Building Strong Processes and Strategies for Success
Companies across the country are dealing with unprecedented challenges right now as a result of COVID-19. These are scary and uncertain times for all. However, if business has slowed for you, this may be a good time to document and improve the internal processes that are crucial for your company’s efficiency and success. This is one project that really doesn’t have to cost you anything and will reap dividends in the long run.
At Strategic Community Partners, we currently have all of the systems I mention in this article in place for our team including communication tools like Slack and project management tools like Asana. Once we went fully remote, we were able to stay in touch, connect virtually, and continue to serve our clients through this difficult time.
The Need for strong Processes
Why do we create systems and processes? Isn't it easier to just perform tasks from memory and “wing” it?
Not really. It may seem unnecessary at first, but the more complex your system and tasks get, and the more people that are involved (e.g. scaling your business or operation), the bigger the need for systems exist. In this blog, I’ll share a little bit about my personal experience building processes, some tools you can use and some good evidence to share with your team or your boss about WHY your business needs systems.
My Experience with process building
When I first started out in my professional career I was at a small startup with five total employees., There was no urgent need for systems and processes, plus we were all really busy with not a lot of time to stop and think about documenting. We had a few things documented, but everything was fast-paced and we were always building the plane in flight...making it all custom.
The more the business and the team grew, the more I realized that we needed our processes documented step by step, not only to aid in onboarding and training but also to maintain quality across teams and locations. This became especially clear when we opened a second location and began training a team across the state. With very little documentation and processes, it was impossible to be there all the time to train when we were still needed in Detroit. To help create a consistent transfer of knowledge across our teams and locations, I started to build systems and document processes for the critical parts of our business.
Asana features an easy-to-use interface perfect for collaboration across teams.
Eventually, we started using the project management tool Asana for team member accountability, team meetings, and tracking goals and progress. Reading and implementing some of the suggestions in Traction, became extremely helpful for me to understand the methodology behind meetings and how to get things done efficiently and effectively.
Recently, I’ve built systems around:
Hiring and onboarding
Professional development
Performance reviews
Project management and client management
Finance
Customer service/experience
Keep reading to learn more about how to get your client/customer’s feedback on the processes you’ve built!
Why Should You Build Systems and Document Processes?
Continuous Improvement: Having a system in place and the process documented allows you and your team to think about the process step by step and improve it. So many times I’ve thought of things missing in a process or a way to improve it, just by writing it out.
Onboarding Becomes a Breeze: With the right processes in place, hiring and onboarding become a whole lot easier. If you’re hiring people that are talented, they should be able to take your documentation and run with it after some basic onboarding and training. This can save you hours and hours of back and forth, confusion and frustration as well as unnecessary mistakes 🙌. New hires will also have the ability to view your processes with a set of fresh eyes and provide constructive feedback on how the process can be improved!
Save Time (And Money): Here’s one that your boss will like...having a system and process in place allows your boss/owner to take more time off or spend more time on higher-value activities. Creating systems and documentation is a classic “working in” the business rather than “working on” the business. Once the systems are in place and they’ve been tested, the dream is that they can be on auto-pilot until they need to be updated or you discover a better way.
Get Out of the Weeds: As a team leader, having the system written out and clear for your team allows you to not be in the weeds as much (or as some call micromanage). This is something I struggle with as I love the weeds and all the nitty-gritty details. But again, if you’re hiring talented people, they should be able to take the process you have built, be autonomous and run with it, only coming to you with big challenges or even better, ways to improve it!
The Importance of Feedback
Each time I built out a process, I noticed things that were either unnecessary or could be done better. And importantly, I got feedback from team members that were doing the work every day or had done it in the past to get their perspectives and ideas.
Something I also recommend is testing out your process on a client or customer (and team members that are affected) This may sound odd since you want to come across polished and that everything is working great, but I bet your customer or client will be impressed that you’re trying to improve and that you want their feedback. I suggest picking a client/customer that you trust and that trusts you like a longtime or returning customer. No matter who you choose, make sure they are a happy customer who will be open to giving you honest feedback! Be upfront with what you’re doing and trying to accomplish and once you’re done, loop back around with them to get their open-ended feedback as well as ask some pointed questions.
How do you feel communication has been? Too much, too little or just right?
What do you like about the process and system?
What don’t you like about the process and system?
What could have been done differently?
And then add in questions specific to your business, client, and process to really get down in the details of what they want. This could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.
What can you do right now?
If you don’t already have a project management tool, get one! Google Docs and Sheets are a great starting point and there are a ton of other free tools you can find online like Asana. I’ve used a few, but Asana is my favorite.
Get a scrap piece of paper, open up a Google Doc, or grab your whiteboard and jot down all the processes that your team/business has. Start from the big ones and work down. Hiring and onboarding, training, customer onboarding and customer experience, internal marketing processes, approval processes, financial processes, etc. Then start filling each process out with the steps you know to be true.
If you think Traction would be a good tool for your business, or you’re just interested, check it out! This could help you run your meetings more effectively and efficiently -- even if you don’t use the Level10 methodology step by step, it can still be useful.
Have feedback on this blog? Have suggestions on how to build better systems and processes? Or want to talk through how you can get started on this at your company? Email me at celena.mancina@strategiccommunitypartners.org.
Celena Mancina
Managing Director, Business Development & Operations