Work The System | Sam Carpenter
Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, which is a guide to business efficiency and productivity. The book is based on Carpenter’s own experiences with his telephone answering service business.
The author, Sam Carpenter, experienced a dramatic turnaround in his telephone answering service business when he implemented a new way of thinking: viewing his business as a collection of separate, interlocking systems. These systems could be optimized, adjusted, and improved to create a more efficient and effective overall business.
“Work the System” is centered around three main points:
Strategic Objective: This is an overarching vision for a business or person. It serves as a guideline for what you want to achieve in the long run. Carpenter suggests creating a written statement of your strategic objective to help you maintain focus.
Operating Principles: These are the rules and procedures that define how tasks should be carried out. Operating principles are crucial for consistency and efficiency in processes. They ensure that everyone in an organization is working in the same direction and following the same steps to complete tasks.
Working Procedures: These are step-by-step guides on how to accomplish specific tasks in a business. They are often detailed and comprehensive, providing clear instructions for employees.
Throughout the book, Carpenter emphasizes the importance of “systems thinking.” This mindset encourages people to view their life and work as a collection of systems that can be refined and optimized. The idea is to spend less time putting out fires and more time improving systems to prevent those fires from happening in the first place.
Key Concepts
Look at your life and work as a collection of individual systems. The key to success lies in understanding and fine-tuning these systems.
A “systems mindset” requires viewing each part of your life and business as a separate system that can be improved and optimized.
The goal is not to spend your time putting out fires. Instead, focus on improving systems to prevent those fires from happening in the first place.
Create a Strategic Objective. This is a clear, written statement of your overall vision. It’s a guiding principle that informs all of your decisions and actions.
Establish Operating Principles that govern how tasks should be performed in your organization. These are crucial for ensuring that everyone is working in the same direction.
Develop detailed, step-by-step Working Procedures for every repeatable task within your organization. These serve as a reference point and ensure consistency and efficiency.
Biography of the Author
Sam Carpenter is a successful entrepreneur, author, and business consultant known for his focus on process and system improvement. He has shared his business insights in his popular book, “Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less”.
Carpenter’s professional journey began when he started a telephone answering service business, Centratel, in Bend, Oregon, in 1984. This business faced many struggles in its early years, leading Carpenter to reevaluate his approach to running a company. This period of reflection and change led to the development of the “Work the System” methodology, which he implemented to dramatically turn around his business’s performance.
The methodology is centered around viewing a business as a collection of interlocking systems that can be optimized and improved for more efficient and effective operations. This strategy allowed Carpenter’s business to go from struggling to highly successful, sparking the idea to share this knowledge and experience with other entrepreneurs.
This experience led to the creation of his book “Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less,” first published in 2009. The book and its methodology have since gained popularity among entrepreneurs and business leaders seeking to increase efficiency and productivity in their organizations.
In addition to his book, Carpenter also offers consulting services and online resources through his website, Work the System. His mission is to help business owners and managers free up their time and energy by improving their business processes and systems.
Criticisms
Over-simplification: Some readers might argue that the book oversimplifies the complexity of running a business. While systems thinking and process optimization are important, they are not the only factors that contribute to business success. Other factors, such as market conditions, competition, economic environment, and individual creativity, are not fully addressed in this approach.
Inflexibility: The heavy emphasis on procedures and systems might be seen as inflexible or limiting to some. Innovation often requires a level of flexibility and adaptability that strict systems and procedures might stifle. The book’s approach may be less applicable to industries or roles where creativity and spontaneity are key.
Implementation Challenges: While the book provides a roadmap for implementing a systems approach, some readers might find it difficult to apply these concepts in real-world settings. For instance, changing the mindset of an entire organization or getting buy-in from all employees to follow detailed working procedures might be challenging.
Lack of Attention to Human Element: Some critics may argue that the book’s focus on systems and processes overlooks the human element of running a business. Emotional intelligence, leadership skills, and the ability to inspire and motivate employees are essential aspects of successful business management, which may not be fully addressed in a systems-focused approach.
