There's an old proverb that says, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." This applies directly to building business processes. The earlier you establish processes, the better. However, even if your business has been running without them, it's never too late to start.
Adi Klevit, CEO of Business Success Consulting Group, and Chase Harmer, Founder of Wishes, Inc., discussed this on the Systems Simplified podcast. During their discussion, they explored the impact processes have on business scalability and shared how business owners can tackle process building/documentation even if they are in the midst of growing the company.
Why Build Processes?
You have a great idea that is unique and adds value. How you execute that idea will either keep your business small or allow you to scale. If you want to scale, then you have to build business processes.
Chase noted in the interview, "If you want to scale a business without processes, you'll just burn capital like nobody's business." A great idea alone will not enable a business to scale; the company must operate efficiently and consistently. Without processes in place, scaling becomes incredibly difficult - and expensive.
Well-documented processes help your company build:
- Consistency for both customers and employees.
- Easier onboarding to simplify scaling.
- Automation, because you can automate on the back of all these processes.
- Consistent growth across the board.
However, building or documenting processes when you're in the weeds, trying to scale a business is also difficult. Often, it becomes "one more thing" on a list of "to-dos" that is higher than the tallest skyscraper.
So, how do you get processes built while trying to grow your business and stay profitable?
Four Steps to Take When Building and Documenting Business Processes While Growing Your Business
How do you start building processes when you're already feeling stretched thin? The key is to incorporate your team into the process, leveraging their knowledge and expertise to ensure success.
1. Engage your Team From the Start
The first step in documenting and building processes is to involve those team members who are already doing the work. Your employees have been carrying out tasks and procedures for months or years. They understand the ins and outs of daily operations and often have insights into the most effective way to accomplish tasks.
You need these team members on board, so it's vital to share why you want to get the documentation done and let the team know what they can expect to gain by being involved in process documentation. This discussion is an opportunity to show your team how these processes can benefit them personally, whether through reducing their training time for new hires, streamlining their tasks, and/or increasing year-end bonuses.
It's essential to make this a collaborative effort from the beginning. Involving your team in your process-building project will give them a sense of ownership over the outcomes. This will make them more likely to implement the processes once they are documented.
2. Actively Involve the Team in the Process Documentation
Get your team directly involved in the documentation process. There are various ways to do this; you can:
- Sketch out the broad strokes and meet with them.
- Get your process-building team to shadow them and "train" them on their tasks.
- Ask them to review the process you've documented.
- Set aside time each day for them to complete their own documentation tasks.
No matter what you do, you must include them. This way, they have ownership over the processes. You will need their help as the business systems evolve because, once built, processes have to be consistently updated. Outdated processes are the kiss of death to any system you'd like to keep in use, so get your team involved early in the process documentation project.
3. Defer to Your Team’s Expertise
Trust your team’s hard-won knowledge. They've been performing the tasks you're documenting and have a good understanding of how things work. If they say that the existing system is done in a particular way, they are probably right. It may not be the best way to get things done or be inefficient, but it's how things are being done right now.
4. Focus on Documentation Before Improvement
By documenting how your business runs at this moment, you have established a baseline from which you can make improvements. If you start changing things mid-documentation, you have no data to refer to when something doesn't work. Get the existing processes down before you start changing things.
The perfect time to build processes is when your business is small and just beginning its growth trajectory. But most companies are scrambling at that point, trying to keep their heads above water. If you are well beyond the start-up stage or have been in business for decades, it's still not too late to build processes.
If you haven't yet tackled process documentation, now is the time to act. Talk to the experts at Business Success Consulting Group for a free initial consultation and start building the systems that will support your business growth.
