by edensunshine | Feb 2, 2022 | Leadership, Level Seven Principles
EITHER/OR mentality limits us. Either/or mentality limits our options to one thing or another. Solving complex problems and discovering simple solutions sometimes requires a more open-mind and thought process.
There’s power in the AND. Changing OR to AND forces our mind to seek more creative solutions.
One of my favorite questions to ask is how do I have more life AND also build a prosperous business that matches my vision and supports my goals. I’m not willing to compromise one or the other. Asking AND forces my mind to come up with a solution that will allow both requirements to take place. The battle between the so called work life connection question begins to shift and, rather than having conflicting objectives, we have objectives that seem to complement one another.
Years ago, I recall seeing a poster with the comedian Jonathan Winters on it. It was an image of him on the phone making a statement.
You want fast service, good quality and low price? Pick two and call me back. This is either/or thinking.
In some instances, and for some businesses, extraordinary might be to figure out how to offer great quality, low prices AND fast turnaround. The point is, let’s not limit our thinking by having an EITHER/OR mindset.
Embrace the AND!
Most of my clients over the years have strived to do something extraordinary, different, differentiate themselves and stand out. This approach to AND thinking opens the door to discovering how to build something truly fantastic. I ask myself the same question as it relates to the implementation of Level 7 every day. And every day we get a little bit better at delivering our product and services in a way that maximizes the results for our clients.
A client suggested that a change in mindset is first necessary in order for business owners and their teams to effectively implement Level 7 and become Systems-Driven. He said they must start to think differently about the business before they would start acting differently.
Maybe.
Although sometimes a change in behavior first will impact the way people think.
Case in point. I’ve had employees in businesses that were not necessarily enthusiastic about becoming systems driven. They didn’t get it. As we changed behavior and began getting systems installed in the business they became believers. They saw AND experienced the power of being systems driven. That helped them change their thoughts about being systems driven.
Regardless, my approach to implementation of Level 7, and becoming systems driven, has been to adopt an AND versus an either/or approach.
Becoming systems driven requires more than just a change in mindset. It requires a change in action AT THE SAME TIME.
One of the fundamental, and most important mind shift changes in Level 7 is that the key to success of your business is dependent on the quality of your systems and if you want to improve your business, you must improve your systems.
One of the most fundamental functions in the business is that you must start working on the documentation and installation of effective systems.
Our Level 7 Implementation Program does both.
As Level 7 has evolved over the years, I found it integral to engaging the entire business, or at least the key influencers, in the conversation about the importance of systems WHILE engaging them in the process of supporting in the documentation of the systems at the same time.
This has been the differentiator in effective implementation and what makes Level 7 unique.
How would adopting AND thinking to your business advance your organization to becoming simpler, more effective and stand out among the crowd.
Interested in exploring how you can become a Level 7 Business? Click Here to schedule a 30-Minute Strategic Session.
by edensunshine | Jan 18, 2022 | Business, Level Seven Principles, Principle of Creating Replication
22 years ago, I was on the forefront of an important conversation that was emerging within the business world. Specifically, it was a recognition that having systems was critical to building an effective business operation. And thus, the systems revolution, started.
Back then, people loved the notion and idea of ‘having systems’. But ‘having systems’ is not the answer.
Even today, most people lack understanding what ‘having systems’ in their business really means. I recall a conversation with a business owner who was proud of the fact that they had documented systems in their business and proudly pointed to them, dusty and unused in three-ringed binders, on his shelf in his office.
Tonya, a Certified Level 7 Implementation Specialists, once commented that you hear people talking about systems at conferences, workshops, Zoom calls, webcasts and anywhere people are talking about business, but the fact is there’s a vast amount of confusion of what it is to ‘have systems’ in the business.
And even more disconcerting is the fact that businesses struggle with how to do it effectively that will have positive impact on the business.
We want them, systems, because we believe they will make a difference, and they will, but we just don’t know how to do it effectively. That is where the tension exists!
