The Ultimate System for Documenting Business Systems

Systemising your business can be a daunting and frankly
overwhelming task. Behold the system for creating systems, I'm
going to make it super simple for you to get started
documenting how you do things in your business. So you can start
delegating more and get back to working on the business.
My name is Moriarty. And in this video, I'm going to be sharing
with you the simple way of documenting business systems and
processes so that you can get back to focusing on your
business. Now, if you're new to this channel, we help small
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video, be sure to give us a thumbs up when you're done. Now
most business owners get started with the process of Systemising
their business because they've been to a business seminar or a
business coach who said start documenting things. And for me,
this came from reading the E Myth Revisited by Michael
Gerber, which is one of the quintessential books on building
a more successful business. And that is to step out of the
technician role as an entrepreneur and to step first
into manager and then into the entrepreneur role where you're
basically stood back from the business and the business is
operating and running itself. Now, in order to do that, you
need to build an online or a digital version of a standard
operating procedures manual. And the old days people would do
this on pen and paper, or they'd type them up and put it in the
handbook and print it out and give it to their staff. But for
most businesses now running remotely these days, you can do
this online. And we've got many videos on how to use Google
Sites to build an online intranet. But one of the most
important things you need to know how to do is to actually
document your systems and processes as you're going
through that process of Systemising the business. And so
henceforth, we have the system for writing systems. This is how
to create really great business systems and business processes
so that your team can follow them really easily. And you can
effectively delegate tasks to other people in the business,
which gets more off your plate as the entrepreneur. Now as we
document business systems, we're going to identify five, nearly
four, five different areas where you're going to actually have
covered, and that is the What the Why the web, The Who, and
the how. And these five areas are going to make sure that when
you document the process, you don't have staff coming back to
you with questions, asking how to actually get it done. So
without further ado, let me take you through each different area
that you need to have documented and how to create a really great
business process. So first up, we're going to start with the
what and that is, what is the result of this process? Once
someone has run this process? Where do they actually need to
get to at the end of the day. So let's say for example, it's a
payroll processing system, or process. And what we're going to
be doing is with that, we're going to be handing over for
someone else to manage the payroll in your business, what
we want to identify what is the result of this process. And so
without example, it might be that the result of this process
is that payroll is organized, and it is delivered on time and
correctly to our team to make sure that our team get paid on
time. Well, that's important, it's important that we make sure
that the process is done correctly, because we want to
make sure that our team are actually paid on time. And we
want to make sure that we don't put the business at risk. And so
that's why it's a good idea to identify the why Next up,
it's important to know, why is it so important that this person
during the process knows the process? What is the pain that
they're going to be avoiding, as well as the pleasure of a good
result? So for example, if we get our payroll done correctly,
and we get it done on time as well, our staff are going to be
happy. If we don't get it correct. Well, we might expose
the business to risk by either underpaying or overpaying. And
we're going to have unhappy staff if we don't get the pay,
right. And so it's really important that we identify the
why. Next up, let's talk about when so what are the trigger
points that will alert us that someone needs to follow this
system. Now there may be a time based trigger. So it might be
okay, this happens every Thursday at 11am. Maybe we do
our payroll every Thursday at 11am. Or it might actually be a
event based trigger. So this happens every time there is an
injury in the workplace. We're going to fill out the injury
report and we're going to follow the injury report process. Or it
might be every time we onboard a new customer. We're going to
follow up the customer onboarding process. Okay, so
once we've got the win identified, then we can also
have a think about well, what is the deadline? When does this
need to be done by in our example of payroll we may
choose? Well if this starts at 11am on a Thursday, it must be
completed by midday or it must be completed by 2pm. So the bank
can can go out on time by Friday morning. Now making sure that
you've got deadlines identified means that your team know when
the right time is to complete. But also when it needs to be
done by as well. Now, notice that we've already got through
the what the why and the win. But we still haven't started
going through step one, step two, step three of how to
actually do the payroll. And the reason for that is we want to
give our team all of this context around what the actual
action steps up. The reason for that is, well, if you give this
task to someone, and they didn't have the why they didn't know
what the result was supposed to be, and they didn't know where
they were getting to, well, they may get stuck on step two, and
then come back to you and say, hey, you know what, I'm stuck.
Can you help me? Whereas if you give someone a set of
instructions, and they've got all of the context, what is the
result that we're looking to get? Why is it so important?
When does this need to happen? And by when does it need to
happen? Well, your team are more likely going to go through the
process. And if they get stuck anywhere, come back to and say,
hey, you know what, I know what result we're trying to get here.
