How do I put systems in my business so it does not depend on me?
Start with the tasks that happen most often and go wrong most often, and write down how they are done: short, plain, in the order people actually do them. A system is just a written answer to a question that keeps being asked. Ten good ones change a business more than a hundred-page manual nobody reads.
Pick the repeats
Quoting a standard job, onboarding a new customer, closing out a job, handling a complaint. The tasks done every week, and the ones that cause call-backs when done wrong, are worth writing first.
Write it with the person who does it
The best version comes from whoever does the task well, not from the owner at a desk. Have them walk through it; write the steps as they say them; keep it to a page.
Checklists over manuals
A short checklist used on every job beats a thorough document nobody opens. If it does not fit on a page or a phone screen, it probably will not get used.
Use them, then fix them
A written process that is wrong gets fixed when people use it and say so. One that sits in a folder never improves. Review the ones that keep causing problems first.
Also asked
- Do I need software to systemize?
- No. A shared folder of one-page checklists is a real system. Software helps once there are enough of them to need organizing.
- Will my team actually follow them?
- More often when they helped write them and when the checklist makes their work easier rather than adding paperwork.
- How long does it take?
- An afternoon per important task, spread over a few months. It does not have to happen all at once to start paying off.
Related
Written for your trade
This is the kind of thing Solomon works through with owners using their own numbers. See how it works →