Thinking that ‘having systems’ is the solution is the very reason why systems don’t really work.
Regardless, an effort is made and, in the best case scenarios, fall short of expectations because ‘having systems’ is vastly different than being Systems-Driven.
The Level 7 System is all about is creating a Systems-Driven Business which is vastly different than just having systems in your business.
Having a Systems-Driven business means that you have adopted the idea that the key to success in your business is dependent on the quality of your systems and, if you want to improve your business, you must improve your systems.
Let’s take a moment to discuss the second part of that quote. Specifically, if you want to improve your business, you must improve your systems. Having a systems-driven business creates an environment where you have quality, results producing documented systems that are used daily in the business. It also means that if something isn’t working, or you wish to improve something in your business, your company knows how to actively engage in improving the systems. This is the beginning of being a Systems-Driven business.
Having a Systems-Driven Business becomes THE WAY of doing business that gets results and ensures that your entire team is on the same page an actively supporting the process of building an extraordinary operation.
Here are some of the critical elements necessary to becoming a Systems-Driven Business.
1- Installing the Systems Development Cycle is a fundamental part of the process. The Systems Development Cycle supports the reoccurring cycle of activity from the initial documentation of the systems, their periodic review or evaluation and the eventual innovation of the system when an improvement is required or beneficial.
2- Systems have a clearly defined results statement.
3- Systems performance must be measurable.
4- Every system must have accountable operators that actually use the system.
5- Innovation and improvement of systems must be organized and appropriate in their timing. No interrupt innovation allowed.
6- Systems must be housed in an easy to locate and accessible place. People need to be able to find them.
When seeking to build a business that solves the problems that most business experience while fostering a high-growth and stable environment that provides certainty of sustainable, having documented systems is simply not enough. Building a Systems-Driven Business is the way to creating certainty of continual improvement in their business.
Interested in exploring how you can become a System-Driven Business? Click Here to schedule a 30-Minute Strategic Session to determine if your business is a good fit to become Systems-Driven.
by edensunshine | Feb 13, 2020 | Business, Leadership, Level Seven Principles, Principle of Knowing What's True
One of my favorite characters from the movie “Up” was Doug the Dog. Doug had a very special collar that enabled him to speak to humans. He was enthusiastic, loyal and easily distracted. He would often lose focus when he heard or saw a squirrel. Mid-sentence he would turn and say “Squirrel“.
I’ve observed how many business owners and entrepreneurs love squirrels too. I am talking about the shiny objects that distract our attention from action and activities that produce optimal results in hopes to find the latest, greatest gimmick that will catapult their business.
Understand, I am not against innovation and improvement. I am all for it; at the right time.
Here are some key strategies that will enable you to be much more strategic when you consider potential opportunities for innovation and improvement. Doing so will increase your likelihood of success by minimizing distractions and squirrels.
Know Your Numbers
Often entrepreneurs are not in tune with actual performance of their businesses in critical areas. They monitor their success by guessing.
A client and I were reviewing their marketing and lead generation efforts. When asked about the performance of his various efforts, he had no idea which channels were generating leads or had converted business. He was wingin’ it and making very subjective decisions about how to invest his marketing dollars as he was getting ready to renew some advertising contracts. I recommended that we do some data collection and forensics on previous sales over the last year. Interestingly, we discovered some surprising truths about his lead generation and conversion efforts.
Specifically, we determined that he was investing over $40,000 per year in a publication that only produced one lead for his company and no sales. Ironically, he thought the ad was working and getting ready to renew for the next year.
The good news is that we discovered that another publication was producing fantastic results and we diverted funds to that media.
Not utilizing good, objective information leads business owners to be in a constant state of innovation and often spending time focusing on the wrong thing.
Be Strategic About Innovation
Attention is the new currency. Marketers are doing everything they can do to capture your attention.
As I suggested before, entrepreneurs can be susceptible to distractions and offers purported to make your life easier, sell more, improve and innovate. When you know your numbers and the truth about your performance, it will help you temper and resist the constant demand for your attention.
