Do these two words make you blush?
A decade ago I worked at Amazon UK, heading up the entire marketing & content team for the Kitchen & Home category. Back then our January campaign was ALL about the NYNY (or New Year, New You to those outside of retail). It’s a common marketing theme but it’s also a common real-life theme — the idea that somehow January alone grants us a clean slate and the chance for “everything” to be better.
I see it often with small biz owners, this idea that things are just going to magically work because it’s “a new year”. Last week in this email, I touched on the importance of habits in realising your goals. This week I wanted to discuss another biz element that’s key to making 2020 a better year for your small business.
Systems & Processes.
Two words that can make any business owner — no matter how experienced — blush. On a scale of 1-10 how well would you rate yours ?
If you’re like most small biz owners, chances are it wasn’t a double digit you marked yourself. Exhale, it’s the idea of these that is often scarier than the implementation.
If you think your systems & processes could take some fine tuning (or heck, even establishing at all) consider actioning the following seven steps:
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First, identify ALL your business functions using a tool like mindmeister (or simply, a pen and paper). People often create a process only when something goes wrong or they find themselves super frustrated by one area of the business. I suggest future-proofing your biz, by starting out mapping ALL the business functions - such as marketing (including sales & PR), HR/people management, accounting/finance, production, research & development, products/services etc.
Next, for each function list out the tactics you deliver. For example under marketing you may have social media, press releases, video / rich media (i.e. podcast), eBooks or opt-in, events, weekly email etc, while under HR you may have weekly 1:1s, quarterly reviews, monthly team bonding session, quarterly offsite planning days, professional development training etc. Start with things you do regularly and then add everything else.
With one business function at a time, identify which tactics are working well and which need focus. With those that work well, is there a checklist or process for these (even in your head)? Can you create one? Has one person been doing these for a while so they have their own process? It is documented? If not, ensure it is. For those tactics that need focus, write down the ideal scenario from start to finish in a series of steps (I find drawing a straight line from start to finish and adding in all of the steps provides a clear visual to see where the issues arise). You can use pen & paper for this or, put them into a tool like Trello, Asana or just a Google doc. You may also wish to record these as video or audio trainings.
Look for the leaks. Benjamin Franklin once said, 'a small leak will sink a great ship'. Review your processes / checklists for clarity. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard an MD / CEO tell me, "Well, I assume she/he knows that" in relation to a process. Breaking news: they don't. Add any steps into the process that make it crystal clear what's expected.
Test it. Ask someone who has nothing to do with the tactic (either another staff member or a friend) to review the process. Could they complete the task required based on the process you have created and documented (skills aside)? Do they understand how to follow the steps? If not, add in extra steps then test again.
Create a deadline. It's one thing to create a new process , quite another to actually implement it. Set a deadline for when this process will be in full swing. For example, you may give people (or yourself if you're a solo operator) 2-3 weeks to get it down, test it again or add to it. But after this, the process should be 'the way'.
Review and improve. Like anything else in business, processes should never be 'set and forget'. Set up a series of future reviews for the processes within each business function. Look at what's working and what might be improved.
Good processes don't equate to a "perfect" business , but they do act to remove confusion, stress and inefficiency (three factors that really impact a the performance of a small biz). I can’t count the amount of times a client has admitted, “we just didn’t have the right processes in place” when we discuss why goals haven’t been realised. Don’t fall into the same trap this year. Spend time this month analysing what’s working and what needs to be improved when it comes to your systems and processes.