Practice 1-2-3 : The Business Standard
All too often areas, even within the smallest of businesses, having potential for performance and growth are overlooked because standard good practice isn’t backed up with standard practice procedures.
It doesn’t matter if it’s the economy, or hours of sunshine giving out a dip, drop, decline or rise, managing a micro or small business is a grapple with the grind before any fun stuff. When additional pressures threaten the business environment, the full time challenge of mustering energy, motivating drive and maintaining standards becomes a greater undertaking. If you’re concerned about your business having the ability to continue, considering growth might seem like impossibility, especially when all your efforts are focused on that daily nitty-gritty. As for those in industries with full time engagement and obligation to standard practice responsibility, before they can even get to a customer, they’re unlikely to have either the inclination or ability to acknowledge potential growth in areas outside that standard practice.
Every business has its standard practices towards record keeping, managing incidents, undertaking staff training, maintaining premises and equipment. The landlord’s agent checked the property, was satisfied and sent out the deposit cheque immediately. When the landlord checked the property and was satisfied ….no cheque was sent out for 6 weeks, despite requests. The scaffolding company’s estimate arrived but with additional information to assist the customer. When the scaffolding company took down the scaffolding ….and broke the window… no liability was reported or acknowledged. Some Saturdays, 30 or 40 minutes before the shop closed, any remaining bread, cakes or pastries were given out to neighbouring shops and passing customers, in return, the newsagent gave out-of-date magazines and the greengrocer ripened fruits. At the end of the week any unsold bread was collected to feed the small-holders pigs. All business practices we’ve experienced from different businesses, during different eras and economies however, then, just as now, the relative management, leadership or responsibility behind the scenes of a small business, irrelevant of the economy, isn’t always apparent to its customers.
Dead wood amongst products, services, sometimes staff, and even customers can hover under the tough decision making pruning axe that controls expenses through budgeting and cost cutting. Arguably seen as the most effective long and short term benefit for a business under fiscal threat, expense chopping is often the standard practice strategy reaction. Contradicting any business’s responsibility in excluding elements that don’t contribute to its continuation isn’t disputed however, ensuring structures are in place to measure business performance is a good practice that should be a standard practice for making the right controls.
- Re-organise standard good practice with standard practices
- Include frameworks for mutual reference and guidance
- Use standard practices as a management tool for planning and direction
No matter what the economy, a businesses standard good practice is worthy of recognition and acknowledgment by its standard practice.
(Image credit: Irargerich Article credit: Copyright SUF)
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