Systems: Can Your People Do it the Same Way You Do It?

A great acronym to remember the benefits of getting systems in place in your business is

S aving
Y our
S elf
T ime
E nergy
M oney
S tress

Systems are your way of empowering your team to do large parts of your job, just as if you were doing it personally. They can reduce your hours and stress by getting average people to do a great job…sound fantastic? Well, it is easy once you know a couple of tricks…

Four ‘Tricks of the Trade’ for Creating Systems

1/ Make sure your team members knows the positions they play – Unfortunately, it is normal for most team members to disagree on what needs to be done, while at the same time believing everyone knows their job roles. Clear written and agreed upon roles will remove the need for 75% of systems. So start here.

2/ Work until it becomes simple – If the system is complex, then keep working at it! When you really understand something, and present it well, it will become simple. For example, written procedures can often be clarified by presenting them as checklists, forms or tables.

3/ Only write systems that make money, save money, or save time (or reduce a big risk) – As a business owner you are not the government and not in the business of creating manuals. So only create a system if it simplifies a task, improves quality, or speeds up a service. This will keep you focused. Forget your big company or corporate experience if you have it (of the many volumes that mainly gather dust.)? Rather, the trick is to start small and let it grow with time.

4/ Make sure your precious systems are being used – A large part of your success and results will come from this part. As you create systems, build into them monitoring systems, so that at a glance you can see if they are being used. Changing the culture of your company takes time and there will be failures. Even when the culture has changed, it needs to be maintained; your monitoring systems will do of this for you.

The best systems I have seen in business look very unimpressive but they work… the genius is getting them to look that way. Yes, using technology to implement systems can be a great option so long as it doesn’t get in the way of the actual task. Old school manual methods still work. ie KISS – Keep It Simple Systems.

Here are a few popular systems formats you could implement for your own business…

Checklist – tear off pad, laminated cards, numbered in sequence, memorise with acronym
Quick Contact lists
Job or Quote Pads
Position Contracts
Team ‘Code of Conduct’
Performance Standards
Meeting minutes
Standard letters
Quick Calculators
Procedure manual using photographs
Procedure manual using videos
Weekly or Job Budgets
Wall Signs & Instruction labels
Test & Measure Feedback Sheets

When you can run your business working a two or three-day week and your team can create systems for you…then you really understand this topic.

If you would like to know more about the benefits of systems as part of your business formula or when and how to use them, contact our team for more information and help. Or book directly into a strategy session where we will show you how to double your profit and halve your working hours in a quick 10 minute call.