Limited Applicability: The strategies outlined in the book may not be equally effective across all types of businesses or industries. Businesses that are more process-driven, such as manufacturing or IT services, might benefit more from the book’s approach compared to those in creative industries, startups, or service-oriented businesses that require a high degree of personalization and adaptability.
Strategic Objective
In the book, Carpenter encourages readers to create a Strategic Objective – a clear, written statement outlining the overall goal or vision of the organization or individual. This objective should be both broad and specific. For instance, a company’s Strategic Objective might include providing excellent customer service, maintaining financial stability, and creating a satisfying workplace for employees. This objective then serves as a guiding light for all decisions and actions within the company, ensuring alignment with the long-term vision.
The Strategic Objective serves as a guiding document for your organization or personal life. It’s a clear, written statement that outlines your overall goals or vision. This is not a mission statement or a business plan; rather, it’s a broad yet specific description of what you want to achieve in the long run.
Creating a Strategic Objective requires you to think about the big picture. What are your long-term goals? What do you want your organization or life to look like in the future? By answering these questions, you can create a Strategic Objective that can guide your decision-making process and actions.
In a business setting, the Strategic Objective should align with the company’s values, culture, and aspirations. For instance, a Strategic Objective for a software development company could be to “Become the global leader in providing innovative, user-friendly software solutions, while maintaining an inspiring, diverse, and ethical workplace.”
The Strategic Objective also helps in setting priorities and making decisions, as it provides a framework that allows you to evaluate whether a potential decision aligns with your overall goals. For instance, if an opportunity arises that doesn’t align with your Strategic Objective, it may be best to pass on it, even if it looks appealing in the short term.
It’s important to communicate the Strategic Objective to everyone in the organization, so they all understand the direction and goals of the company. This way, every employee can align their work and decisions with the company’s overall vision.
Remember, a Strategic Objective is a living document. As situations change and the organization evolves, it’s necessary to revisit and revise the Strategic Objective to ensure it remains aligned with your current aspirations and capabilities. It’s a tool for continuous strategic alignment and should be flexible enough to adapt as needed.
Operating Principles
These principles set the standards for how tasks should be performed within the organization. They’re essential for consistency and efficiency, ensuring that everyone knows the correct and expected way to perform their duties. These principles should be clear, concise, and communicated to all members of the organization. They could be as broad as “always put customer satisfaction first” or as specific as “always respond to client emails within 24 hours”.
Operating Principles can be viewed as the guidelines or rules that drive how tasks and processes should be carried out within an organization. They are fundamental to ensuring consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness across all operations.
These principles should be clear, well-communicated, and understood by everyone in the organization. They define the way work is done and establish standards for behavior and performance. They can be broad, like “Always prioritize customer satisfaction,” or very specific, like “Respond to all customer inquiries within 24 hours.”
Here are some key aspects of Operating Principles:
Guiding Behavior: Operating Principles should guide behavior within the organization. They inform employees about what is expected of them, how they should carry out their tasks, and how they should interact with others. This could include guidelines for communication, teamwork, quality, and ethics.
Standardizing Processes: Operating Principles help standardize processes across the organization. By establishing a consistent way of doing things, organizations can increase efficiency, reduce errors, and ensure a predictable outcome. This could involve rules for how to handle customer complaints, how to conduct meetings, or how to manage projects.
Establishing Culture: Operating Principles also play a role in establishing and maintaining the organization’s culture. They communicate the organization’s values and expectations, helping to shape the behavior, attitudes, and norms within the organization.
Supporting Decision-Making: When faced with decisions, employees can refer to the Operating Principles to help guide their choices. This ensures that decisions align with the organization’s way of doing things and supports its overall vision.
It’s crucial for these principles to be consistently enforced and regularly reviewed. As the organization grows and changes, the Operating Principles may need to be updated to reflect new goals, strategies, or circumstances. They should not be static but should evolve with the organization.
