Navigating the entrepreneurial landscape requires more than just passion and persistence; it demands a commitment to quality and strategic thinking. Melissa Leygan, an expert in quality management systems and the founder of eQMS Consulting LLC, demonstrates how developing and maintaining high-quality work is not only for big corporations or fancy CEOs but is also applicable and manageable for the everyday entrepreneur.
Melissa’s career is dedicated to enhancing the operational standards of various enterprises through robust quality management principles. There are common essential elements that entrepreneurs can weave into their business fabric to improve productivity and efficiency: a strong foundational purpose, optimized productivity systems, and effective goal-setting mechanisms.
By adopting these principles, entrepreneurs can build resilient and successful businesses well. Melissa shares her insights and demonstrates ways to emphasize quality throughout your journey to enhance your outcomes.
A Quality 'Why' Drives Your Actions
Ask any entrepreneur, long-time business owner, CEO, or founder the single most critical underlying idea that drives their business, and they’ll tell you it’s their “why”: what makes them pursue their vision relentlessly, what gets them out of bed before the crack of dawn to send emails, and what gives them the resilience to push through, even on days they may not want to. An effective “why” statement is the grounding and motivating reason to give this dream everything you have.
Understanding the 'why' behind one's entrepreneurial ventures is more than an introspective exercise; it is a strategic pillar that upholds the quality and direction of a business. Melissa stresses the importance of defining a 'why' that resonates deeply and personally yet aligns seamlessly with professional objectives. This alignment is crucial for maintaining consistency and integrity in business operations.
Melissa’s own 'why' serves as a cornerstone of her professional ethos. Its mission not only defines her approach to personal integrity but also embodies the transformative impact her work aims to achieve in organizational settings.
She focuses on introducing systematic order and predictability where it lacked enhancing operational efficiency and clarity.
Identifying a personal and/or professional ‘why’ that’s both compelling and deeply ingrained is crucial for anchoring your personal values and business goals. This core motivation does more than fuel persistence through challenging times; it magnetizes like-minded clients and partners who echo your values. It’s the guiding light, reminding you of the reasons you embraced the entrepreneurial opportunity.
To refine this 'why', consider what stirs your passion both in and outside of business. Ask yourself questions like: What unique solutions do I bring to the table? How do my personal experiences sculpt my approach to business? By addressing these questions, you will develop a robust foundation that not only fosters sustainable business growth but resonates with your deepest convictions and aspirations.
The Benefits of High-Quality Productivity Systems
Melissa’s approach to productivity revolves around the detailed design of quality systems that organize and streamline tasks, creating processes that minimize errors and maximize efficiency. Her method involves a careful categorization of tasks, clarifying tasks that need immediate attention and tasks to be scheduled for later. This systemization enables a more manageable workflow and clearer focus areas, so each step aligns with the overarching business goals.
This analogy illustrates the essence of her productivity strategy—breaking down large, complex goals into manageable, actionable steps. By organizing tasks systematically, entrepreneurs can avoid the common pitfalls of clutter and confusion, which often lead to procrastination and inefficiency.
Implementing a high-quality, systematic approach to productivity begins with the establishment of clear categories for tasks. For Melissa, her lists include:
For entrepreneurs, applying a structured approach such as this means assessing their entire operation from the ground up—ensuring that every task, no matter how small, contributes to the larger objective of the business. They are not just tasks being checked off a list but strategic steps towards achieving broader goals. This not only increases productivity but also instills a culture of quality and precision.
How to Strategically Goal Set with OKRs
In order to most effectively organize each task, it is critical to establish overarching, long range business goals, and regularly examine if those tasks are helping to achieve the desired outcome. Strategic goal setting with Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) offers a robust framework for instilling quality, precision, and effectivity in business planning and execution. Melissa utilizes OKRs as a fundamental tool to ensure her goals are not only set but met well within her chosen timeframe to keep the business on pace.
OKRs consist of two parts:
Objectives: These are clear, motivational, and ambitious goals meant to push the business forward. Objectives should align with the company’s vision and mission, providing a focal point for efforts over a set period. These could be set on a yearly, quarterly, monthly, or any other relevant timeframe basis, depending on the specific needs of your business.
Key Results: These are measurable outcomes needed to achieve the objective. They should be quantifiable, achievable, and crucial for the success of the objective. A common tactic for developing grounded actions is the SMART method: specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time bound.
This practice not only provides a clear roadmap towards achieving significant goals but also incorporates a quality-driven approach by emphasizing specificity and measurability.
