Business is always work in progress
EVEN the best businesses the world over have not reached a stage where the owners can fold their hands and say, we have arrived. Business operations and management are always work in progress.
You cannot say you have arrived or reached your destination. This article will focus on three areas that are always work in progress in any business. They are your products and services; business systems; and your human resources.
Work in progress simply means an unfinished project; it is still being worked on. Such is any business. Once you see it as a finished project, then you cease to improve and develop it further.
Your product or service
Though you can come up with a product or service that can be market-ready for now, it is always good to view it as work in progress. This kind of thinking or perspective gives you room for continuous research around your product or service, knowing that the best is yet to come.
As tastes and preferences change, you also need to continually upgrade your product to match or surpass customer demands and expectations.
I am a first-hand witness of individuals and companies that have maintained a certain level of business for the past 10 years, while some even closed shop. We know you need to start small, but you must not remain small forever.
Growth comes in various forms. You might have been producing 100 cases of your milk-based drink. If your numbers increase from 100 to 200 and into 1 000s, then that is growth. The other dimension is having other product lines on board. Even if you are now producing 1 000 cases per day or month, never take that as the end game.
The quality and taste is also a factor. Look at what Dairibord Zimbabwe did on their Pfuko, Udiwo brand, they first came up with the traditional flavour. I even fell in love with it, but due to this work in progress mentality, it was not good enough to them and they introduced the butter milk flavour, which is rocking the market.
Guess what? I also drifted to that flavour. So, if you remain glued to your product or service and glorifying it, you will miss the entire business concept and find yourself out of the game.
Business systems
During my time at a hardware giant in Zimbabwe, we had almost three instances of computer system changes. This alone tells you that the business landscape is ever evolving and remaining static is only a recipe for going under.
Even now, the trend continues within the business systems world. If you were using
a certain version of a point of sale system, you might have more than two upgrades within one year. They will be trying to keep abreast with changes in the market, which is a proper thing to do.
Change is happening at the speed of lightning and every organisation that aspires to survive needs to adapt to new concepts.
What used to work in the past has been invalidated by current changes in the business world.
We used to have cash registers as part of the business system.
These worked and served in their time. You also recall those big calculators that used to have a tallying receipt that comes out. That was then.
Remaining hooked onto such systems, processes and procedures in the current age only makes you a thing of the past. You will be quickly and easily forgotten.
Customers expect expeditious service provision for they are also jealous of their time, which is a finite resource.
Human resources
The human mind is always work in progress. It is supposed to be fed on a daily basis to grow. There should always be the “under construction signs” as the mind feeds on upgrades.
Once you have your employees on board, there is every need to keep them abreast with current and emergent operational, technological and socio economic issues so that they can relate well with other stakeholders and customers.
The type and quality of the personnel an organisation has determines the level of performance the organisation registers.
If you do not upgrade your employees, you should be prepared to be mending broken relationships with clients and even suffer losses due to incompetence.
One cannot perform at a level they are not familiar with.
In as much as you might want them to push, without that knowledge framework, it will be very difficult to attain that state.
The results you get from your employees reflect the level of your investment in them. If you invest more, you will inevitably get more. A well-groomed and trained workforce quickly connects with issues and gets the work done in an efficient manner.
Conclusion
It is always good to continuously improve the way you do business as the challenges your business seeks to address are ever evolving.
You are never there in terms of business processes, products, services and your human resources. You just have to continue upgrading these to remain relevant in the market.
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