Creating Buzz-Worthy Business Efficiency: With Business Systemisation
Bees would have to be one of the most efficient insects on the planet and there is so much that can be learnt from them to apply to business management. In a hive there is no ambiguity about roles or purpose. Each bee knows its role and remains focused on completing its assigned tasks and protecting the queen and the hive. In terms of the business world, we serve to nurture and protect the core purpose of our business - that which attracts clients and generates money in order for our ‘hive’ to survive. In much the same way that organisation and having a clear way of doing things is integral to the bees, so it is for the success and ease of our business.
This is where systemisation of processes becomes a clear leader to improve efficiency, productivity and to reduce errors. Additionally, there are many other benefits including:
Improved time freedom, as the business owner you can focus on more on your zone of genius or developing a business/life balance rather than doing all the routine tasks you could be outsourcing or delegating
Uninterrupted workflow when key team members take leave
Consistent results by having a way of doing things that has been proven to produce results.
Ease of onboarding and getting new team members up to speed
Improved scalability of your business
A stand alone salable business (with your systems becoming a major asset of your business)
So, the question is, how can you create a set of buzzing systems for your business?
IDENTIFY YOUR BUSINESS PROCESSES
The first step to getting a fully systemised business is to get everything out of your head. Consider each of the areas of your business that your clients or customers go through from the very first time they come across your business up to after they have made a purchase. Breaking this flow into sections such as marketing, sales, delivery/production and administration may make it easier to follow. Brainstorm the tasks that come under each category covering every aspect of your business operations. This provides you with your list of systems or processes that need to be built.
DOCUMENT YOUR PROCESSES
This involves capturing how you do things by creating a step by step instruction for your workflow, including what, why, who and when this task is completed, as well as, how it is done, and including any relevant resources, links or documents. This will become a reference for your team to ensure that everyone is following the same process, which provides the proven results and consistency in your business that your clients expect.
STREAMLINE YOUR WORKFLOWS
Now that your processes are documented, it's time to look at how you can refine and streamline them. Look through and remove any unnecessary steps. Consider introducing automations where possible. By streamlining your workflows, you achieve the additional benefit of reducing the time and effort required to complete each task.
SET UP THE TECH
Ensure you have a system for storage and accessing these systems that is readily available to all team members. When setting up the storage, searchability is a key function that needs to be considered, if it's not easy for team members to access and find what they are looking for they are going to be less likely to ‘buy in’.
GET YOUR TEAM ON BOARD
Getting your team on board is going to be necessary to ensure they understand the new workflows, why they have been put in place, and to ensure they are actually making use of them in order to attain that consistency you are striving for. Additionally bringing your team members in earlier in this process can also have a stronger impact on getting them onboard. Allocate the job of creating workflows for the tasks they are most familiar with and reap the added benefit of saved time - that’s right you don’t have to do all this yourself!
MONITOR AND EVALUATE
Finally, everything we do in business needs to be monitored and evaluated on an ongoing basis. Tracking key performance metrics, such as turnaround times, error rates, and customer satisfaction allows us to see if the new processes are achieving the desired results and shows us where we might need to make adjustments.
Systemising your business processes is just like creating a buzzing hive of productivity, just like bees making honey. By identifying your essential processes, building a honeycomb of documentation, buzzing in harmony, training your worker bees, and pollinating success, you can create a well organised and efficient business hive.
Need some help with developing your systems? Busy Bees Support offers a choice of retainer or time block based services to work with you to establish your systems and get them presented in an easily searchable and accessible intranet system using your pre-existing google workspace. Contact us to learn more.