My 11-year-old daughter Emily goes to school in Boston at a place called The Learning Project. It’s a wonderful school, with nice kids, involved parents and up-to-date facilities. But that’s not what I love most about it.

For me, the school’s best feature is its headmaster, Michael McCord. He’s terrific in many ways, but what I appreciate most about him is the way he greets the children and their parents each morning.

Rain or shine, in blazing heat or frigid cold, Mr. McCord stands out on the sidewalk every single morning to welcome us as we arrive. No matter what, he’s always there, smiling, waving, saying hello and making everyone feel at home.

The result is simple. Not only does it make me like him personally, but I also appreciate the sense of community he’s creating with parents, students and his own employees. When the leader is so visible, the message that people matter is clear.

Unfortunately, many businesspeople are too busy “doing business” to apply this same approach  We get so caught up in our day-to-day work that we either delegate visibility-which sends a message that it’s not that important-or we don’t make it happen at all.

That’s a shame, because visibility solves two (big) problems for you…

First, it shows your customers and employees that you, the owner/president, are involved.

Second, it gives you visibility into the workings of your own company. It helps you see what’s going well and what needs improving, enabling you to cut off potential problems early.

But none of this happens by itself. Two things are required:  

1. 1. Determine where and when to be visible. For Michael McCord, it’s during morning drop-off, when the majority of students and their parents arrive. He gets maximum visibility in the shortest amount of time by choosing the right situation.
      
      Your best time and place may be different. 

      Maybe it’s early morning at the warehouse as the delivery truck drivers arrive. Or maybe it’s Saturday afternoon in your retail toy store when parents and kids come in together.The point is to think about how to get your greatest bang for your visibility buck.

   2. Make a visibility commitment.You don’t need to show up every single day like Mr. McCord, but you do need to set a regular schedule and keep to it. Like exercise, visibility will never be today’s priority. If you don’t write it into your calendar as a real appointment, you’ll have trouble keeping it going.

Remember, as the leader of your business, your visible and regular presence goes a long way in building trust and heading off problems early. Pick a time and be there. 

Last Saturday night I went out to dinner with my friend George.

I was looking forward to going out all week and my night out got even better when George pulled the car up to the valet parking area of the spectacular restaurant we’d chosen.

I absolutely love valet parking. Finding a parking space that’s close to where you’re going in downtown Boston can be a bit dicey. Pulling right up to the curb and having a guy in a red jacket open the door and offer his hand to help you out of the car is fabulous.

Except when it doesn’t work. Then it has the exact opposite effect of a good night on the town.

Enjoying a great meal, getting ready to leave and then having to stand around waiting for your car can be a real mood breaker. And on this particular night, after wonderful service and great food, it felt as if we waited forever to get our car.

Here’s what happened…

When we first arrived there were about five cars at the door and five car-parking guys on hand. A perfect balance, and we were efficiently taken care of in seconds.

A few hours later when it was time to leave there were about 10 cars in play. At this point, the five parking guys were running all over the place, clearly confused. They weren’t sure which couple to help next, they had no clear division of labor between car-parkers and car-retrievers, and nobody seemed to be in charge. Twenty minutes later, we finally got in our car.

Valet parking is pretty simple when the number of cars matches the number of staffers. When the numbers don’t balance and there’s no well thought out system in place, it can be a nightmare.

The whole episode reminded me of some clients of mine who, while they seem to have plenty of employees, are unable to consistently get the work done on time.

If I were to scale this valet parking operation so that all customers were taken care of as the demand for service grew, here’s what I would do:

1.  Hire a Strong Manager. A weak manager or supervisor can be a big part of the reason that a system breaks down as work increases. Inexperienced managers in particular often want to control what they’re responsible for in an effort to make sure they’re “in charge.” Unfortunately, this creates an environment where every decision needs to pass through them, causing a bottleneck in the workflow that can jam things up pretty quickly.

The other potential issue with ineffective managers is that, if they were promoted from the position they are now managing, they might be uncomfortable in their new role as “boss.” They’ll need new skills to go along with their new responsibilities, and training to understand what’s expected of them.

I use post-it notes for these process maps and write one part of the flow on each note. I arrange them on a blank wall or on easel sized Post-It Notes. By putting each part of the process on its own note, I can move them around, add in new ideas and remove parts that no longer make sense.

2.  Plan and Build the System. During a slow period, grab the manager and a couple of car parkers and map out what you’d like to have happen if everything went smoothly for each customer.

In this example the map would look something like this:

Car arrives — > Valet opens the door — > Greets the customer with “Hello” — > Offers an umbrella if it’s raining — > Valet has a stack of tickets in his pocket — > Gives one to the driver of each car — > And so on.

Then map out what actually happens and compare the “what is” map with the “what you’d like” map. Figure out what needs to change in order to accomplish your ideal.

3.  Test Drive Your System. Once you have the process all mapped out, it’s time to give it a whirl. Get your team together and move through the process one step at a time. Watch for duplication, missing steps and any confusion on the part of the customer or employees. Make adjustments based on what you discover. Keep in mind that testing the system is never a onetime operation.

Circumstances change, expectations change, staff changes. As you improve your operation, it’s important to note any steps that repeatedly cause problems and make adjustments. Review procedures with the staff about every six months.

Watching your business grow beyond its initial size is great – in fact it’s what every business owner hopes for.

Just make sure your systems are engineered to grow right along with it.

Otherwise, you may find yourself standing in the rain for a long time, waiting for your car to show up!