In one of my businesses, I observed our leadership team considering an alternative to a software program that we currently have in place. The new potential vendor was offering a lot of bells and whistles that sounded very appealing.
I challenged our team to consider the results our current program was producing and asked if those numbers were acceptable. By the time we finished the conversation, we found that our current program offered all the functionality and efficiency we really needed to get the results we wanted. Yes, the other program was compelling, but didn’t offer any real tangible benefit that would enhance the business.
Monitoring numbers will tell you the areas of the business you need to focus your attention and stay focused on what matters most.
Plan Sand Box Time
Entrepreneurs by nature tend to be innovators. They like to improve things and make things better. It is part of their DNA and can’t be squelched. A simple solution is to spend time researching and learning new things at a very specific, designated time each week. Get in the sand box and play. As an example, spend two hours on Friday afternoons learning something new or researching an area of interest. The key is that you don’t have to take any action after you’ve played. Just satisfy your need to learn and explore. You can also use that time to look for ways to improve something that you’ve previously identified, based on the numbers, that is not working in your business.
In summary, being more productive starts with knowing your numbers, focus on fixing what is broken based on those numbers and watching out for the squirrels vying for your attention.
by edensunshine | Nov 1, 2019 | Leadership, Level Seven Principles, Principle of Creating Replication
I am not enthusiastic about the possibility that when I die I will be remembered as the “systems guy”. Can you imagine on my tombstone.
Here lies Eden Sunshine. He helped 1000’s of businesses become systemized.
All I can say is UGH… I don’t, or should I say, refuse to be remembered that way.
I’d rather be remembered for helping business owners and their employees to build powerfully effective, kick ass organizations that are fun and rewarding and serves their lives.
Now that lights me up…what about you?
I understand why people think of me as the systems guy. It’s because we talk about systems…a lot. Building powerfully effective, kick ass, fun and rewarding organizations that serves their lives requires a proven and efficient approach. Systems are the solution.
I started talking about and helping people systemize their businesses over 20 years ago. Many people didn’t get it then. They often confused it with technology rather than processes and procedures. The buzz word of today is Scaling. Everyone is talking about scaling their business.
The way to scale and grow a business requires a systems approach.
The key to success (scaling, growing, being kick ass, loving to own, giving freedom, add your own definition) of any business is dependent on the quality of it’s systems and if you want to improve the business you must improve your systems.
Even though people have been talking about systems for 20 years plus, I have still observed that many, or rather most, businesses have a hard time implementing and doing it right.
Here are the biggest mistakes I observed, and even made myself, when it comes to building a systems driven business.
1- The systems aren’t actually documented.
Every systems, process, procedure, policy must be in writing. A lot of business claim to have systems but in reality that have information that is stored in people’s heads and subject to memory and interpretation. Solution: Document your systems.
2- The documented systems don’t actually work.
Having documented system that have never been tested and validated to actually produce the desired result is a waste of time and effort. If you want to maximize your lead conversion effort and close more sales, make sure your system actually produces that result. If you want to hire the best talent, make sure you have a great and proven process for accomplishing that hiring the best people. Solution: Test your systems.
3- The system isn’t trained.
Not putting the time and effort to make sure people are trained to actually properly operate the systems is a major problem. I get it. People are already busy. The best companies in the world are very intentional about employee training. Whether someone is new to the business or has been with a company 20 years, they are constantly being exposed to training around core values, culture and systems improvement. Training is analogous to improvement. Solution: Train your systems.
4- No Accountability.
People must follow the systems. Period. Want to read more about accountability. Click here.
5- Systems are not accessible.
Make it easy for people to refer to and use the systems. Have a great online tool like our proprietary system call YODA or go could old school with three-ringed process manuals on everyone desk. Either way, the systems must be a finger tip or a click or two away.
6- The systems are not regularly evaluated and innovated.
As I said before, if you want to improve your business, you must improve your systems. The focus on improvement is ALWAYS on the systems. Read more about the systems improvement cycle here.
