Stop taking shitcuts
Yep, you read that right.
You're already working longer hours, constantly firefighting, struggling to switch off and wondering why the same problems keep showing up in your business.
Mistakes are costing you money, customers are becoming frustrated, your team is confused and you're losing sleep worrying about things that should have been sorted weeks ago.
It’s often due to shitcuts being taken.
Systems run your business. Your (value aligned) people run the systems. If they systems aren’t robust or people not value aligned, the business won’t run effectively, profits will be affected and service levels fall short.
Bill Gates apparently once said, "I choose a lazy person to do a hard job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it."
Cutting corners to find a better way and updating the process for all to follow is what we should all be doing consistently. Marginal gains and all that.
The problem comes when shortcuts create negative consequences further down the line. Instead of saving time, they create sh*t in the business. Those aren't shortcuts, they're shitcuts.
Every day, you and your teams take shortcuts due to heavy workload, being under pressure or being convinced it’ll be "just this once".
The problem is that most shortcuts don't save time at all. They create a load of sh*t that someone else has to deal with later.
The term "shitcuts" originates from the systems-thinking philosophy popularised by Michael Gerber in The E-Myth. The principle is simple. Every time someone bypasses a process, ignores a system or creates their own version of how something should be done, inconsistency creeps in.
A shortcut might save five minutes today.
A shitcut can cost five hours next week.
Shitcuts show up everywhere:
Failing to update the CRM
Skipping stages of the sales process
Not documenting client conversations
Missing quality control checks
Relying on memory instead of process
Not communicating with colleagues
Skipping appraisals
The consequences are predictable. Errors increase and rework becomes normal and accepted. Team members blame each other but don’t look to find a solution. Customer experience suffers and your reputation is damaged. Profit leaks out of the business. Some members of the team become disengaged.
Eventually you get dragged back into the day-to-day because nobody trusts the systems anymore.
Now let me be clear. Not every shortcut is a bad thing.
A genuine improvement should be tested, measured and documented. If a new way consistently delivers the same or better outcome, update the system and train everyone to follow it.
Improve the system, constantly. But don't bypass the system.
Strategies to eliminate shitcuts:
Audit where mistakes, delays and rework occur
Identify which systems are being ignored
Document the best way, not the quickest way
Train people to follow the process every time
Review and improve systems regularly
Hold people accountable for compliance (and deal with non compliance)
Reward consistency, not heroics
If your business relies on memory, workarounds and constant firefighting, you don't have a scalable business. You have busyness. You have a collection of shitcuts.
If you're tired of being the person who has to try fix everything, let's have a conversation about building a business you run rather than one that runs you.