Do You Have a Process for Team Development?

On being a Top Boss 4

“Systems run your business. People run your systems. You lead your people”. Is a good three line reminder for any business owner or leader. If you want a world class business you will need world class processes, world class systems. Do you have them? Are they written down? It is not enough to say that everyone knows what they should be doing. You can’t be that naïve. W Edwards Deming, the man who taught quality and process to the Japanese said “if you can’t write down what you are doing as a process then you plainly don’t know what you’re doing”,  Write down and document your systems. That is the only way you can review, improve, preserve and teach them to your ever changing team and they are the very core of your business.

Systems and Process

People can only run your systems if they know what they are, so do you have a process to teach your systems to your people? Not just once but repeatedly. It is interesting that so many of the professional disciplines require not only some form of certification, to demonstrate a level of competence, but ongoing continuous professional development and recertification. You wouldn’t want a doctor that was last tested in 1980 responsible for your healthcare would you? As a Scaling Up coach I was put through a strenuous and robust certification process and I am required to recertify every year. How else would you expect me to be current and up to speed? In a world that is changing so quickly there is no viable option to constant and life long learning and development.

Leadership and Development 

The same rules are true for leading your people. The latest publication from the Gallup organisation clearly identifies ‘The Manager’ as the biggest difference between businesses which perform well and those that do not. What is your process for your own and your team’s leadership development? Who is helping you on that journey? I have never found a company where the sustainable growth rate of the business exceeds the personal growth rate of the people running the business. How do you handle your own executive development? As someone once said, ”if you think education is expensive, try ignorance”