AND the biggest reason for failure in become systems driven.
7- Lack of commitment to the process.
We all get derailed. I get it. I’ve lived it through my clients and my own businesses. The tyranny of the urgent strikes us and the business and, before we know it, we’ve put the systems development process on the back burner, again.
How do you fix that? It begins with a commitment from the business leadership. Then an action plan is developed. I will share with you several proven approaches and actions plans that have worked for me and my clients over the years next week.
Finally, you are not creating systems for the sake of systems but rather:
To build a powerfully effective, kick ass organization that is fun and rewarding and serves the lives of the owners and employees. Systems are just the approach to accomplish that mission. The mission will inspire and enliven you and your people.
If we focus on that mission, together we all win. My tombstone changes, (yay!!!!) and your lives and businesses will be powerful, effective and serve your lives.
by edensunshine | Oct 15, 2019 | Business, Leadership, Level Seven Principles, Principle of Knowing What's True
In the movie Moneyball, Brad Pitt played the role of Billy Beane, the General Manager of the Oakland A’s. The movie depicted events that took place during the early 2000’s when Beane popularized an approach to baseball that is often referred to as Moneyball.
At the time, Moneyball essentially was a way of valuing professional baseball players based on their ability to get on base. The Moneyball approach applies a very specific statistic that focuses on acquiring players that have the greatest likelihood of getting on base based on percentages at bat for the lowest possible salary.
The approach would often minimize the importance of other qualities often favorable in baseball, in favor of opting for a player with the lowest possible salaries and highest on base averages. Lesser known players were acquired in favor of future hall of famers if the statistics worked.
In 2000, the Athletics became the first team in the 100+ years of American League baseball to win 20 consecutive games. I wish I could report that the A’s won the World Series during this time period, but they didn’t. They did, however, improve the teams winning record coming in first or second in their division for many years following the new strategy and doing so with the 4th lowest league salary.
This got me thinking. Is there a key statistic that a business could focus on that would ultimately impact the overall performance of the company? Remember, Beane wanted to win games. He focused on getting people on base to support that outcome. His statistics gave him the information that would help him acquire the best players for the lowest price.
We all know in business what winning the game is, right? If not, let’s set up a time to talk about it. The question is “what is the core statistic that a business should focus on that will ensure that they win at business?”.
The answer is the Systems Performance Score.
Allow me to explain. As you already know, I operate from the premise that:
The key to success of any business is dependent on the quality of its systems. If you want to improve your business, you improve your systems. Since that is true then we must have a method for improving and scoring the performance of our systems.
I’ve put together a simple system that scores the quality of a businesses systems. Using this methodology enables the business to quantifiably focus the organization, like Beane did with player recruiting and the teams strategic focus, to intentionally and systematically improve the business through continual systems improvement.
When scoring a system, the Level 7 System guides us to score four primary areas.
1) Is the system producing the results it is intended to produce?
2) Is the system cost effective?
3) Is the system congruent with the company culture?
4) Is the system easy to follow and use?
We rate each of these questions on a scale of 1-5. 5 being the best. The higher the overall score for the system, the better the system is doing. Once you’ve scored all your systems, then you have a baseline Systems Performance Score.
The business development and improvement strategy of your organization is to continually innovate and improve your systems to elevate the total Systems Performance Score.
Rather than randomly chasing improvement, innovation and growth, the Level 7 System shows us to be systematic, disciplined and intentional in our strategy to growing a thriving, high performance entity. Want to win the world series of business, then focus on your Systems Performance Score.
by edensunshine | Jul 7, 2016 | Leadership, Level Seven Principles
To
day’s message is going to be controversial.
In fact, you might become inflamed by my comments. But hey, sometimes we need to be bold and take some chances in order to get our points or messages across.
By the way, if you’ve got some feedback from today’s post, I’d love to hear it. Fire away.
