Process vs. Results

Posted by Tom LarsenNov 11, 2015 Operations, Organization, Planning, Product Development 1 Comment

The more you have personally taken on to get where you are, the more likely you are to think that the process you used to get there is THE best process out there.

If you created your product descriptions, or you created your “streamlined” movement of information, or you have created your supply chain top to bottom, you will be very likely to want to have it done that way because “that’s the way we do it (that’s the way I did it)”.

However, and there is always a however, what if that way met the needs of the past and not the needs of the future? What if that way is actually more cumbersome, only you did not recognize it because you were just looking for a solution that would work and didn’t know what others know or never considered other options?

The very first lesson in owning your own business is the sooner you can become results focused and stop being process focused, the sooner you can achieve the results that you so desperately want to create.

Sure, there are sacred processes. There always are. Protect those with all your energy. If your business has a “way you do it” because it is vital to your story or message, vital to your quality, vital to your community, and that is what your Customers are paying for, then by all means maintain those. But, when the process is “this was the best idea I had at the time and I’m pretty proud to have created it”, that bar is too low. Let others create their own processes in order to get you even better results than you had before.

You can only grow past your own efforts by entrusting others, showing them where you want them to be and giving them the time and resources to get there. That is leadership. Leadership gets the most out of others. Supervising tells other people what to do and how to do it. Leader or Supervisor? You choose.

  • Thanks Tom. You always keep me thinking. Nothing to report sales wise, but we now have 75 Reps.
    Our Amazon store is now active.
    The UPS thing is open, but not promoted yet.
    The SEO is set up for Amazon.
    I’m fine tuning our process as you suggested. Slow and steady. I’ll call you soon.

    I miss you thought provocation 🙂

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