Last month I used the fast food restaurant chain McDonalds to make a point of how they’re able to run a billion dollar operation with a bunch of pimply-faced kids. The answer: the system.
So how can you hold your managers accountable? The answer is simple, but may be hard for some to accept. Are you ready? Here’s the answer – Stop micro-managing!
I’ve seen so many owners or key executives who have their hands into every aspect of the department. If you’ve followed me for any time now I’ve given you the system and your job is to put it in place and hold your people to the system.
Think of the roles at each level of the canvassing department like a funnel. The owners and executives sit atop it; they create the direction for the company, the vision (the big picture). The managers create and implement the systems and processes that drive the department towards the company’s goals; then the canvassers and telemarketers work the system to get the results.
As you can see from the shape of the funnel, as the work flows down through the organization it becomes more task oriented. If you’re at the top you can’t micro-manage what’s going on at the bottom and expect to be successful, especially when you’ve put proven people in the key positions to manage.
If you remember when you first learned to drive a car your tendency was to look at the road just in front of the car. In doing so it was a challenge to keep the car driving straight without swerving back and forth in the lane. As you raise your vision farther down the road not only did the car’s path straighten out, you also were able to see your destination sooner, but more importantly, you were able to see obstacles in the road ahead and make necessary course changes.
The same is true in your canvassing department. If you keep your eyes focused on the little things you take your eyes off the big picture.
You need to identify and create the systems, then develop the managers and put the right people in place to carry out your orders. If you’re getting in the way of the system working efficiently then you need to get out of the way. If you don’t, the proverbial car is going to run you over, kill you and put you out of business.
Decide the level of production you want. Determine how many leads you need to meet that production, what staff do you need and what do they need to accomplish the job; and then send them on their way. Once they’re on the system, manage the system, not the people. The rest will take care of itself.
When I suggest this to clients I often hear, “But we’re not at that point yet.” It frustrates me. That statement alone sets them up for failure. Success in canvassing is about the system, not necessarily where you start in the system. If you needed to travel from a point of origin and arrive at your destination, and you could get there by bus, you wouldn’t have to board the bus at the beginning of its route and ride to the end. No, you can get on and off anywhere along the route.
So how do you hold your people accountable? Make sure they’re creating and implementing the systems to achieve the company’s vision and strategic objective.
Success is more about your “success mindset”, getting on a system and managing it. The reason more companies fail is because it’s easier than success. There’s no doubt, business today is harder because of the economy and those companies that are successful have to work harder to be successful. You have to make a choice, to get with a program and succeed, or bury your head in the dirt and wait for things to get “better.” The “safest” place to start on a system, if you haven’t already, is on my monthly phone coaching program. www.canvassking.com/phonecoaching.html
Next month I’ll blow the glass ceiling off the idea, “We have too many managers.” You can’t have too many managers. You just need ideas to redirect them into other profitable streams.