Over the years, I’ve worked with thousands of small business owners. 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 write it all 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 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 tasks themselves, there are a lot of tasks they don’t do well. When it’s time to document those procedures, the owner is only looking through their own perspective and is not aware of some of the additional steps and nuances that the team completes when they have the time and resources to focus intently on doing their tasks.
Simply put, while an owner may believe they know all the steps, from an outside perspective we know that they are only doing a marginal job at best because they are limited on time. When you have a team in place that can take the time and are passionate about doing specific tasks, they will do them twice as well as an owner could.
#2: You Won’t Get the Emotional Buy-in the Way You Do When Your Team Helps Build.
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 that must be followed.
For instance, when you praise your team for doing a great job on a task and ask them to document it well so that when someone covers for them it is done the same great way they do it, it 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. It is fine to present this person with some of the steps completed and ask for their input, acknowledging that you have missed some areas, but 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 procedure, but when they then teach it to the team, they will also forever help monitor and police that everyone complies with the procedure and process. This anchors in a lifetime of emotional buy-in on that procedure.
#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 (and 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.
#4. It Is Mentally Exhausting for One Person to Try to Build All The Systems.
One thing we know for certain is that it is mentally exhausting for one person to try to build all the systems. 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 to work with each department, interviewing and helping the different team members draft up procedures relevant to what they do and how we move projects forward efficiently. Thus ,it is not a single person drafting all the systems, but in fact 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 procedures and 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.
So, what is the solution?
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.
From there, have one to three team members sit down and review, starting to modify the templates to fit your particular business.
Then, they can take this draft and ask two to three other team members for input on what they may have missed or 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, 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’ll receive feedback from the team on what needs to be adjusted, amended, or improved to create a better, more streamlined process.
Building systems that get implemented and used is a team approach and creates a thriving, healthy team that works together!