Innovation, Quantification, Orchestration: Part Three of a Three Part Series: Orchestration

Nothing is more eloquent, strategically planned and gracefully executed, than a symphony - the individual musicians performing in unison as a cohesive orchestra under the strategic oversight of the conductor. Your business can also perform as a symphony, with your staff working together to achieve your vision under your strategic oversight as the leader. The key to a successful outcome, whether in music or in business, is to create the proper systems and strategies.

According to Michael Gerber, business development comes through a cycle of "innovation, quantification, and orchestration." Therefore, as first mentioned in Parts One and Two of this series, Innovation, and Quantification, we at E-Myth believe that one key to succeeding in business is through continuously analyzing and improving business development systems. Systems orchestration, the third step in the cycle, begins at the point you discover, through quantification, that your innovation is truly improving and enhancing your existing systems.

Orchestration is about committing to your innovations, supporting your discoveries in quantification, and telling your customers and employees that "this is the way we do it here." Orchestration is about producing consistent, predictable results through your proprietary way of doing business.

The orchestration process

Orchestration is simply engaging the entire organization in what was discovered and created through your innovation and quantification processes. Below you will find a simple step-by-step system for how a leader can orchestrate any system.

• Step one is to implement and change any documentation that uses the newly innovated system.
• Step two is to distribute the new system to all that are applicable.
• Step three is to train all employees who engage with the system.
• Step four is to hold people accountable to using the newly innovated system.
• Step five is to analyze the system’s results to ensure that what’s needed is intentionally being created.
• Step six is to re-start the business development process all over again, as deemed appropriate.

Think intentionally about step six, as many people find it difficult to grasp that the process is, in fact, cyclical. But it is important to realize that, as circumstances change, the systems must also change. The business development process is not static; it is an ongoing process meant to ensure continuous improvement. Today’s business world does not allow settling for second best. We are constantly inundated with new inventions, ideas, and technologies; therefore the business development cycle is in constant movement.

Many times I have coached business owners who were so proud of the changes they had made in the business development cycle that they stopped innovating and quantifying any further. But what they found was that they lost their competitive advantage because their competition had NOT stopped innovating and quantifying. We cannot stress enough that, while it is important to celebrate when you successfully hit your goals, you have to keep looking for new ways to do things even better.

The business development process: How to get started?

What we have experienced in our work with small businesses is that, as the business development process becomes an integral part of the business, it becomes not only a way of thinking and a way of doing, but a way of being as well. What it is, in the end, is an opportunity to transform the business.

Now that you are armed with the third piece of our business development process, what’s next? How do you start creating something extraordinary that will give you consistent, predictable, and intentional results? If you are like many business owners, you may be wondering, "How do I start systemizing my business?"

E-Myth’s Seven Centers of Management Attention model, provides a way of organizing your thoughts around business development systemization. You can begin by paying attention to the systems currently in place in your business - both the formal ones and the informal ones - and think about which of the seven centers they apply to. Then perhaps think about the systems that directly affect your customers. For example, start to notice where your business’ Lead Generation activities (broadcasting your message) leave off and its Lead Conversion systems (whereby prospective customers are provided the oppertuniy to say "yes" to your product or service) begin. Then, note what Client Fulfillment systems your business is using, and which news systems could produce and deliver even better customer service to the prospects who become customers.

Be proud to make your business the best it can be

As Michael Gerber says in The E-Myth Revisited, "Imagine yourself taking [a] potential buyer through your business, explaining each component and how it works with every other component. Imagine yourself introducing the potential buyer of your business to your people, and standing by while they proudly explain their accountabilities to the fascinated stranger. Imagine how impressed the potential buyer of your business would be upon being presented with such order, such predictability, such irreproachable control."

Quite clearly, businesses that are strategically planned and gracefully executed can deliver the sweet sound of success. And - implemented cohesively - "Innovation, Quantification, and Orchestration" simply make beautiful music together!