bbo guide to achieving consistently excellent perf

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M A R I A N N E P A G E | B R I G H T 7 | T H E M C F R E E D O M SYSTEM™

P l a n n i n g f o r F r e e d o m

ou can look at society’s ever increasing need to consume their

food fast; you can talk about how much kids love their Happy

Meals; you can even put it down to the fact that they are a very

affordable choice when times are tough.

But the truth is that McDonald’s success is based on a very simple

formula…they develop systems to run every aspect of their business, and

they train people to run those systems.

SO WHY DON’T MORE BUSINESSES COPY THEIR MODEL?

Why do so many businesses end up with a Wacky Races operation where

everyone is going in roughly the same direction, but in their own way and

at their own speed…when what they set out to be was a Formula 1

operation - a high performing team where everyone knows exactly what

they are doing, how it fits into the bigger picture, and that they are

responsible for doing it to a high standard?

A Formula 1 operation needs a strong platform of process and systems.

The sort of operation that McDonald’s has built their success on.

Y

There’s a reason why McDonald’s are so successful...

why they have grown from one small business in the

backwaters of I l l inois, to 35,000 small businesses…

and counting, around the globe.

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HOW DO YOU STACK UP AGAINST THEM?

Is your business simple and straightforward?

Are you consistent and reliable?

Do you have systems, and if so are they simple, logical and repeatable?

Can you leave your team to get on and run the business for you when

you’re not there?

Would your team, and your customers agree with your answers to

these questions? :o)

Over the past 30 years I’ve worked with many small business owners, who

all have one thing in common…the desire for an easier life.

Not a lazy life…just an easier life.

A life where they have more freedom…where they’re not working 70 hour

weeks, where they’re not always checking up on someone, where they

have no guilt because their life is in balance and they spend lots of quality

time with their family and friends.

WOULDN’T YOU WELCOME THAT SORT OF LIFE?

A life where you’re no longer needed in your business for it to run

smoothly…where you have financial freedom, and also the time freedom

to pursue other goals.

I worked with McDonald’s for most of my adult life, and I learned that the

only way to achieve the freedom you’re looking for, is to have effective

systems running your business… and good people… (even if that’s only

you at the moment) running your systems.

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THE MCFREEDOM SYSTEM™ IS YOUR ROADMAP TO THAT

TIME AND FINANCIAL FREEDOM.

In creating my system, I’ve taken the McDonald’s model, adapted it, and

made it accessible to every business owner who is ready to replace

themselves…and enjoy the growth and freedom that come with that.

Through these pages, I’m going to share that system with you and

introduce you to the final 2 steps you need to take, to achieve the life

you’re looking for.

THE MCFREEDOM ROADMAP

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I pretty much grew up at McDonald’s, where I

enjoyed a richly varied and successful career in

a business that teaches you, amongst many

other useful skills, how to make yourself

completely replaceable.

It was during my years with McDonald’s that I

learned how to develop logical, repeatable

systems, how to root out inefficiency and duplication, and keep my

functional area of the business running like a well-oiled machine.

I learned the importance of engaging and developing my team to work

the systems effectively, while keeping everyone focused on the customer

and the need for continuous improvement.

I LEARNED THAT SYSTEMS RUN THE BUSINESS; PEOPLE

RUN THE SYSTEMS.

I ’m Marianne Page, the creator of Bright7 and The

McFreedom System, and author of Process to Profit - the

book hailed as ‘better than the E Myth’!

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THAT’S THE FOUNDATION FOR BUSINESS GROWTH, AND

IT’S THE ‘WHY’ BEHIND MY BUSINESS, BRIGHT7.

Too many successful small business owners plateau before their

business reaches its full potential because they don’t understand the

power of Process + People. They don’t look at the McDonald’s model and

recognise it as their own path to time and financial freedom.

I know that I can help these business owners to recognise this big block

in their business and then help them to build the processes and systems

that will be the springboard for their future growth and success.

Systems to hire, develop and keep the right people. Systems to find, look

after and keep the right customers. The most successful companies, big

and still growing, have process and systems in every area of their

business.

That’s my mission in life…my passion I should say really…to help people -

business owners like you in particular - to Simplify and Systemise what

you do, so that you can fulfil your potential and achieve true success,

whatever that might look like to you.

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In Step 6 we look at the systems we need to measure performance and

deliver consistently high standards.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

No matter how good the people you hire, they will need to be kept on

track, and know how they are doing at any given point.

