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Evolution one step at a time By Steve Burns, Capital News contributor If you are like many entrepreneurs, you are running 120 miles an hour in every direction. You want to improve your business' performance but you are not sure exactly where to start. I had a very interesting conversation with an entrepreneur last month that was facing a similar challenge. We talked through the various challenges in his business and we decided to focus on improving one business process at a time. Instead of arbitrarily deciding on our own where to focus, we started with focused research. We talked to customers, suppliers and employees about the key issues in the business. While there wasn't unanimous agreement on everything, there were some underlying themes that helped us decide where to start. We mapped out the entire business process, including who was involved in each of the various steps, which was very helpful. We learned everything we could about the process as well as the number of people involved in each of the steps. We formed a “Business Process Team” that identified the key improvements to be made and developed a focused improvement plan along with a budget. Some parts will take further research, such as how we will use enabling technologies to improve the coordination of tasks, while others we have already started implementing. The project has been going very well. As the chief executive officer commented: “Our team is excited about having one business process to focus on. Other team members that aren't involved now have asked what business process is next and how they can get involved. We look forward to improving our business, one process at a time.” In thinking about your own business, what is the one business process that you should focus on improving? Finding out this information from customers, suppliers and employees could be the most valuable piece of research you ever do. Start today and improve your business– one process at a time. Steve Burns, CA, CMC, CFP, is the president and CEO of Burns Innovation Group Inc. (www.burnsinnovation.com) and Steve Burns Inc. Chartered Accountant (www.steveburns.ca), which provide consulting and accounting services to entrepreneurs. You can reach Steve at 763-4716 or via e-mail at:
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