The Only Three Problems You Have In Your Business

The Hammer and the Nail

My husband's 3-minute eye surgery required about two weeks of evaluation and three different doctors.

He had his symptoms, but of course, those did not change.

Each doc had their own specialties and sets of tools.

But they were all struggling to put their finger on the actual problem.

It was like they were all looking at the same thing, but each from a different angle that gave a limited view into the problem as a whole.

We do this in our business all the time.

You know the saying, “if you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.”

It’s really true.

Sometimes, we can only see problems we are equipped to solve or have solved before.

It leaves us stuck solving the wrong problems and on the hamster wheel of fires and misfortune.

Proper Diagnosis

As I said before, in the years I’ve worked to structure companies, I’ve really only seen three types of problems. Or, really, three categories of problems.

Problem #1: Process

This is always the first and most foundational problem.

If something is lagging in the business or not performing the way that we want it to…

I always ask: “Did we define the process?”

I take a look at the sequencing, because something may be off.

We may not have properly defined the key players or the resources needed.

Common symptoms in your business could include (but are not limited to) inconsistencies in deliverables, lots of meetings to understand key components of daily responsibilities, lots of questions, and a very active Slack account.

If you find you have a process problem…

The only solution is to make a decision on what the process is.

Define the “how.”

And write it down.

I tell my clients that a good rule of thumb is to define, write it down, and run it at least 10 times before you make any major changes.

Sometimes, consistency over time, is just the simplest solution.

Problem #2: System

Most owners want to jump right to people…

But we HAVE to exhaust all available efforts operationally before we point fingers at our team.

The second most common problem is, yes, a system problem.

My definition of a system is the ecosystem in which a process lives. The technology, really, or the environment of how things get done.

A system problem could look as obvious as the Microsoft CrowdStrike outage a few weeks ago.

And as minor as one of our trucks being down in the shop.

The key issue is that the environment is off.

We have a process for how things get done, but the thing that we’re running information through either is down… or most commonly… not set up properly.

If you’ve ever purchased a new fancy tool for your team and then never actually implemented it, set up the proper functionality or just hoped that the tech itself would save everyone’s life…

You know what I’m talking about.

It’s impossible (and improbable) that your team can run a process effectively if the environment is unstable or undefined.

This can be as simple as finally setting up your project management software as intended.

Or creating a central source of truth for reports.

The simplest solution to this issue is defining “when” and “where” things happen within your already defined process.

Remember, if we have the “how” already, and it’s written down, the next big step is to define “when” things are happening and “where” (in what environment).

Problem #3: People

After you’ve exhausted the other two categories, then you can start to look at people.

I find that overlapping people and processes first is most effective.

The simple question: “Do our people understand our process?”

Meaning, were they properly trained?

Most of the “people” issues in companies that I have personally worked with start with the fact that they had no idea there was a process. They’ve been doing it their own way.

Next, make sure they’re trained on your environment.

Can they use the technology?

Can they drive the truck?

Sometimes things that come second nature to us actually don’t feel as intuitive to our team.

So allow them some time to get acclimated.

Finally, you want to make sure to define normal ranges of performance.

And track them.

So often I sit down with Founders and C-Level teams and they tell me that they have a person who isn’t performing as expected.

And then I ask: “what are the expected ranges?”

And they can’t answer– definitively.

Put in some Key Performance Indicators for your teammates and define where they should be. I’ve personally found this to be the most freeing exercise when it comes to managing a growing team.

Managing your company on metrics and defining the normal ranges is not easy, but it’s work worth doing if you want to grow quickly and not lose your cool.

PAUSE: for a deeper understand of what you might need to track, head over to my blog and video about How to Make Metrics More Visible.

With these three boxes checked, you should be able to run really clean.

Watch your metrics, those will tell you where the next problem will arise.

Then, of course, run it through our three categories.

If you want simple operational structure to follow…

One that won’t feel like things are covered in red tape.

And actually give you the freedom to scale at your pace.

Send me a personal message on LinkedIn. Just say “hey, Aly, I want your training!” And I’ll send you my Operations Simplified training totally FREE.

Remember, the goal isn't just to put out fires. It’s to create a framework for accurately diagnosing your problems so that, hopefully, they’ll only take 3 minutes 😀