Business of Life & Your Life's Organisation Chart

Today, I want to show you specifically how you can run your life like a real business by organising your life into key business functions. After analyzing several organisation charts, I have identified 5 key roles and departments in order to grow and make any generic business successful. These can be applied into your own life where you can focus on them and create your very own life's organisation chart (I will explain more later).

The five key roles and departments are :

• CEO / Managing Director
• Sales and Marketing
• Finance
• Human Resource
• Information Technology/MIS

I am not going into the specifics as most if not all of you should be familiar in terms of what their business functions are based on your own experience and exposure.

In any company or business venture, the CEO or managing director provides the leadership and direction for the business. He or she plans, owns and executes the business plan.The Sales and Marketing Department focuses on marketing and selling the company's products and services. Another key department is the Finance Department which handles and manages all financial matters such as the company's financial resources to support the business objectives as well as the accounting functions. The other two departments - HR and IT also play very important supporting roles.

The human resource department controls all of the functions of the hiring, firing, benefits administration and welfare of the company. On the other hand, the role of the IT or MIS (Management Information Systems) department is to meet and support the information and technological needs of the business and its business goals.

If any of the above departments are deficient in any way, it would impact the company's operations and have huge negative implications on its future.


Creating your Life's Organisation Chart
How on earth do I apply the above to my own life, you might ask. Simple, we will borrow business metaphors and apply them to you.

Let’s get started… I want you to restructure your life’s operations into several parts and imagine that you are the business. There’s you, the CEO, who decides your life’s directions and makes all the final decisions. Then there’s you - the sales and marketing director who is responsible for generating income, you – the HR director, you – the Finance director and finally, you – the IT director.

In the business of life, you will need to put yourselves into the shoes of these personas and play out their roles to reach your full potential. All of these inner you's must work in harmony with each other towards a common purpose. And you will need two key plans – a Personal Business Plan (PBP) and a Personal Marketing Plan (PMP).

Let’s go back and review all the business roles we have discussed, this time from the perspective of your life.

First, the role of CEO in your life is rather straightforward. You run your life’s business the way a CEO would. The four key departments in a business organization relate to the four key skills that you must develop in the Business of Life. Let me first give you a very quick introduction.

Sales & Marketing
This department is key to your life. It generates your income and helps pay the bills. You need to market yourself, sell your talents and what you offer over other alternatives. It is about catering to the needs of your employer by delivering what they want, delivering lots of value and going the extra mile.

Many concepts in sales and marketing are applicable to your life. Your “PR” (public relations) with others – getting along well with others – is key. You also need to realize the importance of creating a positive personal brand that will differentiate you from the competition.

Many people say they can’t sell or they don’t care about marketing. This kind of mentality is a huge disadvantage. Here’s the cruel reality: No matter how good you are, if others don’t know about your abilities or achievements, you will be overlooked in a promotion. If you don’t know how to communicate effectively, build relationships with others and sell yourself, you are severely handicapped!

Finance
You probably have read about the importance of personal finance. It is not how much you earn that makes you rich, it’s how much you save. In this department of your life, the ability to manage your finances and cash flow are crucial to personal success.

Sadly, many promising high-flyers don’t know how to manage their money. As soon as they get a windfall, they spend it all. For those doing well, they show off their wealth by buying luxury goods like expensive cars and jewellery, all of which do not contribute to their growth but put them in further debt.

So it is about investing for future growth rather then celebrating your past success! In a real business, it is the finance department that pulls the brakes on over-spending and ensures productive use of its financial resources. You should do the same in the business of life!

Human Resource
You need to ensure the human resource department in your own life still functions well and supports your life’s goals. No matter how good you think you are, you need to develop your skills and undergo continuous learning. So few people think about constantly upgrading themselves. Nor do they proactively gear themselves up for change.

You also need to take good care of yourself when it comes to your family, health and relationships with your relatives and close friends. Any setback here can ruin you or cause huge distractions that will stunt your future growth potential.

How you tap on internal and external resources can only bring out the best of your abilities. You need to recognise your strengths and weaknesses. Not doing anything at all stagnates your growth especially when you are contented with doing the same things every day. Conversely, underestimating your abilities, not asking for help, or punishing yourself because of a setback will leave you disillusioned and erode your self-confidence.

Information Technology
If you are not Internet savvy or worse, you are computer illiterate, you have a major problem in the business of life, especially in today’s knowledge economy and connected world.

Imagine the impact to a business if it had no Internet access, doesn’t communicate via email or does not use IT at all in its business operations. Ignore this department in your life at your own peril. The fact is you need to use technology to increase productivity, achieve competency and ensure competitiveness.

To succeed in the business of life, you need to ensure that all the personal business functions are in place and working in harmony with each other - under the leadership of You, the CEO. Only you can manage the multiple roles and departments within your life. In many cases, these departments might be non-existent and you wonder why your life's business is not doing well. Remember, just relying on career competency which I define as your education qualifications, your technical or professional skills, your talents and work experience is not going to be enough to thrive in the Business of Life.