Many business owners understand that having documented processes and procedures in the workplace is valuable. However, they must overcome two barriers to implementing processes and procedures in a busy workplace.
First: There is the time crunch. If everyone is busy, when will the documentation get done?
Second: There is the willingness of employees to document. How can you make documentation and implementation of business systems part of the workflow?
It Begins with a Leadership Decision
As the business leader, the buck stops with you. That means you must be the one to decide that systematization is a vital component of your business success. While many company owners think business systems are a “good idea,” they don’t take the next step and determine why systematization would improve their business. Instead, they often look at the time involved and shy away from the task.
However, if you’ve determined that documenting and following processes and procedures is the way forward for your company, then it is time to commit to this decision entirely.
Write down why you believe process documentation and implementation will support business growth. Getting your purpose behind the decision written or typed out will give you a baseline from which you can approach your team and have the discussion.
Here are a few of the most common reasons that employers implement processes and procedures:
- Error proofing
- Risk mitigation
- Improving product/service quality
- Avoiding trial and error
- Reducing training times
- Making delegation easier
What are your reasons behind the decision to systematize? Write them down.
Get Everyone On-board
Once you have your own purpose behind systematizing your business down, it’s time to share that determination with your team. We list talking to the team and getting them on-board before you sit down and systematize for a reason. That reason is: If the systems are to be implemented and stay up-to-date, then systematization must become part of the workflow.
Share your reasoning with your team. Discuss the pros and cons of systematizing. Ask your team members how they could benefit from building processes and procedures into the workflow.
Finally, discuss when the systematization will be done. It could be that you have a few slow weeks coming up after the holidays. If so, that may be the perfect time to document and implement systems. It may be that documentation needs to occur an hour every day during the regular workweek.
Whatever solution best works for you and your team is the right way to go about systematization.
Finally, Implementation
With the whole team working together to build processes and procedures into the workflow, you may be surprised at how quickly the documentation is completed. Now, it’s time to implement them.
Here are a few things you can do to assure implementation across the board:
- Have the whole team run through the systems and test them for bugs. When everyone works together to modify and improve systems, they will get stronger and become more entrenched in daily work.
- Get a commitment from employees to continue to use and improve the systems.
- Implement the tested processes and procedures when training new employees.
- Ensure the systems are easily accessible to everyone.
- Ensure the systems are searchable.
- Listen when productive employee shares that they are overworked and need help with delegation. Systematization is a great way to provide opportunities for top producers to delegate and streamline.
- Revisit the existing systems and find out if new systems need to be documented every six months or so.
Documenting and building processes and procedures with your team will make your business stronger and more efficient, allowing employees to get work done at a consistent level of quality. If you are considering building business systems into your growth strategy, let us know. The experienced process consultants at Business Success Consulting Group are here to work with you and your team to make systematization simple and effective.
