Whether you have 20 or 200 employees in a small business, you may feel like you are running an empire. The topic is big, but it can also be confusing in the form of communication issues, coordination issues, and a constant sense of growth from the current process. What worked for 10 or  100 customers will no longer work for 500 people. And every time I flip, I feel like I'm investing in a new HR, CRM, or financial system.

Are you familiar? What you are experiencing is a growing pain. Growth itself puts a strain on your agile organization and makes it more difficult to maintain your finances. Imagine a flexible system that allows your team to focus on what really matters, stay on top of things, and track progress towards their goals. Management Operating System does all of the above. What exactly is MOS? How do you implement it? Good question-read and find out.

What is a managed operating system?

The Management Operating System is a business framework for organizations to operate, organize activities, and make decisions to improve performance. The most common type of MOS is the Balanced Scorecard, which logically links business goals. You can then track these goals with metrics (indicators of progress) and associate your projects with goals to improve performance.

One of the most valuable elements of the Balanced Scorecard framework is the strategy map and this mapping is designed with the help of easy learning of operating system courses online. It is a visual representation of the different perspectives of the strategy and each goal. Strategy mapping conveys the plan concisely in a “language” that everyone in the company can understand.

A Balanced Scorecard is a powerful tool for understanding past performance and predicting future performance. Whether you're using the Balanced Scorecard or other types of small business operating systems, defining goals, measuring progress, and linking activities are key to success. Especially for small businesses, managed operating systems help everyone (including new hires) keep track of things while pursuing opportunities and coordinating strategies.

How to create a managed operating system?

There is no managed operating system template, but there are two main parts to creating it. 1) Identify and link basic elements (goals, actions, projects) and 2) track progress. Let's take a closer look at each of these parts.

Identify and link basic elements:

• Define large, hairy, bold goals (BHAG)

 The "Big, Hairy, Bold Target" created in Jim Collins and Jerry Porras' book "Built To Last" is used to represent a bold and exciting mission that acts as a unity of the organization. The term. It's bold because it's brave (more than just "doing more than we spend"). It's hairy because it's concrete (as opposed to "becoming a leader in thinking"). Examples of  small businesses include:

• Double sales next year with new product launch
• new visitors to industry leader
• websites with yearly sales

BHAG is at the heart of the overall strategy and the benefits of the organization (also known as value proposition). ) And scope (relevant area of ​​opportunity). Looking at all three elements together, we get a clear and concise strategic statement that underlies the management operating system.

• Develop a strategy by defining a set of goals in line with BHAG

Next, you need to decide how your organization will achieve its key goals. Build your strategy by developing other goals that support  BHAG. For example, if your goal is to double your sales next year, you can hire x or more sales reps to achieve that.

Large companies have 15 goals, which can drop down into departments or departments and eventually create hundreds of built-in goals, while small businesses have only one set of 5-7 goals. I can't have it. The entire organization is in line with these goals, so everyone can focus on doing business in the right direction.

As mentioned earlier, the Balanced Scorecard is not required, but it is a comprehensive framework that reminds us of four different (but related) perspectives that need to be considered to achieve almost every goal.

• Finance
• Customers
• Internal Processes
• Skills and Culture

Work with the Leadership Team to develop a consistent strategy that fully addresses all these areas and brings goals together in one story.

• Add measures and goals

 Your goal defines what you do. Your actions show how well you are achieving these goals. Here you can find details on how to decide what to measure. Well, known operating system courses recommend that you minimize your actions, as this information needs to be collected on a regular basis.

The accompanying measurements are targets or key performance indicators (KPIs). These are used to convey the level of performance you want to achieve. Therefore, if you want to double your sales next year, you need to set regular goals to ensure that BHAG is achieved.

If you are unable to reach these normal goals, you will find that you will need to modify your course to reach your goals.

• Link important projects and activities to your goals

Every project your small business is doing should help you reach your bigger goals. This may seem obvious, but projects and goals are often separated, making projects less effective and staff focus. Therefore, it is important to link the project to goals so that the team can work continuously (and with enthusiasm) to achieve BHAG.