If you’re looking to grow your business, you need to be creating repeatable systems. I know that can sound a little bit intimidating, but at its most basic a system is just the process that you use in your business to do a particular task.
An SOP, or a standard operating procedure, is the written documentation of that step-by-step process. It’s done in a way that’s easy to follow and very clearly laid out so that the new owner of a task can go through that SOP, follow along and do the task in the same way to get the same results as the previous owner of the task.
Today we’re going to dive into why building systems is so incredibly important to the future success of your business.
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1. Reliability
One of my favourite things to talk about is systems and the impact that it can play on businesses.
Systems are incredibly important in your business for a multitude of reasons, including repeatability, meaning that no matter who does the task gets done in the same way every time.
This is really important because as a task is being developed, as a process is being done over and over again, it gives you a chance to really be able to optimize and make sure it’s being done in the most efficient way.
2. Reliability
Systems are also really important for reliability, meaning that no matter who does the task, the same results are being achieved.
This is really important if you’re doing work – for example, for a service based business – where you are completing a task for clients over and over again.
If you have Person A completing the task, or Person B completing the task, the client is going to get the same result, and there’s going to be a lot of consistency across your business – all thanks to systems!
3. Efficiency
The creation of systems also really helps with efficiency.
It may seem a little counterintuitive, but it’s amazing how much more quickly you’re able to do something when you don’t have to try to remember all of the different pieces to it. It also means you don’t have to go back and reinvent the wheel, meaning you get halfway through a process and then kind of forget exactly how you did it the last time.
Having an SOP in front of you that you can follow means that you can go back to the work that you’ve done before, and you don’t have to recreate work that has already been completed.
4. Creativity
The creation of systems also really helps with the creativity that we’re able to use in our businesses.
It’s amazing how much mental space is taken up with how-tos and checklists and trying to remember all the things that need to be done in a particular process.
Once that is taken away, and there are documents that can be referenced, it’s amazing how much more of your mind can now go to creative pursuits. This could be actual creative work, such as graphics and writing copy, or it can be in the creation of new products and new services that you’re able to offer your clients and customers and serve them in an even better way.
5. Stability
Systems also enable us to build businesses that are much more stable.
In times of busyness, or an intense amount of stress, you have systems that you can fall back on to be able to guide you through the processes that need to keep happening even though there’s craziness going on in the world around you.
Systems allows you as a CEO to be able to step out of some of the tasks that you were doing, and to be able to really easily hand those off to other people on your team.
It might be that in those seasons, too, if you get really busy all of a sudden and your business starts to grow, you might need to start adding on team members quickly that you weren’t expecting to.
Having a bank of SOPs that are already in place enables you to be able to bring people on board seamlessly and to be able to get them up to speed quickly – which is only going to benefit you going forward. And through these times of chaos, by having these systems in place and being able to remove yourself from some tasks and bring on new team members, it also enables you to continue to serve your clients and customers at the highest possible level.
For visionary entrepreneurs are those that work in creative fields, they can sometimes feel like creating systems can be a little bit restrictive, that somehow that keeps them from being able to dream big dreams that they have and set the big goals that they have.
But it’s important to remember that it’s having those systems in place at the core parts of their business that enables them to achieve those big dreams and goals that they have for their business.
Which system are you going to work on next in your business?
