Did you manage to take a break from your business this summer? While you were away, were you constantly worrying about the business and what state you would find it in on your return? If so, your business is probably too reliant on you. If you’re determined NOT to feel like that for your next holiday, you need to take steps now to systemise your business.
Most small businesses are heavily reliant on their owner, at least in the formative years, and this could be due to not having good systems in place. As a business owner, you should be managing the processes, not the individual tasks so that you can be innovative and move your business in the direction you want it to go. So how do you go about introducing successful systemisation in your company?
Identify the processes
Include everything from new business development and invoicing to customer relations and IT. Creating a process map clarifies how all the operations come together and how each task may have many steps. List the tools you currently have in place and any gaps in these, plus skills and knowledge gaps.
Create standard procedures
Your ‘bible’ should include instructions, templates, workflows, videos and checklists for all the processes identified. With training, the standard system helps inexperienced or new people to carry out tasks without you having to be there for every step. Systemisation empowers your team members to take
responsibility and authority for processes and decreases your workload.
Testing, Testing
You need to test your process ‘bible’ by stepping back to allow allocated team members to follow the procedure. Take a couple of days off and come back to tweak the instructions and make improvements if necessary. Feedback from others can help you to further simplify processes.
Automation works
There are many cost-effective cloud-based tools to automate some of your tasks – managing data, accounts, scheduling, marketing, report generation, etc.
It’s apparent that businesses that don’t have systems in place will struggle to thrive and grow without you for long. There are many ways you will benefit from systemisation. Here’s just some:
Time Management – Efficient systems to give you more time to concentrate on revenue-generating tasks for goal setting.
Reduce mistakes and uncertainty – By breaking down processes step-by-step, you can reduce any mistakes and eliminate costly errors occurring.
Maintain standards – By following the same procedures, your output will always be of the same quality. Train your team to deliver the same standard of service as you always offer.
Moving in the right direction – A systemised business knows where it’s going, everyone is pulling in the same direction because they’re following the same processes towards the same goals.
Increasing value – A systemised business is far more valuable to a potential buyer. It’s vital that it can run as smoothly when you step away from it as when you’re fully involved.
What’s perhaps even more beneficial is the stress that systemisation will remove from your shoulders, improving your work-life balance and giving you back time to take proper holidays in future.
Systemisation is just one of the areas that CRM advises clients on through our 8 Steps Business Improvement Programme. We want all our clients to be successful and can support you through good times and hard times. Get in touch with the business experts at CRM on 01865 379272.