And you know, I haven't quite got this perfect just yet, I got
stuck on step number three. But I think if we modify that, or
maybe I can do it this way, then I should be able to get to the
result. And that's where you're going to have your team
collaborating with you, and being a lot more engaged in the
process. Okay, step number four to identify is the who, what is
the job title of the person performing this task. Now,
importantly, we're not going to use someone's name. So we're not
going to put in the systems while Bob does this on Thursdays
because Bob may change in the business. But also, we want to
empower our team members with the responsibility of a job
title. Now, for many small businesses, and particularly in
the early stages, if you're in the launch stage, or the startup
stage, and you're literally just getting started well, you may be
someone who is, you know, not really that interested in
getting roles to your team members, because maybe everyone
is everything inside the business, right. Whereas when
you give your team members a actual official job title, like
maybe a project manager, or a customer consultant, or a sales
professional, or a business development manager, you know,
whatever title you choose for that person, it's more likely
that they are actually going to rise to the responsibility of
embodying that. So it's a great way of empowering your team by
giving them an official job role, even if you think they're
silly as an entrepreneur, which I totally personally understand
that giving a team members a job role means that they're more
likely to take on the responsibility of that role.
Now, I love using this for performance management, because
when I was directly managing staff, what I would do is I'd
sit them down, and I'd say, Hey, you look, you did something that
was outside of what a project manager should be expected to
do. All this is outside of what a sales professional would be
expected to do. And I would use those roles for performance
management and ensuring that the team are actually kept in check
with that. So if that's useful for you, great. Also, obviously,
the additional benefit of this is when someone moves or changes
in the business, well, you don't have to go through and change
every one of your systems because Bob isn't doing this.
And now Mary is doing this. So it's going to make your life
easier as well. Finally, we come to step number five, and that is
the house. So finally, we're going to get to the actual how
is this business process done? So number one is like how is it
completed? What are the implementation steps? Step one,
step two, step three. And this is kind of like the recipe for
how to get this done. So in our example of payroll, well, it
would be okay, well, first up, you load up the timesheets, and
then you you know, you grab all of the banking details for
everyone, and you punch that into your accounting software,
and maybe out it spits a bank file. So you're gonna have your
steps 12345, how to actually get this process done. Now, number
two,
you're going to develop an Audit Checklist, so someone can
actually check that their work has been done correctly. Now, in
the example of payroll, what I used to do when I was doing
payroll for our business, many, many years ago, was I would
always have a little check for myself. And what I would do was
when the payroll was ready to be released from the bank, I would
check the final amount. And I would double check that that
amount matched what was in the actual payroll file in our
accounting software. And so inside that software, I would
just double check to make sure what was going out of the bank
account is exactly the same as what was in the software. And
the other thing that I would do is I would check whether or not
the payroll was plus or minus 10%, or within 10%, of what the
last pay run was. So whether that was week ago, or a
fortnight ago, I wanted to make sure that there weren't any kind
of wild fluctuations higher or lower on the payroll, just to
make sure that things were pretty close. So think about how
can someone develop an audit checklist to make sure things
have been done correctly. And just like a pilot who's flying a
plane, you're going to have checklists to make sure that
things are all correct. Before you start or finish a process.
Remember that you want to make it easy for your team to
actually check their work. And when they're checking their own
work, it means that you don't have to check their work for
them. And one of the biggest fears that business owners have
with actually delegating tasks is are my team going to do it as
well as I do? Are they going to do it as good as I'm doing this
and this is a way of you making sure that your team are checking
that they're doing the right kind of job. Now the third thing
you want to have in your house is actually showing the task
being completed. So whether that's using a screencasting
software to record your computer, or actually using a
video camera and You can even just use an iPhone for this, if
you've got an outside type business, that's absolutely
fine. And what I would recommend you do is take screenshots and
maybe even annotate them with arrows, and basically show
exactly what a great result needs to look like, but also
show the steps 12345 on how to actually complete the job. Now
we have a customer who did this as an example, they were a gym.
And what they did was they took a photo of their reception area
when it was all clean and tight. And they basically said, Well,
this is an example of what it should look like as the result.
Once you've got the reception area tidy. Here is a little bowl
with gifts for customers. Here's what benched looks like when
it's nice and clean and tidy. And then they went all around
the gym and did the same thing for each process. And their
business is what the squat rack looks like when all the weights
have been put away is what the bathrooms look like when they're
clean, you know, when the carpets tidy, this is what it
should look like. And basically all of those things were
documented. So when their manager came into the gym to
actually do their job and do the end of day clean, or they knew
exactly what the end result should look like. And then they
were able to work just straight from there. Okay, so we've
identified five elements to write the perfect system, the
system for writing systems, and that is the What the Why the
when the who, and finally, the How now, if you get all of these
things, right, well, you're going to have a great documented
business system, and your team are going to be able to follow
along easily. Now I do need to give some credit for this. I
didn't come up with this myself. This was actually taught to me
by someone by the name of Stuart Cook, who's the previous CEO of
Zambrero, very successful, quick service Mexican fast food chain
inside Australia. But I'm pretty sure that Stewart learned from
Jack de Llosa, who founded the entourage. And I'm pretty sure
he learned it from Dale Beaumont, who's the founder of
business blueprint, who is also one of our partners. And so
wherever this came from, I'm not sure who the official original
author was, I don't want to thank those gentlemen, for
teaching this framework to me, and I'm sharing along with you.
Hopefully you do great things with it. So let me know in the
comments if this has been useful for you and in your business. If
you do have any questions, drop them right below this video,
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