Working Procedures
Carpenter advocates for the development of clear, written procedures for every repeatable task within the organization. These step-by-step guides detail exactly how each task should be performed. They serve as a reference point, ensuring that work is done consistently and effectively, regardless of who is performing the task.
Working Procedures are clear, detailed, step-by-step instructions for how to complete a specific task or process within an organization. They serve as a roadmap that employees can follow to ensure that tasks are performed consistently and efficiently, regardless of who is performing the task.
Working Procedures are beneficial for various reasons:
Consistency: When everyone follows the same procedures, it ensures that tasks are performed the same way each time. This consistency can lead to higher quality outcomes and makes it easier to predict results.
Efficiency: Working Procedures streamline operations by eliminating unnecessary steps or confusion about how to perform a task. This can increase productivity and save time.
Training: Detailed procedures make it easier to train new employees. They serve as a reference that new hires can refer to as they learn their jobs.
Accountability: When everyone is expected to follow the same procedures, it’s easier to identify and correct errors. If something goes wrong, you can look at the procedure to see what didn’t work and make necessary adjustments.
Continuity: In case of staff turnover, having written procedures in place ensures that knowledge and expertise are not lost. New staff can follow the procedures to perform tasks as effectively as their predecessors.
The process of creating Working Procedures involves identifying the tasks that are repeated often, documenting each step involved in these tasks, and making these documents accessible to all employees. It’s important to involve the people who perform these tasks in the creation of the procedures because they’re the experts on how these tasks are best performed.
Keep in mind that Working Procedures should be living documents. They should be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure they’re still relevant and effective, especially if there are changes in technology, personnel, or organizational goals. Feedback from employees who use the procedures should be considered during these reviews, as they can provide valuable insights into potential improvements.
Systems Thinking
At the heart of the book is the idea of “systems thinking”. Instead of viewing an organization as a whole, Carpenter encourages readers to see it as a collection of individual, interlocking systems. By focusing on optimizing each system, rather than constantly putting out fires, readers can make more efficient and effective use of their time. This approach allows for preventative measures, reducing the frequency and impact of problems.
“Systems thinking” is a central concept in Sam Carpenter’s book, “Work the System”. It’s a paradigm shift in how one perceives and addresses challenges in their life or business. Instead of viewing an issue as an isolated event or a singular problem, systems thinking encourages you to see it as a component of a larger system.
Here are some key aspects of systems thinking:
Understanding the Whole: Systems thinking encourages looking at the whole picture rather than focusing on individual components. It means understanding how various elements within a system interact with each other and how changes in one part can affect the entire system.
Interrelationships: Every system consists of interrelated parts. In an organization, these could be various departments like marketing, sales, HR, etc. In personal life, it could be relationships, career, health, and more. Each of these parts interacts with and influences the others. Systems thinking acknowledges these interactions and uses them to better understand the overall system.
Cause and Effect: In systems thinking, the emphasis is not just on treating the symptoms (problems as they appear) but on finding and addressing the underlying cause. By understanding the root cause of a problem, you can implement solutions that prevent the problem from reoccurring.
Feedback Loops: Systems thinking recognizes that systems are dynamic and constantly changing based on feedback. Feedback loops can be either positive (amplifying change) or negative (stabilizing the system). Understanding these loops helps in predicting and managing the system’s behavior over time.
Proactive Approach: Instead of constantly putting out fires (reactive), systems thinking promotes a proactive approach where you spend time improving the system to prevent problems from occurring in the first place.
In the context of “Work the System”, Carpenter applies systems thinking to business management. He suggests viewing a business not as a single entity but as a collection of interlocking systems. By focusing on optimizing each of these systems, businesses can improve efficiency, effectiveness, and overall productivity, ultimately leading to more success with less effort.
Applying a systems thinking approach can feel overwhelming initially, but with practice, it can lead to significant improvements in problem-solving and decision-making, whether in a business context or in personal life.