By Hardik Harsora, Co- Founder of Effex Business Solutions

This article was originally published by Entrepreneur.com

How do select companies consistently achieve it while the vast majority struggle? How do some companies command the lion’s share in hyper-competitive markets while the others fight over leftovers? In the days where competition is the norm, most companies share their competitors’ inefficiency. And then, there are firms which follow excellent processes. Processes reduce human effort and cost, increase productivity and efficiency and make it easier for firms to grow.

The top 5 process excellence principles which enable a business to grow in the shortest time are:

1. Business Modeling

An organization which knows its mechanics knows how to grow by design. ‘Mechanics’ here indicates a sharp understanding of what works and why. Thus, an organization which understands its customer’s pain points, designs offers and activities accordingly, accurately estimates resources like infrastructure and people, while keeping cost in check, builds robust a business model. When a company develops a robust business model, it takes the first step towards achieving process excellence.

2. Lean Processes

In our analogue world, complexity enamours most businesses. With complexity come unwelcome practices like too many heads and increased approvals. By the time a complex process takes shape, the world has already moved on to the next big thing.

Companies which grow fast ensure that handoffs exchange as few hands as humanly possible. This also keeps manual decision-making low, which leads to quicker implementation. Thus, good processes are simple and lean.

3. Measure Influencing Factors Also

Most companies measure just outcomes. As a result, they’re dead in the water when results go south.

Process excellence demands paying more attention to influencing factors than outcomes. For instance, inefficient companies use sales numbers as a metric to measure sales. But process driven companies focus on influencing factors like the number of leads, the quantum of ‘hot leads’ and the conversion ratio. These factors give them insights into whether the mechanics of their business are efficient.

4. A Result-Oriented System

Over-reliance on people leaves room for ambiguity and confusion. To grow, a company should instead focus on developing a result-oriented system.

A result-oriented system is one where people are not trained to achieve results, but to work the system which, in turn, gets results. Thus if something needs tweaking, it’s the system, not the people. Systems don’t attrite, and tweaking them is far more cost effective than tweaking people.

The emphasis on result-oriented systems at McDonald’s, for instance, is evident in the results. French fries at any outlet across the country taste the same regardless of who prepares them.

5. Team Sport

Process excellence cannot be achieved in the boardroom. It’s a mindset which the whole organization must develop. When every employee deploys processes for growth planning, problem-solving, and performance management, the organization moves towards process excellence.Then, efficiency and growth are inevitable.