often daunting for many people. I have found success though simplicity by breaking this 40 challenge down into two simple elements, processes and people. Having both makes leading and/or managing much easier but remove either one and success is often restricted resulting in poor performance and thus limited ‘business success, Business processes include things such as the systems, tools, workflow, and internal documentation which support the “how” things are getting done. People are the core element in actually generating some type of output through the utilization of these processes.
Create a People Centered Culture
Companies and organizations within companies often invest heavily in vision, mission, goals, and strategies which then drive their processes to achieve success. Each of these terms and practices are common to the business world and in fact act as the foundation for most of the training in business schools and the business books that we read in our quest for greater success, Let’s take a closer look at how these elements are actually used in the work place and shift our paradigm a bit towards a people centered culture. In order for success to be achieved the vision, strategies, and goals must first be embraced by the people. It is then the people implementing the vision through the strategies that create a passion for the work. It is the passion of the people, or workforce, which achieves the goals and generates results. As human beings we view results as a sense of accomplishment which generates pride creating satisfaction in what we have done.
Pride is an enabler for creating a shift towards a people centered culture. In fact, a culture cannot be established without people and as such it is the people through the established culture that fuels the passion to generate results. The results then sustain the pride, at both the individual and team level. Simply stated people enable success and without the “right” people success is often limited.
Engaging and Empowering Your Workforce
Talk with or research any of the greatest business or military leaders and the critical element of success will always be tied to the people. If you are looking for that shift in your organization, the time has come to call upon your workforce to generate momentum. Leverage your employees in moving your company from ordinary to extraordinary by including those who truly know how to get the work done. Do you understand who the critical “A” level talent is in your organization? Are you investing heavily in this population of your workforce? If you are not I encourage you to invest the time to do so. These people are your greatest asset and when empowered can become a company’s competitive advantage.
Understanding the strengths of your workforce and aligning these strengths with your business processes generate better business success. Most employees simply want to have a voice and feel that they have contributed to creating or shaping the work environment that they are invested in. Therefore, invite them into the process and leverage their strengths when creating your company’s workflow procedures, layout strategies, capacity planning, inventory management system, etc. Who better to design and improve your operations management processes than the people who are your work force.
About Dave Vedera
David Vedera is the founder and president of BV Alan, Inc. David is a trusted advisor to technology and manufacturing leaders helping them reduce or eliminate their operational and workforce challenges. BV Alan, Inc. is dedicated to helping leaders and managers with reducing or eliminating waste, transforming business processes, and enabling self-managed empowered employees in order to increase business results. For more information visit www.bvalan.com.
