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5 Business Systemization Mistakes You Need To Avoid

The following is a guest contribution from Wendy Tadokoro, Systemisation Specialist at Organising Works!

As a successful entrepreneur, your business will gradually expand to the point where you can no longer be involvedin all the day-to-day business activities.

Moving to the next growth phase requires you to create systems that free you from the operational side, and allowyou to focus on growing and improving the business instead.

The time has come to set up and document your business systems – how things should be done. Indeed, businesssystemization is vital if you want to be successful, expand and have a sustainable business.

However, there are a number of mistakes that the small business owner often makes when first introducing businesssystemization.

Avoid these five common pitfalls when systemizing business processes and you’ll get the results you want.

1. Not doing the research yourself

As a small business owner you may have some idea of what is meant by “systemisation”, but you may not haveworked in the environment of a large company with multiple automated business processes, and importantly, youmay not have the IT expertise to introduce appropriate software-based systems.

But don’t simply hand the process over to an IT person or management consultant; rather understand and own theprocess yourself.

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E Gerber is a must-read for every new entrepreneur. As Gerber states:

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“Most businesses are operated according to what the owner wants as opposed to what the businessneeds.”

Make sure you understand what your business needs to become more successful and generate more profits.Research best practice and get advice about effective software solutions for businesses in your industry. Be open tonew developments in technology that will help with systemisation.

2. Not planning

In business, perhaps more than anywhere else the old adage holds true: fail to plan and you will plan to fail!

When embarking on business systemisation, set aside a few days to formulate a plan.

This plan will involve:

Identifying routine tasks and activities

Describing the standards that you expect at the end of each activity

Describing the philosophy behind each activity

Identifying the right position (person responsible) in the business to carry out the activity

Creating a template for the steps in each activity; and using these to compile an operations manual

How you will review and continuously improve your processes

Included in your plan should be a communications strategy to keep your team informed about what you are doing,processes for monitoring compliance with the systems, and a training program for training current and new teammembers in the use of the systems.

3. Trying to do too much at once

Especially in the case of startups and micro businesses, don’t try to design too many systems all at once, or systemsthat are too sophisticated for the level at which the business functions.

This will only leave you as the overstretched business owner, even more frustrated.

First create systems for those operations that happen most frequently. If an activity happens only once a year, forexample, do not spend time right away creating a system for it. Focus on an activity or business process thathappens frequently and creates frustration and problems. When that has been systemised, move on to the nextprocess. Start small and get confident in documenting and testing systems before tackling the more complexprocesses.

4. Not communicating your strategy and objectives with you team

Make sure that your team members are fully informed about the changes taking place around business processes.The more you share about the benefits to the business and to them personally for systemising, the more they will besupportive and get involved in the systemisation process.

Fundamentally, your team wants to perform their job to the best of their ability, working in an organised andproductive environment will assist them to do that.

If you were initially a one or two person operation and you have experienced fast growth and new hires, it isessential that you communicate your business vision and how systemising the business is so crucial to sustainability

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of the business moving forward.

You will need to introduce more formal methods of team communication, such as regular systemisation planprogress meetings and team announcements via a company intranet.

5. Not having a systems training program

You may be excited about the progress you have made in systemising your business, but if you just rely on the factthat an operations manual exists and do not train people in its use, your systems may never be implementedproperly.

Make sure your team know exactly what is expected of them, what the standards for performance are, and thatadherence is being monitored on a regular basis.

Consider having a key member of your team whose responsibility it is to update and review the systems regularly.

It’s also important to make the process documentation/operations manual easily accessible to all team members.Online portals or company intranets are good options.

Process Street is a powerful way to manage your business processes, processes and checklists. This effectiveapplication saves time and keeps all documentation in one central location and easily shared with your team.

You can sign up for a free account and see how easy it is to get started.

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