A little over a year ago, as the Republican candidates for President began to reveal themselves, I was excited and hopeful for the upcoming 2016 election. (In the interest of full disclaimer, I am a registered Republican. However, it is always my intention to be open-minded and vote for the candidates who I believe will act in the best interest of their constituents, community, state or nation. Although, nowadays, finding those candidates is getting harder and harder).
In my assessment and research of the perspective candidates, I thought a handful possessed the values, vision and integrity that would lend themselves to being an effective Commander in Chief.
Overtime the candidates dropped out. One after one, despite their positive qualities, they just couldn’t hang with the likes of Donald Trump.
What the heck! Donald Trump was the last man standing.
Let’s face it folks, even if you adore Donald Trump, you have to ask the question; is he genuinely the best candidate for the highest position in the land? I think not. (For you adoring Trump fans, relax, please don’t take my comments personal.)
For some people he has some very appealing and admirable qualities. Personally, I like some of The Donald’s qualities as well. Some. Not all. In fact, some of the things he says and does just makes me shake my head in disbelief.
Donald is authentic. What you see is what you get. The public is starving for authenticity. It doesn’t matter the generation either. We want someone who is real. Donald, in all his imperfections, is real. (He’s like the Honey Badger…he just doesn’t give a ****.)
Some people, including myself, like the idea that he isn’t a part of the Washington establishment. I believe the general consensus is that people feel like Washington and politicians are completely out of touch with their constituents. People don’t see Washington politicians getting anything done other than serving their own interests.
Some would argue that as a successful business man that he would be effective running our country. Maybe we need some good business sense in Washington.
Maybe Donald getting to where he is right now, the presumptive Republican nominee, was just good timing and dumb luck. Maybe his message was significantly different from the rest of the field that he stood out and garnered sufficient support to get enough delegates from the state primaries and caucuses.
That may be true, but I have another theory.
Donald demonstrated effective leadership and we could all learn something from him.
1- Donald understands the pulse and frustrations that a high percentage of people in our nation are concerned about. He realized that people are frustrated with immigration issues, terrorism, trade disparity, how the middle class is getting crushed and how people are sick and tired of politicians and the Washington Cartel.
2- Understanding those concerns, Donald crafted a message that would address those issues. I didn’t say he created a plan. He created his vision. Build a wall. Bomb ISIS. Deal with China. Fix health care. Create jobs. Build a wall. Make America Great Again. Oh and did I say Build a wall.
3- He effectively communicated his vision in a way that garnered enough support from followers to win the nomination. He managed to engage a passionate, committed group of followers to the cause.
Now here is the interesting thing, other than a couple candidates who clearly stood out as Washington insiders, most of the other candidates possessed a similar vision as Trump. The big difference was Donald’s ability to connect with his followers and communicate in a way that inspired and engaged them.
In my opinion, Donald is not the most effective communicator or orator. He certainly wasn’t the most prepared during the debates. In many cases he acted childlike and immature. Certainly not Presidential. This makes what Donald did even more impressive.
Can you imagine if Donald wasn’t so insulting or divisive? If his personality wasn’t so offensive to some people, the election would be over today. And yet, despite that, he beat 16 other pretty solid candidates.
So what can we learn from Donald that we can apply to our organizations and businesses?
1- You better understand what matters to the people you are going to ask to join your cause, purpose or vision. What’s in it for them is the operative question.
2- You better craft a vision that addresses those things. If your people want to be a part of a business that will provide opportunities for continual advancement and growth, you better include that in your vision. If they want to be coached, you better communicate that. If they want to engage in work that is meaningful to them, say it.
3- Finally, you need to be able to communicate your message in a way that will connect with your people. Donald seems to be speaking people’s language. Like I said, he is proposing many of the same ideas of the other candidates. Donald knows that when he says we are going to build a wall, that communicates a more powerful message than we are going to protect our boarders and stop illegal immigration. Same message communicated in very different ways.
Regardless of whether or not we build a wall and Mexico pays for it, Donald has inspired and engaged enough followers to get him to where he is today.
How are you inspiring your people to enthusiastically engage in your vision?
