At some point when running a business, it can feel like a hundred different things are flying around at a hundred miles per hour. There are many ways to reel that in, but today, let’s talk about a popular tool: Management Systems.
A Management System is a way to organize and standardize the collective chaos described above. It looks at every phase and stage of your business operations, and organizes them in a way where the parts are additive to one another—creating the greatest sum possible. In that regard, every business can use some kind of Management System.
There are many areas where Management Systems can make a difference in your business. A good question to ask is “Does this area of my business need structure and a process?” If the answer is yes, then there’s work to do with standardizing your operation. Here’s a list of areas where Management Systems are helpful:
Note that when Management Systems are successfully pulled through across various verticals, it can positively impact company culture. (My thoughts on this later in the blog.)
Like I’ve said before, all businesses get their start from the word “Yes.” Someone says yes to the investment, the product, the purchase. But to grow and scale the business, the key word becomes “No.”
During my time as the CEO of a growing company, I found myself saying No to things like:
Saying No creates the space and time you need to Say Yes to the things that are right for you.
Before I got really comfortable with this notion, I felt the way you probably do now: a hankering temptation to carry on a culture of Yes, because that’s what got the business to this point.
Let me be a proof point that now—during the growth period—is the right time to say No. Narrow in on the exact audience for your product, the exact talent your company needs, the exact product or service you excel at offering, the exact level of employee performance expected…and nothing less, and nothing else. If that sounds tough, I can help.
By adding the principles and practices of Addictive Leadership to the Management System of your choice, you can help your entire company stay on track to scale. That’s what makes Addictive Leadership the ideal plug-in to Management Systems.
“Management Systems allow you to feel free. They are clear about who and what to Say No to, so that you can continue to focus on the things that matter and grow the business.”
Addictive Leadership is a time-neutral add-on designed to be integrated into a management system. It’s not “another new thing” employees have to adopt, it’s just there to integrate with what’s already been in place for the company—and support the employee on an individual level. And that’s really key—providing that framework.
Addictive Leadership is the first-ever self-leadership system that takes all of the best practices of a company’s management system and distills them down into a very simple, practical operating framework.
The output? The individual is able to manage and lead themselves the same way that the organization manages and leads itself. Alignment is everything.
Individual employees need a framework that allows them to Say No to the wrong things, and yes to the right things, the same way the management system did for the organization. This is a proven way to drive more performance.
Here’s a real-life example for you—and it has to do with handling suboptimal performance by a team member.
My client Jim Albert worked with someone who was not following the project process. When they were a small company with a small team, that didn’t feel like such a big deal. But when they started to grow and scale, that one peer who was not following the plan like everyone else was, led to wasted hourly rates, a battle over resources, missed deadlines, and unnecessary costs.
So how are you supposed to address suboptimal behavior? It’s a hard conversation that no one wants to have. Too often, CEOs are leaning on a Management System’s outline to build a long, slow “case” against the person to hopefully, at some point, maybe a year down the line, expose the weakness and try to root it out that way.
Enter: Addictive Leadership. With Addictive Leadership running simultaneously to a Management System, a different framework exists—and is given to employees, managers, leaders, etc.—that helps them automatically Say No to things like suboptimal performance, and rectify the issue with a simple conversation, thus more immediately solving the problem, not the symptom.
So whether you’ve adopted EOS, Scaling Up, or some DIY version of a Management System, Addictive Leadership works with them—and within them—all. The key to pulling your Management System through completely is simultaneously adding in a framework that’s meant for individual leadership, too.
Make that shift today. Get the proven program designed for companies in growth mode experiencing high employee turnover, low productivity, and missed opportunities. Identify the weaknesses holding you and your team back—start by taking our FREE assessment and we’ll be in touch with the next steps.
