Operational Excellence: Five Principles to Transform Your Small Business and Accelerate Success

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Unlock the full potential of your small business with the transformative strategies of operational excellence! I, Tonya D. Harrison, am thrilled to guide you through the five foundational principles that will elevate your business operations to new heights. Discover how you can harness these tools to streamline your processes, prioritize your time, and amplify customer satisfaction—all while safeguarding the well-being of yourself and those who make your business shine.

During this episode, we'll break down Operational Excellence and its benefits to small businesses.  If you're ready to eliminate inefficiencies, scale smartly, and keep burnout on the sidelines, join me on this journey to operational excellence. Together, we'll transform your business into a finely tuned instrument that plays the sweet symphony of success.

Implementing systems within your business will put you on the path to achieving operational excellence. Click below to learn more about the 7 foundational systems by downloading the Systems UNLocked Guide for Solopreneurs.

https://cignalpartners.com/systems-unlocked-guide/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to another episode of the
Operations Toolbox, the podcastdesigned exclusively for
solopreneurs that are navigatingthe intricate world of business
.
I'm your host, tanya DeHarrison, and today we're diving into
the heart of what makesbusinesses tick operational

(00:22):
excellence.
So, whether you are a coach,consultant, doctor, running your
business as a one person show,or you have a small team,
understanding and implementingoperational excellence can be
the game changer you've beensearching for.

(00:42):
So what exactly is operationalexcellence and why is it crucial
for small business owners?
Well, those are the questionsthat we are going to be
answering today.
At its core, operationalexcellence is about consistently
achieving superior performanceby optimizing and aligning

(01:06):
various elements of yourbusiness.
This is from processes andpeople to technology and culture
.
Operational excellence is aholistic approach that aims to
create a high performing,adaptable and customer focused
business.
Imagine, just imagine yourbusiness as a finely tuned

(01:31):
instrument.
How do you envision it working?
How does that look to you?
And then I want you to thinkabout as CEO how does that make
you feel?
Operational excellence is theframework that ensures your
business runs at peak efficiency, reducing costs and maximizing

(01:55):
overall value.
That is the impact ofoperational excellence.
So, as a business owner, weface numerous challenges right,
so we got to worry about marketcompetition, changing customer
expectations and thisever-evolving landscape of

(02:16):
technology.
Operational excellence providesus with the tools to navigate
these challenges effectively.
It's about continuousimprovement, not perfection,
about continuous improvement,innovation and a commitment to
delivering exceptional qualityat every turn within your

(02:39):
business.
As a small business owner, yourtime and resources are precious
commodities.
Operational excellence becomesyour secret weapon in making the
most of both.
It's about creating astructured foundation that
allows you to focus on what youdo best, whether that's serving

(03:02):
your patients, your clients,producing products, whatever it
is that you do best, and it'salso going to help you eliminate
unnecessary tasks, unnecessarysteps and scale your business
without burnout.
Now, I know that has to soundgood, especially if you are a

(03:22):
solopreneur or micro businessowner.
I want you to think of this asyour operations toolbox, a
little like this podcast.
It's a set of skills,strategies and principles that
empower you to handle challenges, seize opportunities as they
arise and propel your businessto the next level.

(03:44):
I mean everything from managingworkflows to delivering
five-star, top notch customerexperiences.
Operational excellence is yourguiding light.
When it comes to operationalexcellence, there are five key
principles we here, as signalpartners help our clients

(04:08):
implement to achieve greaterefficiency and better business
outcomes.
While there are way more thanfive principles, we focus on
these core five because theydrive the best results for
smaller businesses.
The first one is performancemanagement, so this includes

(04:33):
time management, so managingyourself, managing your team,
but then also managing yourbusiness performance.
The second one is process andsystem driven.
This is about exhibitingcontinuous quality improvement,

(04:53):
being able to efficiently andconsistently perform tasks and
achieve desired outcomes.
We want to be documenting andtracking all of this so that we
have those repeatable goodoutcomes, planning for success.
Now, this is a foundationalprinciple.

(05:14):
This is to help you stayfocused on your goals.
If you have a team, this isgoing to help everyone going and
moving in the same directionand help you get more of the
right things done.
So many times, we focus ongetting things done, but they're
not necessarily the things thatwe should be working on to

(05:34):
drive results.
Number four is people beforeprofits.
Once we get this right in ourhead, it helps a lot.
This is about understanding howto create value for the people,
and I'm talking about youincluded.
So many times, as businessowners, we exclude ourselves, we

(05:58):
exclude our health, we don'tthink about what it is that we
need, but when I'm talking aboutpeople before profits, this is
all of the people, whichincludes you, this includes your
team, this includes yourcustomers.
How are you creating more valuefor your clients, your partners
, your vendors, anybody that youwork with, any collaborations,

(06:22):
anything you want to think abouthow you create value and we
walk through how you implementthis within your business.
And then the last one is profits.
Now, this is the result ofefficiency and effectiveness.
So if we do the other fourpretty good not perfect, because
we're not looking forperfection but if we do it

(06:44):
pretty good, we areautomatically going to see an
increase in our profits.
So increased profits is anoutcome of being focused on the
principles of operationalexcellence.
It's a byproduct.
So when you think aboutoperational excellence, I don't
want you to think about it assomething that only applies to

(07:07):
larger organizations.
I want you to really thinkabout how you can take it and
implement it in your businesstoday.
And even if you just take oneof the principles and implement
it, you are going to start tosee results.
That's the great thing aboutthese key principles, because
they are the core principles,and the more of them you

(07:30):
implement, the better youroutcomes are and the faster
you're going to be able to getto where it is that you want to
go.
So the operations toolboxpodcast we are here to unpack
practical insights, to shareexpert tips and to explore real
world examples to help youimplement operational excellence

(07:53):
effectively.
Whether you are just startingout or you are looking to fine
tune your existing operations,this podcast is your go to
resource.
Before I leave you today, Iwant you to think about one
thing that you can implementthat is going to make your

(08:16):
business function more efficient.
This could be documenting aprocess, automating a workflow
using your analytics, some datawithin your business.
Whatever it is, think of onething that you can implement to

(08:37):
make your business moreefficient and that, my friends,
is the start of implementingoperational excellence within
your business.
Stay tuned over the next coupleof weeks, we are going to be
diving extremely deep into thisconcept because it's so
important and we are in a timewhere we have to function as

(08:59):
lean as possible and yield thebest results that we can.
So stay tuned for valuablediscussions, interviews and
actionable advice.
Your operations toolbox isabout to get a serious upgrade,
my friend, so go ahead andsubscribe, and let's build a
thriving business together.
Talk to you soon.