The E-Myth: The System Is The Answer

Twitter Summary:  A lot of your screw ups can be fixed by new routines.  Let me tell you all about it.

Principle

The foundation of what Gerber teaches in The E-Myth is that the success of small businesses depend on creating efficient systems that provide consistent results.  He used examples of McDonalds and other fast food franchises that use consistent systems to deliver the same product regardless of location or personnel.  So even if your product isn’t of the greatest quality (like McDonalds food!) the consistency with which it is produced makes it extremely valuable.  If you can consistently release a product that people can depend on, they will choose yours over high quality results that are inconsistent every time.

Small businesses often struggle because the owner usually finds herself doing all the work, making herself indispensable.  It’s impossible for the owner to remove herself from the business because she feels it will fail without her.

In other situations the business may become totally dependent on highly skilled or talented individuals.  Consider doctors or careers that require analytical talent.  This can cause owners to be held hostage to the talent of those employees.  That in turn provides the perfect environment for these employees to act out or hold the business hostage, knowing they are considered highly valuable, and ruining the whole organizations ability to produce consistent results.

Gerber suggests that creating systems solves all of those problems mentioned above.  He writes that if you’re starting a new business, you need to begin developing a system “that works not because of you but without you.”

But you may worry, my employees just can’t do it the way my customers want it or need it.  Gerber argues, “The system will become your solution to the problems that beset you because of the unpredictability of your people.”  If more time was spent on creating a routine that allowed employees to produce the same result or close to the same result, more of the work could be effectively delegated to the workforce with confidence in their ability to produce results.

Lastly, Gerber makes it clear that “…the system becomes the solution to the problems that have beset all businesses and all human organizations since time immemorial.”

Systems, routines, how-to manuals, and the like provide the conditions for a consistent delivery of product and they reduce the percentage of human error.

Systems and Making Connections

Just this week the wife and I talked about the chaos we feel is consuming our lives.  We realized we have failed to create a consistent set of daily routines for ourselves or the kids in our new home.  The dishes don’t get done at the end of the day and stare you in the face in the morning, naps are missed, chores aren’t done, and a number of things just seem to feel like they’re never going to get done.

We realized we hadn’t created the routines we need to get the work done.  We’ve been relying too much on each other to do all the work.  So up went the weekly dishes assignments.  We now have consistent expectations from our kids on a daily basis for a number of chores and activities.  What’s great is that our kids have taken on a bunch of new responsibility and have started to grow because they’ve risen to the challenge.  Not only is our house cleaner and we have more sanity at the end of the day, but our children are growing in ways we weren’t allowing them to previously.

How are we creating our own chaos and not allowing those around us to grow?  Whatever situation you find yourself, systems seem to be “the solution to the problems that have beset all businesses and all human organizations since time immemorial.”  How are we creating the conditions that chain us to our jobs or our responsibilities, simply because we haven’t taken the time to create the systems that allows others to do the work?  For more on this subject, please read the enlightening article from Harvard Business Review entitled, Beware the Busy Manager, that I have on my free page.  The gist of that article says, if you’re in leadership and you’re too busy, you’re failing.  Stop seeking out busy-ness to project your perceived self-worth.

So What?

Figure out which daily activity takes up the majority of your time.  Can you create a system, a routine, a how-to manual or video for that function?  The more routine the function, the more likely you can create a system to replace you.

I encourage you to spend the time necessary to create the system that will allow you to spend more time on things that matter, that will allow you to have more free time and peace of mind, and will allow others the opportunity to grow and perform some of the work along side you.

Next Weeks Post: How a system helps ordinary people do extraordinary things.