Benefits of having systems in your business
We’ve recently talked about staying focused and running meetings that enable your team and help your business. Now we’re talking Systems & Processes to turn chaos into flow.
How Systems & Processes do their job:
- Relieves the pressure and stress of what to do next, or what am I forgetting to do?
- Alleviates overwhelm and the scatterbrain feeling. You know there is a flow and everyone has their assignments and things get done without you having to keep the list in your head and keep checking on things. You can spend your whole day checking…
- Clears your mind and opens it up for creative thinking. If you are a CEO of your business this is vital. You are the visionary. You are the one who thinks of the next big thing for your company and you can’t do that in the weeds.
- Multi-tasking is not something to be proud of. Quality suffers when your full attention isn’t on something you are working on, but we fall into this trap when we don’t have a good flow. Hopping between tasks, trying to do numerous things at once. It causes stress, overwhelm and frustration, and then affects your mood.
- Make it easier to hand off to others so you’re not wearing all the hats.
- The checks and balances. Making sure everything is on track. Systems and processes are the way to go down the list and quickly check off everything was done and doesn’t rely on the team to remember everything from memory. It can help your team ensure all the boxes are checked for a project or task and move on.
Our day to day lives can get so hectic because of our fast-paced, instant gratification world. Aside from setting boundaries and expectations, you first have to set the systems that create the flow. Setting up the systems will help you set and stick to boundaries and help you communicate the expectations to others – your team, your clients, your business partners. Systems and processes help define for us how long things actually take instead of running off a guestimate when we are sitting in a meeting committing to yet another project.
Systems create the structure for how work will get done. Identifying ways to make tasks faster, having processes for larger projects, identify who will do what, and apply the processes to the same reoccurring tasks or projects within your business. Once you or your team start to use these systems the processes will get smoother and faster and you’ll iron out any adjustments along the way. These systems and processes will evolve with your business as your business evolves.
So let’s talk terminology for just one moment:
System – the big picture. The overview, the container of processes.
For example: creating and setting up blog posts, social media posting, adding inventory to your online shop, onboarding team members or clients, launching an online course etc.
Process – all the steps that make up the system. The sequence of activities to run the system start to finish. The game plan.
How do we create systems and processes? This sounds like a lot of work and it sounds overwhelming.
I get it! But it’s easier than you think.
HOMEWORK: For the next week choose 1 or 2 things on your plate and write down all the steps as you go through and complete the tasks. (Blogging, Onboarding a client, setting up a FB Live, Entering new product in your online store, social media posting, something you do often). That’s it, write it down.
NEXT STEPS: Enter those steps in Asana, Trello or in Google or Word doc and save it as a process in a project (Asana), Board (Trello) or folder (Word or Google) called “Processes & Procedures.” Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect or capture the process 100%, capture what you did. The next time you work on the task or project, use the steps you documented to run through the process and add to the process if you need to adjust anything. This process helps you identify any gaps or inefficiencies you might have but now that it’s documented you can see it and make adjustments. Remember, this is a living document you’ll adjust as your business changes and grows and as you add team members.
All systems and processes should be analyzed regularly, to ensure they are still relevant and productive for your company and team. Make adjustments and don’t be too rigid, systems and processes are living processes and might need tweaks and updates as things in your business change and as your team grows.
Head over to the Facebook Group to learn more and talk with others about small business growth.
