Documenting, teaching and training your staff on what they need to do is critical to success
I had a letter returned to me this week. I’d sent payment to a subscription service, but they’d moved, unbeknownst to me. So my letter came back. The problem? The subscription forms still contained the old address.
How many other customers has this happened to?
Perhaps your organization thinks you don’t need more customers – you feel you’re busy enough.
Maybe your business has a culture where attention to detail doesn’t matter because employees see the leaders as sloppy.
I’ve seen some companies where employees ignore details because they feel they’re being treated unfairly.
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In some establishments, staff aren’t held accountable, and the bosses feel they need to micromanage everything.
Ultimately when any of these scenarios exist, the business is setting itself up for the final failure: bankruptcy!
So how do we ensure that someone pays attention to the details? And what exactly are the details we need to pay attention to?
Every business has different essential details. But every business has some things that are crucial to its success. If these things don’t happen, you’re not going to deliver your product or service.
Understanding how your business works and the vital processes that maintain profitability and product and service delivery are essential. Documenting, teaching and training your staff on what they need to do to protect their jobs and ensure that the business thrives is critical to having a successful business. Having an accountability process ensures that someone is responsible for these small details.
Unfortunately, many leaders of small businesses assume their business is successful merely because it has customers. However, when we fail to understand the critical elements that determine success, we risk our organization being derailed because staff neglect minor details.
Sometimes, as leaders, we gamble that our customers or prospective customers will assume certain details. Failure to communicate those details to our employees and customers results in confusion that leads to loss of business.
I plan to drop off my cheque to renew my subscription. I wonder how many of their customers will take the time and effort to do the same.
How many customers will this business lose because they didn’t pay attention to details? And if they didn’t attend to this essential detail, how many other details are they missing?
Dave Fuller, MBA, is an award-winning business coach and a partner with Pivotleader Inc.
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