How to Systemise Your Business Without Losing Its Soul

There’s no denying that growing a business is exciting, but it can also be a bit messy. There’s a lot to think about and handle, and this only increases as you become more successful. The bigger and more successful a business is, the more customers, employees, deliverables and deadlines there are. You might have been able to wing it at the beginning, but that’s unlikely to be the case for very long. This is why a number of business owners eventually turn to systems.

It’s not uncommon to feel unsure about systemising your business, as it does require a change or two, and it can feel like you’re giving away some of the control you have over the day-to-day running of things. But, systemising doesn’t mean stripping out the heart of your business and turning it into a robot. It means creating a strong foundation so your creativity, values and culture can shine.

What Does It Mean to Systemise a Business?

Systemising means turning your key business activities into clear, repeatable processes. These processes might be automated, documented or delegated – sometimes, a combination of all three – using various systems. The goal of systemising a business is to reduce reliance on you as a business owner, ensuring consistent results, regardless of whether you’re there or not. It’s all about making sure that your business can run without needing you to be everywhere, all at once. There are a range of ways to systemise a business, including creating a checklist for onboarding new hires, building a content calendar for your marketing strategy or creating templates for proposals, contracts and invoices. The systems you use will depend on the type of business you have and the products or services you provide.

Why Systemise Your Business?

A lot of business owners make the mistake of assuming systems are rigid and robotic, but they’re much more than that. There are a lot of benefits that come with systemising, such as:

You Scale Smoothly Without systems, growth exposes cracks and it can be risky. With strong systems in place, your business can grow and strengthen, without worrying about straining things.

You Get Time Back Repetitive decisions and tasks drain your mental energy, not to mention how time-consuming they can be. Systems eliminate those distractions so you can focus on high-leverage, more valuable work.

Your Team Performs Better Clear processes empower your team to do their jobs confidently, without constantly needing your input. You can take a step back, knowing your team has everything they need to succeed.

Customers Get a Better Experience Consistency builds trust amongst your customers, and systems provide that consistency. Systems ensure that your business delivers the same consistent service at every touchpoint.

Your Business Becomes Sellable If your systems can run without you, your business has real asset value. Investors, buyers or partners want predictability, and they’re more likely to be interested in a business that can be just as successful without your input.

How to Systemise Without Losing Your Business’ Soul

Systemising your business doesn’t mean losing its soul, nor does it mean losing control as an owner.

Choose Systems that Align with Your Values Start by identifying the values and characteristics that define your business, and build systems that reflect and support those traits. For example, if your business prides itself on providing an unmatched customer service, you might want to stay away from systems that automate responses, such as chatbots. Instead, you’ll need a system that keeps communication quick, empathetic and personal.

Systemise Outcomes, Not People A system is meant to standardise results, not turn people into robots. Instead of dictating how something has to be done, focus on the outcome you’re hoping for. Define your goals, suggest best practices and allow space for creativity, and this will help you to create systems that are flexible enough to achieve the right outcomes, whilst also letting people have an individual impact.

Use Tools That Showcase Personality There are a lot of tools that let you build in your tone of voice and culture, so make use of them. If you’re creating email templates, make sure they align with your brand voice. If you’re creating internal standard operating procedures, make them team-friendly, visual and clear. The system should feel like you, not something that every other business can use.

Automate Admin, Not Customer Connections The best use of automation is to eliminate tasks that don’t need a human touch. This includes data entry, appointment reminders, client onboarding emails and status updates. Avoid automating emotional responses, decision-making that requires emotional input and handling customer complaints.

Involve the People Actually Doing the Work If you’re a business owner or manager, don’t systemise from the top down. Collaborate with your team and get an insight into where the bottlenecks and inefficiencies are, as they’re the people who are having to deal with them. When you co-create systems with the people doing the work, they’re likely to be more usable, practical and easy to follow.

Review and Improve Systems Regularly Remember, systems aren’t static. As your business evolves, so should your systems. Set reminders so you review and improve your systems regularly, ensuring that they’re still aligned with your values and outcomes. You need to make sure the systems still feel human, relevant and flexible enough to work.

 

Sign up to our newsletter to get the latest from Business Advice.