Small Businesses Feel it Faster

Through the years, I’ve found that one of the interesting things about operational challenges is they tend to look different depending on the size and type of the business.  In large companies workarounds can go undetected for many years.  At least until there’s an urgent problem (or opportunity) to cut overhead.  That’s when it creeps up and is staring at you – fix it NOW.

Similar problems show up in small businesses but tend to show up much faster and hit more loudly.

• A missed follow-up is noticed immediately.

• An incorrect quote has real consequences.

• A key employee's absence creates visible gaps.

The work most often gets done, despite some overtime, or running around chasing paper.  The cost, however, becomes visible much sooner.  The urgency to resolve these problems is much bigger in a smaller operation that cannot absorb the cost of “hidden” problems.  Often, these problems can make the difference in survival. 

In many ways, that visibility could become an advantage rather than a weakness.  That “visibility” could be the difference between just barely surviving and thriving.

Small businesses often see operational problems before larger organizations do because there is nowhere for them to hide.

• Questions interrupt someone else's work.

• Missing information slows down a customer response.

• Work that exists only in memory becomes difficult to transfer.

Rarely is there a lack of effort.  Contrary, most staff is going above and beyond to “fix” a problem and make a situation work.  More often, it is a lack of clarity.  And that doesn’t really require a large budget, new software, formal projects, or calling in the consultants.  Sometimes it begins with simply understanding how the work actually moves.

What part of your business would feel the impact first if one key person was unavailable tomorrow?