Michael Gerber's Business Development Process Foundation #3: Orchestration

Orchestration, in Gerber's words on p. 124, is

The elimination of discretion, or choice, at the operating level of your business.

This doesn't mean you don't give your employees any choice in what they do. It's just that you've tried out stuff. You've found what works. You've written it down in an operations manual, and everybody does the same thing the same way all the time.

If a composer has an idea for a symphony, he first devises the structure of it, writes out the melody, harmony, and rhythm. When he wants to have a symphony orchestra play it, he orchestrates it. This means he takes his idea, his vision for the orchestra, and writes it out so that every member of the orchestra plays the same thing the same way at the same time. Imagine if you had 30 violins in the 1st violin section all playing the same music differently. It wouldn't be music it would be cacophony.

If one of your employees sees a problem or thinks they have a better way, just as one of the players had a suggestion, the composer might change the music to reflect the suggestion, but all the players would then play it the same way.

Same way in business: if an employee has a good idea, you test it out, quantify it's impact on your business, and if it is indeed better, you change what you're doing and do it the new, better way.

And, in Gerber's words from p. 125,

If you haven't orchestrated it, you don't own it!

And if you don't own it, you can't depend upon it.

And if you can't depend on it, you haven't got a franchise.

And without a franchise no business can hope to succeed.

If, by a franchise, you understand that I'm talking about proprietary way of doing business that differentiates your business from everyone else's.

In short, the definition of a franchise is simply your unique way of doing business.

What do you think of this? The goal is to produce more skilled entrepreneurs. Does this help? Tell me. Post a comment. I'd like to know. And follow me on Twitter.com

Entrepreneurship informs all of my professional activities. Entrepreneurial ideas are their life's blood. For my ideas on entrepreneurial real estate go to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog and for my ideas on writing and publishing, go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com.