How Solid is Your Foundation?
Do you have so many cracks in your foundation that you’re in danger of collapsing?
Today we’re talking about the foundation of your business. The scary and dreaded systems and processes.
Oh yes. THEM.
What a lot of people don’t realize is how important they are to your business. Having solid systems and processes are crucial to the daily workings of a business.
They provide the structure needed for efficiency, consistency, and ultimately, success. Without them, chaos can easily ensue, leading to mistakes, missed deadlines, and client dissatisfaction.
And worse, death.
Okay, I may be exaggerating (maybe not!) but recently I was reminded of a disaster that happened in 1987 in London, England, from reading “The Power of Habits” by Charles Duhigg who referred to the massive fire in an underground railway. Coincidence or not, but I had also seen a documentary several years prior about the tragedy, so this really resonated with me.
What happened? On November 18, 1987, lives were changed at King’s Cross railway station with what happened in their underground escalator system.
I’m referring to the wooden escalator where a match was dropped by a smoker. This match fell in the debris of grease, hair, and paper waste below the escalator that lit a tissue.
This first indication of the upcoming disaster was a commuter approached a ticket collector to let him know of the burning tissue. The ticket collector put out the smoldering tissue with a rolled-up magazine and returned to his station.
That was it.
Within 30 minutes, what started as a burning tissue quickly escalated into a fully engulfed fire that killed 31 people and injured many.
Why did this happen?
Here a few key points that attributed to the disaster:
- Lack of communication between departments.
- Policemen radios didn’t work underground.
- Firefighters didn’t have access to blueprints because there were in locked offices and none of the ticketing agents or station manager had keys.
- There were strict codes of not stepping on toes and crossing into other departments.
- Station employees weren’t trained to use the escalator sprinkler system or extinguishers.
- An important letter from the London Fire Brigade sent to the operations director was never shared with the station’s safety inspector.
- Lack of maintenance on the wooden escalator.
- Twenty layers of old paint on the ceiling above the escalator that hadn’t been maintained properly.
To name a few.
The match that lit the tissue was not the start of the fire but the breakdown in the systems and processes that were in place and not connected with proper communication that was the cause of the fire, ultimately. The fire became the tipping point caused by the broken systems and processes.
Result: 31 dead and many injured.
It took a crisis to show the multiple cracks in the King’s Cross foundation that led to fixing the issues and resolving to not repeating the same mistakes.
Systems were reviewed, repaired, and updated. Processes were put in place and followed.
Moral of the story: Implement clear systems and processes that are shared with everyone. Review and update as needed. Otherwise, things fall apart. Accidents happen. Time is wasted on having to redo work. Teams are discouraged by the failure.
I value order. Disorder confuses me and then I make mistakes, don’t meet my deadlines, and get stressed out about disappointing my clients.
So, I understand the importance of having the right instructions and tools for the job.
You need to keep prioritizing your systems and processes, by using clear instructions (processes) with the right tools (systems) you will get the results you want to be successful.
If there’s anything specific you’d like advice on regarding your systems and processes, feel free to ask me!