5 Reasons to Involve Your Team in Small Business Systems & Processes
Over the years, I’ve worked with thousands of business owners helping them build their small business systems and processes. After seeing what they do in their business and how their systems do (or do not) work, I’ve realized that the biggest problem with owners or admins is often that they try to sit down and build their small business systems themselves with no input from the team.
On the surface, this may seem like it would be an effective tactic – after all, the owner has a vision for their business goals. They have a vision for how they want their business to run. In reality though, it just never works. If you really want your team to have the systems they need to run productively and profitably, wherever possible get your team involved in building the systems they will use.
Here are a few of the reasons why.
#1: One Person Can’t “See” or “Know” All The Steps.
Let’s just be honest. While an owner might start off doing many of the business operations and tasks themselves, there are a lot of tasks they don’t do well. When it’s time to document those procedures into an operations manual, the owner is only looking through their own perspective. The owner very likely is not aware of the entire process the team completes. This is often because when a team member has the time and resources to focus intently on doing their core business processes they do it better.
Simply put, while an owner may believe they know all the business processes, from an outside perspective we know that they are only doing a marginal job at best. When you have a team in place they can take the time with individual tasks. They are passionate about doing each series of steps and will do them twice as well as an owner could.
How Team Collaboration Drives Emotional Buy-In
Another problem with an Owner or Admin trying to write all the policies and procedures by themselves is that they are failing to get the necessary buy-in from their team. This buy-in is vital to the team taking ownership of their roles and appreciating the process and steps to be followed. Allowing the team to be part of the content creation is key.
So how can you get buy-in?
Get Buy-In by Being Part of the Build
One way is to praise your team for doing a great job on a task. Then, ask them to document it so that when someone covers for them it is done the same great way they do it. This creates an atmosphere where you’re not only showing appreciation, but are helping them step up as a leader to train the team with best practices. This also instills operational excellence.
Get Buy-In by Allowing The Team to Edit
Another way is to present this person with elements of the operational processes and ask for their input, acknowledging that you have missed some areas. This is because we want to leave areas for them to develop on their own – opportunities that will allow them to truly take ownership of the project.
They will not only put more thought into documenting the everyday tasks, but when they then teach it to the team, it will anchor in. They will also forever help monitor that everyone complies with the procedure and process. This anchors in a lifetime of emotional buy-in on that procedure. It also increases the chances of success.
#3: You Inadvertently Skip Steps.
Another problem which occurs when a single person tries to draft all of the procedures is that they inadvertently skip steps. The brain naturally jumps ahead to the next section, wanting to have that forward movement of completion. What gets missed along the way are the interim steps that breakdown “WHO Shall do WHAT by WHEN” with clarity on how that process needs to work step by step.
This is especially true in day to day operations where it can feel so basic it is hard to slow the brain down to document the business function.
It is also true when you have automated business processes and it is easy to mentally skip documenting all the steps.
#4. It Is Mentally Exhausting for One Person to Try to Build All The Small Business Systems and Processes
One thing we know for certain is that it is mentally exhausting for one person to try to build all the small business systems and processes.
I have dozens of clients who have designated a single person in the office as the Systems Leader. While that person should indeed manage and move projects forward, it shouldn’t be on them to draft everything. In fact, their role should be more inventory management. They should work with each department, interviewing and helping the different team members draft up procedures relevant to what they do.
Long term success is about project management. It is about setting up repetitive tasks and how we move projects forward efficiently. Thus, it is not a single person drafting all the business processes. Instead, it is a collaborative effort with one project manager helping ensure completion and implementation.
If you were to leave it to a single person to do nothing but sit in a room and draft procedures all day, you would likely have an empty position very quickly. That environment does not lend to helping a person thrive, especially when they have no feedback or input from their team.
#5: Shoving Systems on Others Rarely Works.
All too often, I see owners or admins who draft long operational processes – and then shove them down the throats of everyone on the team as if it’s they’re perfect. Rarely do people enjoy having something jammed at them where they have no say or input. Instead, they become suspicious as to the authenticity of the content.
While this may have worked in the old authoritarian cultures, it is much less likely to bode well in today’s environment.
The power of systems is that they level the playing field and provide examples of business systems so everyone on the team has increased confidence on how to do the tasks.
So, What is the Solution?
Successful business owners start with empowering the team to build the core business processes first. These day to day tasks will streamline activities the fastest. From there, the focus is often on business growth and marketing activities. Document the processes for your marketing assistant and virtual assistants so they can get manage the manual tasks. Next, focus on potential customers, product deliveries and customer service. This allows your Team to do a great job and meet our business objectives.
So how do you create a turnkey business with business systems and processes?
First, Start with Templates
First, start with templates of policies and procedures related to what you do or the different departments in your business. Systems that are tried and true and have been used by others. This will reduce 20 to 30 hours of drafting time. Otherwise, it can be a daunting task to try to document all the core business processes from a blank page
Then, Review and Modify
From there, have one to three team members sit down and review them. This allows them to modify the templates to fit your particular business.
It is also a chance to include instructional videos and a checklist of steps for greater operational success. This is also where you can use other programs such as Zoom, Loom, Descript, and ScreenPal, to record the instructional videos. Or use programs like Wrike, SweetProcess, Miro, and Scribe for writing checklists, diagrams and more.
Then, Get Feedback
Take this draft and ask two to three other team members for input on what they may have missed. Ask for where we can add clarity to the steps and the processes. This allows the various team members to feel included and equips us to obtain key information about how they do their tasks in the most effective and efficient manner.
Interestingly, you sometimes learn that one or two members are not very efficient in their work while a third person is doing a great job. This gives you a chance to get everyone on the same page and increase your productivity and profitability.
Finally, You Roll It Out
Finally, the procedure or system is edited and presented to the team as a final product to be utilized for the next 60 days. During this time, you or your virtual assistant will receive feedback from the team on what there may be adjustments to create a better, more streamlined process.
This is how you build effective systems.
Successful business owners know that building operational processes that get implemented and used is a key to business success. Systems reduce labor costs and increase profit margins as we can retain more great people and help them work effectively.
By allowing your team to help you build your small business systems and processes, you allow for a team approach which creates a thriving, healthy team that works together!
If you need help building your systems, we can help! Check out our Systems Packages by Department and our Systems Packages by Position.