Identifying areas for improvement

There's no such thing as a perfect business. That's especially true for small business. But, that's also part of the joy of being an entrepreneur, of being a small business owner. That you can always improve your business. Make it, better tomorrow than it was today. In short, your goal should not be perfection, but evolution. In this video what I want to do, is share with you a little process that I teach my clients called the Sam Cycle. And the Sam Cycle, will help you identify areas in which you can improve your business.

The SAM in SAM Cycle stands for Systems, Accountability, and Motivation. Let's talk about each of these in a little more depth. Systems has three parts to it. Results, documents and tools. Result, meaning we want to clearly define the result that we'll get at the end of following that system. We're going make customers happy and want to buy from us. Document, meaning we want to clearly document either in a written format or even an audio or video format. Format, what it is you want people to do? All too often business owners have this idea in their head of how employees should do things.

But, they don't document it. Your employees need some kind of documentation. And lastly we have tools. Tools, are something that help you or your employees follow a system. It can be something like software or hardware. Or even a hammer or a saw. A tool, is something that just helps people get the job done and you want to make sure your employees have the best tool available for the job. And now let's move onto accountability. Accountability, in my world means making yourself accountable to a third party.

Someone outside of you, who's helping you get the best results possible. As a business owner, you want to be accountable to someone else, a mentor or a coach. And, your employees should also be accountable to someone within your business. There are three parts to accountability. Trust, training, and follow up. Trust, meaning that that third party, that person I have a great relationship with them. I trust them and they trust me. Training, meaning that person should regularly provide me with ongoing training and development, to help me grow as a leader and a business owner.

And last, follow up. Follow up, means that when I delegate a task to someone else, I follow up with them and make sure that they do it. Or, if I commit to doing something, that person holds me accountable by following up with me and making sure that I do it. Now, motivation. Motivation, in my world is not necessarily some motivational speaker pumping you up on the stage. No. Motivation comes from within. People are already motivated. All we need to do is connect that internal motivation to what they're doing today.

Motivation also has three parts. Vision, values, and cause. By vision, I mean that we have a vision for the business that is very clear, and that we can describe to others in great detail. Also, that the individuals themselves have a vision for their career. Values, represent the things that we believe in. How, as a business, we want to go about doing business. Or, as an individual, how I go about living my life. And then, cause represents a cause that's greater than money.

This can be a charity, but, doesn't necessarily have to be. People are motivated by money, but, only to the point where their basic needs are taken care of. After that, they need to feel like they're supporting something bigger, than just increasing the business's profit margin. Now, you can tell. What areas in your business need to improve based upon symptoms? The symptoms, are a clue to which one of those three areas, systems accountability or motivation, are out of alignment.

For instance, let's say that my business has great documented systems and we have clear accountability. But, the individuals working in the business aren't motivated. The symptom is that, they'll be compliant. They'll go through the motions just enough to keep from getting out of trouble. If we have accountability and motivation and place, but not systems, we'll see erratic performance all over the place, because people don't clearly know what's expected of them.

And if we have systems and motivation, but no accountability, well you'll see performance that degrades over time, because no one's really following up and making sure that there's improvement. So, by looking at these three areas, systems, accountability, and motivation, you can clearly and quickly identify areas for improvement in your business. In the next video, I'm going to take you through a more detailed process where you can use the SAM Cycle, to clearly identify the next step to take to improving and evolving your business.