I have found Eric to be a valuable collaborator.
Good People Need Good Systems
Since our move to Philadelphia about a year ago, my family has visited a number of churches. On one church visit, I dropped my one-year-old son off at the nursery where a very nice and professional woman was waiting there to receive him. Knowing the standard operating procedure for these types of situations, I waited for whatever would become the “claim ticket” for my son. But I was not given a wristband or any other kind of identifier. Instead, the woman said that she was very concerned about every child and would personally make sure that he left only with me.
I returned an hour or so later. My son ran to me, but no one checked to make sure I was his parent before we walked out of the nursery. The very nice and well-intentioned woman who had checked him in was nowhere to be seen.
This was a living example to me of the lack of a good system. The nursery volunteer was a great person who wanted to provide great service – but the situation was so busy and unorganized that despite her best intentions she could not do what she promised to do. What she needed was a system in which any individual could step into her place and deliver the same level of service she intended to deliver.
Performance Principle: Good people need good systems. Even the most gifted individual is limited in what he or she can do. Provide people with good systems, however, and you will see consistently better results. The right systems are tools that enable talented individuals to deliver great results, consistently.
Questions to Consider:
- What problems occur in your operation with regularity?
- What are the root issues behind these problems?
- Who are the right people to involve with you in creating a system for doing this activity correctly, ever time?
- What are the steps of this system?
