Care for Your Business Just Like Your COVID Beard

Just like my tens of friends, I grew a beard during COVID. I became “that guy,” the neckbeard binging on Netflix, pizza rolls, and self-pity. My boss said he wanted to see more of me, so I gained 20 pounds and grew out my facial hair. To my genuine surprise, a good-looking beard is an investment in best practices. Unless you want to look like a 19th century Crimean War veteran, it takes time and effort to tend to your facial hair. How is your business like a glorious mane of facial hair? I am thrilled you asked. Business practices and ERP systems also require a daily, weekly, and monthly grooming regimen to keep them in shape. 

First things first. You need to develop a grooming habit, a disciplined activity that makes your beard look better. When you do not perform any grooming, the hair on your face will look like a feral cat. Similarly, if you just install an ERP system or performed Business Process Reengineering once years ago with no follow-up, your business will become scraggly, disheveled, and unkept. When you do not care for your beard, you end up looking like an unmade bed. Do not let your business look like you in the mirror. Get your beard and your business in shape by following these simple steps. 

Second, grooming your facial hair is mostly about taking care of the skin underneath your beard. Like most men, I am notorious for my lack of skincare. Business systems are no different. Your customer orders, reports, and sales reps are part of the client-facing “beard” that everyone sees. But a healthy business, like a beard, needs to nurture the processes, data, and people that support the business beard. Here is a fun fact: the skin under your beard is more sensitive and less resilient than that the skin on your head. The same is true for your data, business processes, and future predictions. You need to tend to them by moisturizing your data, get rid of the buildup of oils and itchy skin in your processes, and keeping your client-facing beard shiny and groomed. The products for your scraggly COVID beard can be numerous and confusing. The same is true for ERP systems or Business Intelligence programs. It is a big market with a lot of confusing options. Let us break it down:

Beard oil is like an ERP system. 
Beard oil was the product I was most familiar with — at least in terms of what you see in stores and hipster social media channels like LinkedIn. Beard oil is just what they say it is— an oil base that often has essential oils added in for scent. Your ERP system is analogous to beard oil. It is necessary for conditioning and moisturizing both the data and your end-users. While it often does not offer much styling control, it helps your employees view the data in a pleasing manner, and lets the important functions lay nicely on the face of your business. However, if your data and processes are as unruly as my beard, then you need a secondary conditioning option. 

Beard balm is the Business Process Reengineering (BPR), light. 
Beard balm is usually in an artsy tin with clever sayings on it. It is called “conditioning” or “styling” balm, but the net effect is the same: it will moisturize your skin while also providing some shape to your beard. BPR is what is necessary to moisturize the value-added functions in your business beard and shape what your future state should look like. If you have unruly beard hairs, BPR balm will not only mold your business in a pleasing shape but feed the individuals that make it work. When it comes to conditioning versus styling, it is generally just a matter of thickness. The same with Business Process Reengineering. You can lay it on thick and go through the full spectrum of the current state and future state in your key business processes. Or you can opt for a conditioning balm and limit your reengineering to a few key business processes. Conditioning balm (BPR light) is less thick and offers less shaping control but are not as demanding on your people and your time. 

Beard and Mustache wax are Heavy Weight BPR fixes. 
Waxes are a step up from even balms in terms of thickness and shaping control. If you have an intense business model or your business is in dire straits, you may require wax that can wrangle your unruly processes, people, and data into that splendid Instagram beard. Current state processes, carefully crafted future state processes, business strategy, company goals, corporate objectives, as well as KPI’s styled by a seasoned consultant can tame the wildest of beards and employees. Beard wax and someone that knows how to use it can be your business beard’s best friend. That waxy consultant can deliver on track business processes, activities, and mindsets like glue. 

Beard combs and trimmers/scissors are recurrent training. 
The concept of a beard comb and trimmers sounded downright silly to me when I grew my awful beard. Now, I do not know what I did without them. A beard comb and mustache scissors will straighten your beard, keeping it organized, trim away unruly hair, and give your beard that polished look. Similarly, having periodic training and recurrent refresher training on your ERP as well as having a tune-up on your business processes will make you look like a movie star. You will not believe how disorganized your beard hair and your business were until you give it a good combing and trimming. 

Whip That Beard and Business into Shape
That is really all there is to having a beard like Idris Elba. On the surface, it sounds so easy - just a couple of products, a simple routine, and voila you have a happy beard and profitability. Real-life is not so easy. A happy beard, like a profitable business, takes discipline and follow-through. Give your business and your beard what it needs – take a deep dive into the myriad of products and consultants available and find the products, regimen, and stylist you need.

The bespoke consultants at Liberty Technology Advisors have well-groomed beards and will coach your business into the habit of regular maintenance. Before you know it, you will look good, feel good, and make glorious profits.