Steps to effectively implement OKR’s:
Define clear objectives: Determine what you want to accomplish in the next quarter or year. These should be challenging yet achievable goals that advance your business.
Set measurable key results: Identify 2-5 results for each objective that will collectively indicate success. These results should be quantifiable to track progress clearly.
Regular check-ins: Continuously monitor progress towards key results. This allows for adjustments and fosters a responsive approach to challenges.
Reflect and reset: At the end of each cycle, review your OKRs. Analyze successes and areas for improvement, then reset your goals for the next cycle based on your learnings.
By embedding OKRs into your strategic planning, you can enhance the decision-making processes and ensure every step taken aligns with the company’s broader goals, fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. This systematic approach not only helps achieve specific outcomes but elevates the overall quality and impact of your efforts.
If you are unsure or new to OKRs, consider “The 12 Week Year.” The “year” is reestablished as the upcoming 12 weeks, giving every goal and tactic to accomplish said goal a sense of urgency and clarity to oppose complacency and stagnation.
Melissa’s Five Golden Rules for Entrepreneurship
Like a fingerprint, every entrepreneur’s journey is unique and there is no one standard that fits every venture. That is why our interviewees share “5 Golden Rules of Entrepreneurship” based on their own experiences. Melissa’s golden rules encapsulate the essence of her entrepreneurial philosophy and quality management approach. These are designed to guide entrepreneurs in building a resilient, quality-focused business.
Prioritize a High-Quality Productivity System: Melissa emphasizes the importance of creating a productivity system that focuses on quality production from the outset. This involves sorting tasks efficiently and managing workflows to align and maximize outputs. Such a system ensures every task contributes positively towards business objectives.
Define and Align Your 'Why': Understanding and aligning your personal motivations with your business goals is crucial. Melissa's own 'why' is to create safety out of chaos, which directs all her business activities. Entrepreneurs should articulate a 'why' that resonates on a personal level and reflects in their business ethics and operations.
Establish Core Values: Core values act as the bedrock of your business's culture and decision-making processes. Melissa advises that these values should not only resonate personally but should also be integral to the business strategy, driving goals and fostering a unified organizational ethos.
Use Visualization and OKRs for Goal Setting: Visualizing success and setting concrete objectives and key results (OKRs) are practices sustain Melissa’s efforts. Visualization helps define the end goals by how you envision the near future, while OKRs offer a structured path to achieve these goals, ensuring they are measurable and aligned with the business’s core values.
Delegate and Empower Leadership: Good leaders empower others by delegating effectively. Melissa believes in the power of leadership through delegation, which not only helps in managing the workload but also in nurturing a culture of trust and accountability within the team.
These rules provide a framework to incorporate quality into every step, making businesses successful, sustainable, and principled. By implementing any or all of these “golden rules,” you can create a strong foundation that supports growth and fosters a positive workplace culture, even if for the time being it is only for yourself.
From defining a compelling 'why' that aligns personal values with business goals, to implementing robust productivity systems, and strategically setting goals through OKRs, Melissa's approach is a testament to the power of quality in building a successful and sustainable business. These elements are crucial for those navigating the complexities of starting and managing a new venture to maintain deliberate and geared steps towards long-term success.
As your journey unfolds, remember the quality of your operations and decisions set the tone for your business's impact and reputation. Embrace these principles to not only meet your entrepreneurial goals but to exceed them while also building a standard of excellence and integrity.
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Meet Melissa, founder of eQMS Consulting LLC
Melissa Leygan is the owner of eQMS Consulting LLC, specializing in eQMS administration, documentation, training, and support. Melissa has worked with MasterControl and other eQMS software since 2016, and she is known for her confidence, kindness, and efficiency. She graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park (Go Terps!) and balances her professional life with her roles as a wife, mother, and avid video gamer. Melissa's organized approach and clever problem-solving abilities have earned her a reputation as a trusted advisor in the industry. Through her work, she continues to make a significant impact, shaping the future of quality management systems for businesses worldwide.
To learn more, visit the eQMS Consulting website or
contact Melissa via email at eqmsconsulting@gmail.com.
About the Author:
Em is the co-founder of L2Business and Director of Communication. Her prior work as a reporter and editor sparked the idea to interview entrepreneurs and highlight their real-world entrepreneurial insights with new and aspiring business builders. When she's not busy with the business, you can find her yelling at the TV watching her alma mater Texas Tech or any hockey game she can find. Let's connect on Facebook!
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