To a certain extent they will get this from ongoing feedback as they work,

but they will also benefit from a much broader view of their overall

performance and their progress within your business.

You achieve this through a performance management system.

In “The Busy Business Owner’s Guide to Removing the

People Pain”, we looked at Step 5 on the Bright7 Roadmap,

which is all about the importance of hiring the right people

for your business, and then giving them the training they

need to run your operating systems effectively.

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Performance management is one of the most essential systems for any

business.

It ensures that everyone knows what’s expected of them and how they

are doing against those expectations. It also helps you to know how

individuals are doing and where work is needed to keep everyone moving

forward together.

With a robust and consistent performance management system there

are no passengers, simply because there is no hiding place for them. Bad

eggs are sorted quickly, and those who want to develop and learn are

continuously motivated to do just that.

The performance management system is a cycle made up of three parts:

THE PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Plan for improving specific areas of performance

THE PERSONAL GOALS PLAN

Individual goals that will deliver improvement

THE PERFORMANCE REVIEW

An overall assessment of individual performance & contribution over a

set period of time

The cycle begins immediately, with brand new employees set basic goals

which must be delivered in advance of their first performance review -

the Probationary Review.

Following a successful probationary period, the employee and their

manager agree their Performance Development Plan and their Personal

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Goals Plan, and the cycle continues, with Performance Reviews acting as

the check and balance on progress.

So, your performance Management system

Measures and manages performance

Keeps your team on track

Helps them to grow and develop

RECOGNITION & REWARD SYSTEM

Your Recognition & Reward system encourages high standards, by

rewarding those who maintain them, and is most effective when it is

linked to your performance management system and your business

goals.

On an individual basis, you may want to award a bonus to those who

achieve the top rating for their performance reviews, or perhaps you’ll

decide that annual pay rises will be linked to the rating individuals achieve

at their reviews with top awards for those rated excellent or good, and

no rise for those rated only satisfactory or needs improvement.

If you don’t want to commit to financial rewards, there are a number of

other ways to recognise both top performers and those making every

effort to improve and develop their performance.

Team Member of the Month, or Quarter, can be a very low cost

alternative to promote team spirit and motivate individuals to raise their

game.

And how about flowers, chocolates, vouchers, tickets to a match or a

concert – there’s no end to what you can reward people with if you are

prepared to get creative.

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PUBLIC RECOGNITION

People like to be recognised publicly – let’s be honest, we all do! And it’s

pretty easy to create the opportunities to congratulate and thank

members of your team in front of their peers, in fact you probably have

a few opportunities already.

It’s great for the team if you have monthly communications meetings or

quarterly business review meetings, and these are tailor-made for

recognising the whole team, and any individuals you want to single out.

Monthly or quarterly awards can be tagged onto the end of these

meetings with little or no disruption to the business, and will be another

good reason for all your team to make the effort not only to be there, but

to listen to what is being said.

As with all of your systems, it’s important that you are fully committed to

a reward and recognition programme before you start one. Be sure that

it is what you want to do, that your people and your business will benefit

from it and that you will be able to keep it going once you start.

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Your Business Improvement Process, which should be carried out at

least once, and ideally twice a year, is made up of 2 key elements:

Your Business Process Review

Your Plan 2 Grow

BUSINESS PROCESS REVIEW

If you want to be certain that every process and system is working

effectively, you will first carry out a Business Process Review (BPR).

Continuous improvement is key to the success of any

business. You can’t just put your systems in place and

forget about them. So in many ways, your system for

continuous improvement - the Business Improvement

Process, is your most important system.

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Taking a day out of your schedule to check that your processes and

systems are still lean and logical, that you are not duplicating effort, that

they are operating efficiently.

Taking the opportunity to check both the progress being made and the

standards being achieved through each system.

Examples of the sort of checks you will build into your

review:

Hiring system – how many people have you hired; did they receive an

orientation; what date was their probationary review; did they pass or

fail?

People Development – has all initial training been carried out for each

employee; are they up to date with their ongoing training; do they have

an up to date personal Development plan?

Customer experience – how many customers do you have; how many

new customers have you attracted; how many referrals; have you lost

any customers; what customer feedback have you received?

Performance Management - has every employee received an annual

review; have they also had a formal six-monthly; how were they rated;

have they made progress; are there any employees struggling or

performing poorly?

Reward and Recognition – has your reward system been followed

consistently; any special rewards given out; any one-off bonuses?

