Most business owners have a desire to expand from a
one-person show to a fully established institution. But for that to happen, the
person at the center of it all has to be able to step away and know things will
run smoothly. Decision-making can’t be totally dependent on one person, as that
person may not always be in the capacity to make the best decisions.
In other words, there must be systems that allow others to
execute tasks, independently, by following documented procedures. This is what
we call systematization, a long word that means leaving behind the one-person
band, and creating a well-oiled machine of a business that can run and scale on
its own.
Systematizing is the process of creating standard operating
procedures or policies that are tailor made for your business, to ensure smooth
operations, orderliness and productivity. You get to seize upon your business’s
strengths and find continuous success by replicating those procedures that work
best.
Systematizing gives your business quality and consistency as
your laid down procedures build a routine for employees to replicate the same
quality service by replicating the same actions. You don’t have to worry about
a drop in the quality of service delivery, which leads to client
dissatisfaction.
It enables you to document a step-by-step procedure for
getting things done and aligns the various aspects of your work to create an
easy flow. As every aspect of your business contributes to the overall success,
you can create a kind of clockwork relationship between the different
components and then monitor the performance of each element.
Start this process by making a list of all your systems. Go
through your list and ask yourself these questions for every item: Why is this
system in place? What problem(s) does it solve? For a system to be effective,
it must solve a problem, otherwise, it is irrelevant. When every system is an
answer to a question, you are bound to have positive results.
Identify primary tasks that must be done before the secondary
ones, to achieve good results. It is important to note that for things to be
perfect, every task counts. The primary tasks must be properly executed,
otherwise, they will affect the quality of the secondary ones due to their shaky
foundation.
The idea is for you to give your employees a step-by-step
guide of what to do and how to do it, in your absence. You need to create an
instructional document that an employee can understand and interpret with
little or no supervision, from the get go.
Write your procedures with action, using a “how-to” format.
Don’t just tell employees what you want them to do, show them how to do it. To
achieve better results, make do with more visuals than texts because they are
easier to understand and last longer in the minds of employees. When it comes
to the big questions of how to scale your business, systematization has a lot
of the answers.
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