IN business terms, sustainability is a real buzz word these days! Everything has to be sustainable! Sustainable economic growth is defined as ‘being able to be maintained at a certain rate or level’.
Obviously we all aim for business sustainability — having started our businesses we need to keep them going!
In order to give our businesses the chance to be sustainable we need to focus on a number of sustainable business practices:
? Planning for growth;
? Having the right organisation, systems and procedures;
? Recruiting the right people;
? Building the team;
? Engaging and empowering our staff;
? Improving the services we offer our customers by reducing waste; and
? Creating an army of ‘raving fans’.
We are all aware that if we fail to plan we plan to fail. Yet that is exactly what many of us do. We try and run our business without a map — we often do not know where we are heading or how we are going to get there.
Alice was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off. ‘Cheshire Puss’, she began,’ would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’ ‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat ‘I don’t much care where —’ said Alice. ‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.
The Alice in Wonderland style of planning might be fun but it certainly isn’t sustainable!
As we focus more on effective planning we will automatically begin to improve the systems and procedures that such planning requires. Chaos in the office or workplace and effective planning do not go hand in hand! Too many businesses lose money because they simply do not keep on top of their finances; customers are lost because we do not maintain and use a good data base; time is wasted because things get done twice or often not at all. Sustainability requires us to have simple but effective systems that help keep us on track towards achieving our goals.
Above all, to run a sustainable business we have to recruit, train, develop and retain the very best people. Once we attract them we have to keep them on board. We have to work hard to engage and motivate; to reward and empower; to thank and praise. A winning team is a team that works hard to sustain itself — it is team focused — members put the needs of the team first.
We plan well, we are well organised, we engage our people — none of this will contribute to a sustainable organisation without our customers. Customers are our lifeblood and without them we have no business. As well as making sure we deliver excellent service and products to all customers all the time we have to do two further things.
Firstly we have to reduce waste — any waste in our business is likely to lead to a reduced customer experience — we may waste time, energy, materials, communication opportunities, experiences, knowledge, fuel, information and so on. Every time we waste something someone pays — usually the customer. They are kept waiting if we don’t turn up on time; their bills are higher if we waste power or fuel or materials; they are on the receiving end of our bad planning and decision making.
Secondly by constantly delivering exceptional service we will have an army of people working free on our behalf letting others know just what a good business we have — priceless.
In isolation none of these practices will lead to a sustainable organisation — taken together we at least have the chance to run a sustainable business. Obviously there will always be external factors that we have not planned for that could adversely impact on our businesses. However even the worst effects of these could be reduced by planning for sustainability from day one — it is not complicated but it does require us to be clear what we are aiming for and to keep focused on getting there!
* Chris Elphick is Director of Learn.fast Pacific, supporting the development of a range of businesses and organisations throughout the Pacific. He is an experienced business mentor and has years of experience of working with Small & Medium Enterprises. He works in the Pacific as a mentor, coach and trainer.
This column will focus on issues that often challenge businessmen and women as they develop their enterprises.
If you have a business issue for Chris to comment on please contact him at chris@learnfastpacific.com.