Financial controls – how have sales fluctuated over the past twelve

months; how well has each product sold; have you had any late-paying

customers; how has cash flow fluctuated over the course of the 12

months; and profit?

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PLAN 2 GROW

The second part of your Business Improvement process is your plan 2

Grow which involves reviewing key elements of your business, before

making any necessary adjustments to your 3-1-Q plans (See ‘The Busy

Business Owner’s Guide to Planning for Freedom’ ).

Ultimately, you’re looking for ideas to take the business forward so, as a

minimum, you will be brainstorming the following:

PRODUCTS

Are your products still the right products for your customers?

Are your services still relevant?

PROMOTION

How do you currently promote your products?

How do you assess that these marketing tools are working effectively?

How should you be promoting your products going forward?

How can you improve communication with your customers?

PRICE

What does it cost the customer to do business with you (in addition to

the product price)?

How can you reduce that cost?

What value could you add?

Should you be raising the price for any of your products or services?

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PEOPLE

Armed with the output from your BPR...

How could your training and performance management systems be

improved?

What skills do the team lack?

Who, if anyone, do you need to part company with?

PLACE

Where are you selling your product or service?

Are you where your customers need you to be? Where is the best place

to showcase your products and services?

How can you improve this?

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Are you easy to do business with?

Do your customers receive consistently quick, friendly and accurate

service?

How many customers have you attracted this year? How many through

referrals?

How many customers have you lost? Why? What can you do to get them

back/prevent the same thing happening again?

As we said in Step 3 (‘The Busy Business Owner’s Guide to Planning for

Freedom’ ), having a 3-1-Q planning process is a great way to get your

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business on track and heading towards your vision of success. It’s also a

great way to keep it there and maintain momentum.

You have the long-term 3-year view (and of course you can look further

ahead if you feel it necessary or appropriate) that gives your team a

vision for the future, for themselves as well as the business.

The one-year view that tells you what the immediate priorities are, and

what you’ll be delivering over the course of the year

And the shorter term quarterly stuff, your 90 Day Goals, that you need

to get going on now, with short term objectives and the opportunity for

quick wins and the achievement of milestones.

Once a quarter you’ll assess progress, you’ll monitor, adjust, and drive

on to the next set of milestones.

The business improvement process is a cycle; as long as you keep

pedalling, it will keep your business moving forward and growing in the

right direction.

INVOLVE YOUR TEAM

The most successful plans are those that involve the people who have a

stake in their success.

You’ll have heard the old saying, ‘none of us is as good as all of us’. The

most successful teams are those in which every member has a part to

play which contributes to the whole.

How many times have you seen a team with less skillful players beating

a team full of skilled superstars? they win because they are a team:

they’re all involved; they’re all clued up on strategy and tactics; they all

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know their job; and they are all engaged and have bought into the ethos,

values and spirit of their team.

Bringing together and drawing on the different skills, strengths,

experience and ideas of your hand-picked team, your suppliers and your

customers will enrich your business planning, ensure effective delivery

of your plans and make your business more successful.

A team is always more motivated and committed to plans that they have

helped to shape.

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

If you want an operation that churns out your product, or your service

over and over again, to the same high standard, consistently, reliably,

always there, always available

Without you being there, without you breathing down people’s necks

14 hours a day to make it happen

Without you fretting when you’re not there, checking your phone every

5 minutes, waiting for news of the latest issue that only you can

resolve?

If you really want that?

Then focus on modelling McDonald’s through The McFreedom

SystemTM - your Bright7 Roadmap to Time and Financial FREEDOM.

Take advantage of all 4 of The Busy Business Owner Guides that share

with you the systems secrets of McDonald’s success.

Build your systems, monitor how they’re working, and continuously

improve them.

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Build momentum through your 3-1-Q

Involve your team, train them, and give them ownership for the

continuous improvement of your business.

You will almost certainly have heard of the expression, ‘the shadow of

the leader’, but have you ever considered the size of your own shadow?

How big the shadow is that you cast over your business. What qualities

you bring, what things you do, how you do them, what your personal

impact is.

In your business your personal impact is huge, and that makes it a huge

responsibility because there’s another expression – ‘A fish rots from the

head’.

Your customers, your team, and your peers watch you, they listen to you,

they look to see if you walk your talk.

Your authenticity is crucial to your success.

What are you doing that others will see and interpret? What meaning

could be attributed to your actions beyond the actions themselves?

What could you do differently to signal new priorities or to better

demonstrate your values?

