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Building An Effective Organization Lets You Have More Free Time And Grow Your Business | April 11, 2018 (1 comment)
La Costa, CA—More and more frequently we are hearing owners express their desire to be freed up from time spent in the store, so they can enjoy the benefits as the owner and to take time for themselves. This is not only a reasonable expectation but a goal to strive for. The key is to build a strong organization.
If you don’t have this freedom now, you must answer the question, “Why do I feel I must do it all?”
Is it because you think no one else can do it as well? In other words, if YOU don’t do it, will it be done wrong? Do you need to be in control, and feel it necessary to micromanage?
If this is the case, the first step is to change your mindset. Understand that a healthy organization involves everyone, and each person has a role. When you are the only one in control of decisionmaking, you stifle your store’s growth. This isn't to say you shouldn’t be updated and consulted, but sometimes it’s best for everyone if you let go a little. Empowering others will lead to a greater sense of pride in work and a lighter load for you.
Related: The Imporance Of Good Succession Planning
The continual decline in the number of independent jewelry stores provides excellent opportunity for you to achieve growth. Strengthening your company’s structure is a sure way to relieve yourself of stress, gain more personal time, and grow your business and market share all at the same time.
This is how we build an effective organization:
- Start with an Organizational Chart to ensure there are direct lines of communications and responsibilities.
- Develop Hiring Profiles to fit the organizational chart. These should include skills and characteristics for the ideal candidates.
- Set Key Performance Indicators (KPI) which you will measure on a consistent time table to ensure the employee is effectively performing their job and is successful. These indicators may include sales growth and goals inventory turns and margins, hiring skills, proficiency with social media and marketing, as well as success during promotions.
- Set Expectations for each position, including hours, work days, travel, professional appearance, attitude, and sales performance.
- Conduct Weekly Management Meetings to foster better communications. This step is essential to ensure each member of the team is in sync and achieving their goals for the week, month, and year. This meeting is more about the owner asking questions to monitor that the company is going in the right direction. It allows ideas to be shared to increase performance. Always keep meetings positive and in team building mode (never allow it to turn into a complaint session). Personal growth should be discussed in a private environment.
To allow yourself freedom and more time away, you must take the initiative to build an organization of strong, committed and positive people. To see how it is working, take a week off and observe how your company runs when you are not around. After you are confident in the success, book yourself a longer vacation!
Dan and Lori Askew of Vantage Group provide their decades of expertise to both retailers and manufacturers in the jewelry industry. They strategically examine each area of business and address concerns in the order that will make the greatest impact in the most time efficient way. Vantage Group's commitment is to insure overall success through strategic planning specifically with cash flow, merchandise planning, inventory control, advertising, and store management. They partner with clients from the beginning or at any point along the way to develop successful plans and execution. www.VantageGroupinfo.com 760-633-2959.