How to Systematize Your Business

You've decided you want to systematize your business. How exactly do you do that?

The best way to systematize your business is to document one system at a time.

Documenting means capturing the way you do something and being able to share it easily. Typically you are writing down how the work is done step-by-step and storing your documented systems in operation manuals. You can think of operation manuals as “How to Guides” for each employee to do his or her job.

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What system should you document first?

To some degree, it doesn't matter which system you choose to start with. The most important thing is to get started. Pick a system and document it. That said, we recommend and would prefer that you do all work in your business intentionally and by plan.

You and your team can brainstorm and list all of the core systems you need to make your business run. This will become your master systems list. Then go back and organize that list by priority. You will decide which system you need to document first, second and so on. You can turn this prioritized system list into your systematization plan by assigning documentation accountabilities and due dates for each system.

Although you want your entire team involved in helping systematize your business, make sure each system has one person who will be accountable for the actual documentation of that system. Think of each system you want to document as a mini-project, and then the person accountable is like the project manager. Multiple team members can be involved in the documentation of any one system, but only one person is in charge. You can have a documentation specialist or you can use multiple people; I have seen both ways work. The key to your systematization plan, like all good planning, is to have clear accountabilities plus due dates to ensure the work gets done.

A System to Design and Document Systems

Now that you have your systematization plan, it is time to document each system. To ensure consistency across your business you will want a standard way to document each of your systems. A way you can teach your people how to do it. You need a system to design and document systems. Your system to create systems should include a system design template to provide a framework for your people.

Here is our 7-step system to design and document a system:

1. System Title

Pick a system that you want to document and give it a descriptive title. The title will help you understand what the system is used for and help you locate the system when you need it.

2. Determine System Objective

Every system you design and document must have a clear outcome it should produce. Define the result you will achieve with the system. Being clear about what you are trying to accomplish makes it easier to determine the tasks required to produce that result.

3. Create System Work Plan

The work plan is used to capture and document all of the details of the system. You will show the sequential steps (or tasks) required to produce the system results. You will indicate within each step who is accountable for performing that work. You will indicate the timing or due date for each step. You will also include any standards that must be followed when performing each step. The completed work plans are then stored in your operation manuals.

Work plans are most often used to teach your people how to do their work (primarily a training tool). Each work plan is as detailed as you need it to be. Therefore, a work plan may be fairly lengthy; especially for your more complex systems.

Work plans may be the most important part of systematizing your business, because they are capturing “how your business works”. They are your collective knowledge. You are getting how the work is done in your business out of your peoples heads and onto paper. Now the business “owns” how the work is done. It is a form of knowledge management. Documented systems in operation manuals is what makes a franchise so valuable.

4. Create Checklist

The checklist is a simplified version of the work plan. You don’t need all of the details you included in each step of the work plan. Instead you want roughly one sentence or a phrase that reminds the system operator what they need to do in each step. Add a box to “check off” when the step is completed and then you have a checklist.

The checklist is the primary tool used by the system operator. If the work plan is the most important part of systematizing your business, then the checklist is the “work horse”. It is what will be used most often throughout each day.

The person accountable for running each system is first trained how to run the system using the work plan. Then the checklist is used to remind them of the steps required to achieve the system objective. Instead of trying to recall the steps from memory, the checklist is a tool to help your people be more effective and efficient. Additionally it provides feedback to both the person doing the work and their manager. This allows both of them to know how the work is progressing.

5. Create Script

A script is used in systems that have either employee to client conversations or employee to employee conversations. It is a written narrative used to guide a conversation. It is the words the system operator should use. Not every system requires a script. Many systems scripts are not designed to be memorized word-for-word, but learned to guide the conversation. Practicing the script will help the operator feel more comfortable and natural.

6. Create Forms

Forms are used to gather information, data and track the results produced by the system. A well designed system is one that produces a measurable result. A form is used to capture those metrics. Quantification is a key ingredient in the successful design and use of business systems. This data is used to provide feedback to the person using the system, track results produced by the system and used to aid in making improvements to the system.

There is no one type of form that can be used by all systems. You will have to create custom forms based on the type of data the system produces. Typically they tend to be reports or tables in spreadsheets.

7. Implement and Innovate

Just having a documented system doesn't mean you are finished. You must train your people how to use the system and begin to actually follow the steps in each system. You will want to make sure your people get into the habit of using the documented systems, especially the checklists. One of your goals is to create a process dependent culture in your business. Don’t fall back into the habit of keeping everything your firm does in your peoples head.

The world and your business are dynamic – things change. Your systems need to change as well to keep up. In order to grow and get better at what you do, you will also want to continuously make process improvements. We call this continuous system improvement process innovation.

Don’t be tempted to do too much process improvement when you are initially documenting your systems. Capture how you currently do the work first. Then you can go back later as a separate project and look to improve each system. As a matter of fact, you can make your systematization plan a living document and use it to schedule periodic reviews of each system in your business for possible innovations.

Time to Systematize Your Business

Systems occur all over your business; they either just exist in your people’s heads or they are intentionally designed, documented and used. The benefits of documented systems will be seen in performance improvements, increased effectiveness, improved productivity and increased business valuation. Systematizing your business is hard work, but the payoff is they will make your life easier.

If you would like a copy of our system documentation template, please contact me via LinkedIn email or Connect with me in LinkedIn and I will send you our template. If you need help systematizing your business The Renaissance Group can help. Contact us and we can discuss your needs.