Questions, questions, questions, and sometimes you are too close to

see the answer, so don’t be too proud to ask for help from an objective

and unattached source to be sure that your shadow is a positive and not

a negative source of power for your business.

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I want to hear what your vision is, I want to know how you’re getting on

with setting up those key systems in your business, I want to hear how

your employees are responding to your new procedures.

Tweet me at http://www.twitter.com/MariannePage07, or come over

to my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/Bright7Ltd and pop

a post on my timeline.

If you’re struggling, let me know and I’ll do my best to help you out. If

you’re loving your new consistent business, let me know that too. Either

way, I’d love to hear from you.

YOUR BRIGHT7 ROADMAP TO

TIME AND FINANCIAL FREEDOM

The McFreedom SystemTM gives you the know-how and tools to build

a consistent and reliable business that runs like clockwork whether you’re

there or not.

Well actually, the first, most important step...COMMIT.

Make a commitment now to achieve your time and

financial freedom. Set the date that you are going to

replace yourself in your business. Then, one day at a

time... make it happen!

http://www.twitter.com/MariannePage07

http://www.facebook.com/Bright7Ltd

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Through this programme, I work with you to implement each of the 7

steps and embed the key systems into your business.

There are several ways to work with The McFreedom System™.

Choose the one that’s right for you:

The McFreedom System™ Bootcamp

Develop your systems through online tutorials and pdf resources in this

quick start, 7 week online programme

The McFreedom System™ Boardroom

Work with me more closely over 12 weeks, to develop your 4 Foundation

Systems through live weekly skype sessions, online tutorials and pdf

resources. You’ll also have full access to The Systems Macademy™ for a

year

The McFreedom System™ Bespoke

Where I come into your business and work side by side with you and your

team to develop the 4 Foundation Systems that still form the bedrock of

McDonald’s success, and on which The McFreedom System™ is based.

I’ll leave you with Simple, Logical and Repeatable systems and a high

performing team to run them

Your Big Cheese Day

Come to my house and work with me 1:1, to strategise, to design your 4

Foundation Systems, to create your routines and to build a workable

action plan to set you on your way to McFreedom

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The Systems Macademy™

Build your Simple Logical and Repeatable systems one by one, and in

your own time. Each Simple System in the Macademy comes complete

with a step by step guide for How and When to use the system, templates

for you to make your own, and an example of the system in use. Each of

the Simple Systems can be bought separately, or in related groups.

Alternatively you can join the Macademy membership programme, and

have ongoing access to a number of Systems every month, plus support

through The McFreedom System™ Facebook Group, and with Gold Level

membership, bi-monthly coaching calls and a Quarterly online Q&A

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I would love to think that I could help you further at some point, and work

with you to speed up your time and financial freedom.

You downloaded this e book for a reason, and while you know will know

best how you want to use what you’ve learned in this book, just don’t do

nothing. Take ACTION of some sort to move you forward towards the

systemisation of your business, and your own personal time and financial

freedom.

You have options now, and if you want to talk them through then get in

touch via any of the details below.

Don’t forget to check out the other Busy Business Owner’s Guides:

The Busy Business Owner’s Guide to Planning for Freedom

The Busy Business Owner’s Guide to Developing Simple

Systems

The Busy Business Owner’s Guide to Removing the People

Pain

Alternatively, if you want to try out a few of the Simple Systems to get you

started, then simply visit www.7poundsystems.com and get going

today.

Thank you for choosing to download this free eBook. It ’s

been a privilege to talk to you, albeit in print, for the last

20 minutes or so, and I hope that I have given you food for

thought about what is possible for you and your business.

http://www.7poundsystems.com/

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The Bright7 team and I will always be here if you get stuck or have any

questions.

Until we speak again...

Marianne Creator of Bright7 and the

McFreedom System,

Author of Process to Profit

www.bright7.co.uk

[email protected]

@Mariannepage07

fb.com/Bright7Ltd

uk.linkedin.com/in/mariannepage

0203 189 1707

http://www.bright7.co.uk/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.twitter.com/MariannePage07

http://www.facebook.com/Bright7Ltd

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/mariannepage

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This document is not endorsed by McDonald’s or in any way associated

with them, other than through my connection with them over a

successful 25+ year career. Through The McFreedom SystemTM I simply

share the knowledge and expertise gained while working at McDonald’s,

and elsewhere, along with what I have learned through personal

development and research, to help you on your journey to time and

financial FREEDOM.

bbo guide to achieving consistently excellent perf

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