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Kota Kinabalu: Business owners need to prioritise the right people, align employees’ personal aspirations with the company’s vision and establish effective processes to achieve sustainable business growth, says Owners Circle Academy (OCA) Founder Ray Chou (pic).
He said many businesses struggled to grow because owners relied too heavily on individuals rather than establishing systematic processes that would allow operations to continue smoothly regardless of staff changes.
“The only way to scale is if we scale through process. And process over people.
“Process over people means paying attention to the process before paying attention to people. It is not that we do not care about people, but the chances of people succeeding are higher when we hire someone and ask them to follow a successful process,” he told Daily Express when met after OCA’s exclusive seminar titled “People + Process = Profit” at the Daily Express Gallery in Kolombong here Friday.
Chou, an entrepreneur with 30 years of commercial experience across 19 ventures and over RM150 million in business valuation exits, outlined three key areas that business owners should focus on, namely placing the right people in the right positions, aligning employees’ personal aspirations with the company’s vision and building effective processes.
On recruitment, Chou said employers needed to clearly define the requirements of each position instead of simply looking for someone to fill a vacancy.
He introduced the concept of “S-A-M-E”, which stands for skills, attitude, measurement of success and the expectations of the leader.
“Right people means really understanding the persona and the person that you want to be in that seat in the company.
“If we can write it down and define it, the chances of finding the right people and having them do the right things are much higher. Then you create a space for people to be loyal,” he said.
Chou said loyalty should not be treated as an inherent personal value but as a result of employees enjoying their work and finding fulfilment in their roles.
“I always say that loyalty is not a value. Everyone is not born with loyalty. Loyalty is a result.
“If they love what they do, then naturally they do not want to leave,” he said.
On the second point, Chou said business owners often expected employees to work towards the company’s vision without considering their individual aspirations.
He said employees might have personal goals such as providing better education for their children, buying a new car or purchasing a house, which employers should understand and take into account.
“When the company makes money, and even if we give a bonus, how does that contribute to the person’s vision? There must be an alignment there.
“Once there is alignment, people will work for a purpose and a reason, not just to help the owner make money,” he said.
Chou said the third area, establishing effective processes, was particularly important for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) seeking to expand their operations.
He cited McDonald’s as an example of a business that could operate without depending on a chef’s individual expertise because its kitchen operations were guided by pictures, colours and numbers.
He said this demonstrated how clearly defined processes could enable employees to perform their duties consistently, even without extensive individual experience.
Chou said businesses in Sabah had considerable opportunities to improve their management practices and expand beyond the State.
He said his decision to bring OCA’s programmes to Sabah was inspired by conversations with local business owners who felt they had to travel to Kuala Lumpur to access business learning opportunities.
“A lot of Sabahans that I talk to always tell me that every time they want to learn something, they have to go to KL.
“This is what inspired me to come here and provide the learning here,” he said.
Chou expressed hope that the programmes would help local businesses improve their performance and enable Sabah-based companies to expand nationwide and internationally.
On the seminar’s response, he said many participants appeared to identify with the issues discussed, with several approaching him for further advice.
He said participants needed to translate what they had learnt into action rather than treating the seminar as a one-off learning experience.
Chou added that several participants had committed to applying the lessons and reporting their progress within a few weeks or a month.
He also said a number of participants had signed up for OCA’s programme during the event, with another programme scheduled to be held in Sabah in November.
Meanwhile, Hakobi Sdn Bhd Managing Director Sopinal Chong said the seminar highlighted the importance of businesses identifying a specific target market and developing their strengths to stand out.
He said the emphasis on processes was particularly relevant to SMEs, many of which remained heavily dependent on their owners to manage daily operations.
“The biggest takeaway for me from this event is that being unique means finding a specific target you can focus on and being good at it.
“What Chou mentioned about processes is something most businesses lack, which is why they cannot move to the next level,” he said.
Chong said he believed processes were crucial to business growth, particularly when owners wanted their companies to become less dependent on them.
Young Malaysians Movement (YMM) Sabah State Vice Chairwoman and YMM Kota Kinabalu Branch Chairwoman Sheena Tan Yu Xuan said the seminar was well timed and provided useful insights into business development.
“My biggest takeaway is process over people. To me, process is very important for a company to grow,” she said.
Businesswoman Laila Natasha Maran said the seminar was helpful to her businesses in insurance, renovation and cleaning services.
She said the discussions on processes, people, values and vision were particularly relevant to her renovation and cleaning operations, where effective coordination and management were essential.
“I am learning about the process, the people, the value, the vision and also how to build a company culture,” she said.
Meanwhile, 2L Bersatu Sdn Bhd and Officelink System Sdn Bhd representative Telly Chong said the seminar broadened his understanding of how OCA’s programme could help companies like his that had grown and diversified into different areas.
