Are you an entrepreneur with a small business? Are you part of a leadership team? Looking to scale your business, big or small? Maybe you’ve hit a ceiling and you’re searching for solutions? If so, you’re in the right place. Establishing a business operating system (BOS) can transform your team into a well-oiled machine. And, just like any machine, your business needs the right operating system in order to function at its best. So, what’s the best BOS for your business? Let’s discuss.
What’s a business operating system and why is it important?
Your business operating system (BOS) defines how you run and communicate internally. From how you document internal processes to how you run your meetings, BOSes may be the most powerful business tool available for entrepreneurs. Operating systems offer consistency, improved channels of communication and organization—equivalent to the engine in a car. You may be driving the car, but it needs other essential parts to run. Your BOS is the engine helping move you forward—essentially, they’re tools for helping entrepreneurs gain full control of their company’s productivity and workflow.
BOSes are crucial for facilitating mom-and-pop shops or large corporations alike to remain competitive in today’s ever-evolving market as consumer preferences, technology, competition, and industry trends continually evolve. With the right BOS, companies can keep pace with customer demands while simultaneously innovating their products and services.
Types of Business Operating Systems
While there are many operating systems available to your business, the similarities highly outweigh the differences. The important part is having an operating system for your business. Picking the best one for your company depends on your core values as a company. What is your highest internal focus? Is it company culture? Maybe scaling the business? Being in touch with your core values as a company will make picking a BOS so much easier.
- Scaling Up: Focused on developing strategies for growth and scaling up the business.
- EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System): Focuses on creating a strong leadership team, setting clear goals and expectations, and building an effective culture.
- EMyth: EMyth focuses on establishing an entrepreneurial mindset within the organization by setting clear goals and expectations for team members, emphasizing accountability and collaboration, and providing tools to help foster innovation.
- 4 Principles of Execution: This system helps organizations focus on achieving their goals by breaking them down into smaller, more achievable tasks. It also encourages teams to work together to reach their goals in a timely manner.
- ELEMENT: The world’s first AI operating system. This system uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help organizations identify areas where they can improve their operations and make better decisions. It also provides insights into customer behavior and trends that can be used to inform future strategies.
Key focuses of business operating systems
While most BOSes will touch on all of these areas we’re about to cover, they’re generally made to focus on growing one or two of these points. This section will help you hone in on which key areas align most with your business’s core values and help you choose the best BOS for you.
1. Establishing expectations:
Outline what is expected from each employee and team within the organization. This includes roles and responsibilities, performance standards, customer service protocols and more.
- Clearly list all responsibilities and accountabilities for each and every role.
- Display the accountabilities of each role in a central place for the entire organization to see. This does 2 things, helps each team member get clear on what jobs they’re responsible for and ensures the organization as a whole always knows who to go to for help.
Explore Bloom Growth’s Org Chart feature and start putting the right people in the right seat.
2. Defining processes:
Define how tasks should be completed within an organization. This includes outlining procedures for day-to-day operations as well as long-term projects or initiatives.
A few things to keep in mind here…
- Your company already has processes. “Are they sustainable, scalable processes?” is a great question to ask for each one.
- Defining your processes as early as possible will get everyone aligned and working together seamlessly.
Explore how Bloom Growth can help you with process documentation.
3. Sharing knowledge:
Document how to collect and share knowledge among employees to ensure consistency across departments and teams.
- Is there a process for how documents should be sent across the organization or how metrics should be tracked? When everybody has access to the same information, silos in communication stand no chance.
4. Growing your business:
Provide a structured approach to managing and growing your business that can be adapted over time as needed.
The BOS in its entirety will help grow your business. A BOS allows you to focus on what’s critical instead of tripping over inconsistent daily tasks. It’s easier (and more enjoyable) to get work done when everyone is on the same page and working in a professional, trained manner.
5.Developing culture:
Create an environment where employees feel valued and motivated to do their best work by providing guidance on how to think, feel and act both individually and as part of a team.
Have you ever noticed when your house is an absolute trainwreck that your mental state is more chaotic? The same is true when your business is a mess, your organization will feel more relaxed when confusion and frustration are gone. Boost your team health by nurturing your processes and communication.
The Bloom Growth™ tools for transformation
We’ve discussed how a business operating system can support and streamline your business and the people that make it run. Bloom is an ecosystem of tools made to bring your business’s operating system to life. Your BOS is not just a concept. The processes you decide on and the operating system you choose to use are only as good as how consistently it’s used. Our software helps you take decisive action on the goals and plans you make when defining your business operating system. Today, we’ll highlight two of our business tools for entrepreneurs—The Org Chart and the Business Plan.
The Org Chart
Organizational maps are a powerful tool for businesses to help improve communication and productivity. A visual, interactive organizational map can provide an easy-to-understand overview of the company’s structure, including who reports to whom, where to go for questions and how departments are connected. This makes it easier for employees to understand their roles and responsibilities within the organization, as well as how they fit into the larger picture. Additionally, an interactive organizational map can be used to quickly identify potential areas of improvement or inefficiencies in the organization’s structure. By providing a clear view of the company’s hierarchy, it can help managers make better decisions about resource allocation and personnel management.
An interactive organizational map also helps with collaboration between teams by providing a clear view of who is responsible for what tasks and how different teams interact with each other. This makes it easier for employees to coordinate their efforts and work together more effectively. Finally, an interactive organizational map can help streamline processes by making it easier to identify bottlenecks or areas that need improvement. Providing a clear view of the entire organization’s structure allows managers to easily spot opportunities for improvement and take action.
Overall, an interactive organizational map is a valuable tool for businesses looking to improve communication and productivity within their organization.
The Business Plan organizer
Writing a business plan is an essential step for any organization looking to grow and succeed with a BOS. It serves as a roadmap for where the company, and the people that make it up, are going. A well-crafted business plan can help to ensure that the organization has a clear vision of its goals and objectives, as well as how it plans to achieve them. It also helps to identify potential risks and opportunities by allowing the organization to make informed decisions about its future.
As discussed above, the values you define in the business planning stages will determine what Business Operating System will fit with your company. The choices you make in your business plan will also determine the processes within your Business Operating System.
Displaying your business plan for your organization to regularly see is the real secret. Because it provides a clear path forward and allows everyone involved in the organization to understand the vision/future of your company. By having a shared understanding of the goals and objectives of the organization, everyone can work together towards achieving them. Additionally, displaying your business plan allows you to get feedback from all team members. Who knows, you may hear brilliant ideas yet to be considered! This feedback can be invaluable in helping you refine your strategy and ensuring that everyone is on board with the direction of the organization. Now that is a recipe for motivated employees—make everyone stakeholders.
Bloom’s Business Plan organizer prompts you to think through your goals and format them in an easy to read, easily accessible way.
The secret to the success of scaling your business? Have a solid plan and use it, put your business plan somewhere you go daily, break down those tasks based on your chosen operating system and get to work.
We’re always here to answer your questions on operating systems, software to support your chosen operating system, questions specific to your Bloom subscription… what to cook for dinner tonight? We’re always glad to help.