Playbook / Lessons / The system runs: operating cadence

Build systems that free your best people to do great work

Godin argues that no world-class service organization has replaced great people with great systems. The best ones have principles, guidelines and even scripts, but fall back on judgment, and a system is easier to copy than great people are. He says to automate what increases satisfaction right away and then put the money you save into wonderful people.

“The systems allow the great people to do great work.”— Seth Godin, People or systems?, Mar 2005

Do this

Pick one routine customer step to automate or script, and decide which of your people the saved money or time will go to.

More in this pack

• Hire a COO who can hire and manage executives
• Step away to find what breaks, then build a system for it
• Delegate decisions, not only tasks, as you scale
• Keep the intent of your culture when its practices stop scaling

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