A key function is a set of accountabilities and processes carried out within an area of the business.
A business typically has around seven to 10 key functions. For example:
- Generating awareness and leads in their target market
- Converting leads to sales
- Delivering a quality product/services to the customer; on time, every time
- Nurturing customers so they return and refer business
- Building a healthy culture
- Supporting and developing people to be the best they can be
- Managing financial transactions to ensure healthy cash flow and financial security
- Provide business systems and IT infrastructure
For example, the leadership team at Sandstone agreed their key functions are:
- Leading the Business
- People and Culture
- Accounting and Admin
- Build the Sandstone Way
- Engage the Market
- Design Product
- The Workshop
- Install
Leadership and Accountability
Knowing what the key functions are is one thing but everyone needs to be clear on who leads each function and what their accountabilities are.
To be a successful business requires an effective and productive leadership team at the front of the ship. To be effective, the team must have role clarity. Who is doing what, who is ACCOUNTABLE for what? Our experience has proven time and again that a lack of role clarity and accountability at the leadership level is a significant blocker to building a resilient business.
Once the leadership team has agreed on each key function, the information is captured in the Platform in the the Organisation Map. This provides everyone in the organisation with the same picture to make sense of the business.
This Organisation Map shows the teams that sit within each function.
Key function details….
- Name: Get agreement as to what this function will be named.
- Leader: Who is the leader?
- Description: Describe the function clearly for everyone in the business.
- Accountabilities: Limit to 3-4 key accountabilities. What needs to be delivered from this function?
- People/roles/teams: What are the roles and the teams that do the work?
- IT Systems: Identifying systems is important as they can play an important role in managing the work of the function. E.g. Customer Relationship Management system.
Resources:
Point of Difference