Integrate

Okay! you have your core systems documented and stored and your software all set up. Time for your business to magically start shooting out profits while your team diligently follows your systems.

Ha! You and I both know that’s not going to happen. If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it! Having the systems in place is one thing; getting your team to follow them is another.

This trips up a lot of companies when it comes to systemisation. I hear the stories (and you’ve probably seen it firsthand) where a new initiative with the best of intentions gets put into place by a handful of key stakeholders, but within a few short weeks it’s back to business as usual. People go back to doing things the way they’ve always been done.

This problem isn’t isolated to the introduction of systems but extends to almost all areas of change within business.

Sadly, this also perpetuates the myth that, even if you have good systems in place, your team won’t follow them anyway.

It’s actually a perfectly reasonable assumption that if you were to just stop the SYSTEMology process at stage four, things aren’t going to work for you. But, of course, you’re not going to stop here. You’re going to push on. You’re determined.

Right? I ask because, in many respects, this stage will be the most challenging part of the entire SYSTEMology process. It’s manageable, and the process is proven, but you need to be ready to push everyone out of their comfort zone.

The key to ensuring that your business develops a culture where systems are not just created but actually used is persistence. You need to break through old habits, replace them with new ones and reach the point where your team knows, “This is just how we do things here.”

You will face challenges, there will be resistance and at times you may even question if your team can make the transition. In these moments, keep the faith. Many companies have come before you and bridged this gap, and I have confidence you will too.

Also, take solace in knowing that your biggest challenge will come from existing team members who’ve been with you the longest and who might be set in their ways. For new team members, this way of work is all they know and very quickly they will discover if they’re the right fit or not.

Identify your strengths and understand your flaws¶

I owned and worked in my digital agency for a little over a decade. In hindsight, it was a Frankenstein-style business since it was built up over time with a lot of crazy ideas, tools and team members all cobbled together. There was no strategic planning or structure.

We just kept marching in the direction of growth – more clients and more revenue. If problems came up, I solved them by hiring someone or purchasing a new piece of software. Everyone did their own thing and we pieced everything together as best as we could. It was functional but definitely not efficient.

It’s funny how long it can take you to learn some things and then, once you learn them, how immediately obvious it becomes. You wonder why it took you so long to figure it out in the first place.

I always thought I was a good manager, but it wasn’t ’til the last few years of my time in the agency that I realised my style was the reason we had stalled. Sure, I got on well with my team and people seemed to like working for me, but I was a micromanager. If I felt projects weren’t progressing as I imagined they should, rather than coaching the team member or telling them that the work wasn’t up to standard, I would often get in there and do it myself.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with being a business owner who has a great relationship with their team. But if your business as a whole is going to grow and develop, some positive pressure needs to be applied. Otherwise, you’re back to being the person who always steps in and saves the day.

To change your business culture, to build a business based on systems, it’s going to take a firm hand and the willingness to hold people accountable. You don’t need to be a tyrant – you’re not going to whip your team members into shape – but you do need someone who is going to lead by example and who isn’t afraid to tell people what needs to be done.

Here’s the big question: is that you? Are you the best person to lead the charge with this change? You need to be able to assess yourself honestly, push your ego out of the way and understand your flaws. If you need to, ask trusted colleagues for an honest assessment.

This goes beyond making the decision to let someone else take over and run with SYSTEMology – we’ve already established that many of the steps should be handled by someone who already loves systems and has extra capacity. This is about who should be managing the transformation of your company into a systems-centred business that is dedicated to following processes and procedure and rejects the ad hoc style of working.

Ultimately, this is the person who will run the daily operations of your business. For me, as hard as it was to admit, I wasn’t the best person to do this.

The yin to my yang¶

Melissa, the person who eventually took my place running the agency, is my perfect counterbalance. She understands, values and is committed to building our systems-centred business. She’s a better people manager than I was. She’s well-liked by the team, but she doesn’t need to be. This is not important to her.

This allows her to give someone clear instructions, step back and let them take responsibility for their work. She trusts the team to do their job. If a mistake gets made, she’s created an environment where team members feel comfortable taking ownership, and she’ll work with them to fix the issue.

She’s also hard as nails and is comfortable pushing back on situations where the rules aren’t followed. As hard as it might be to believe, she even does this with me as the business owner.

During my transition, I still had the bad habit of stepping in and throwing my weight around. I might, for instance, get tunnel vision and think of the project I was working on as being the most important. I would put pressure on a team member to get a job turned around quickly without considering their overall workload and how this might affect other clients’ jobs.

This happened often enough that Melissa took the bold step of posting a message inside our project management software, advising everyone to ignore any ‘Urgent’ messages from me.

It was a gutsy move – no question about it. But she was well within her rights.

A few months earlier, Melissa and I had talked about how hard it was on the team when I would come up with a new idea every other day and then seemingly change directions at the drop of a hat. What was exhilarating for me was jarring for everyone else. They’d still all be coming to grips with my last innovation, and suddenly, I’d be talking about yanking them in a whole new direction.

Off the back of this meeting, we created a system for me to direct work through her. Talking to Melissa first gave me the opportunity to explore the new idea without distracting the rest of the business. She could help weigh up with the big picture in mind, make sure we didn’t overcommit and ensure we worked on only the best ideas.

So, there we were. I’d put Melissa in charge, but I was undermining and sabotaging her work.

When I went to a team member directly with my ‘Urgent’ assignment, I was failing to follow the system that we’d already agreed to.

Her calling me out on this was a little embarrassing but it demonstrated to the team that we had a way of doing things and no one was above the law. As you can imagine, it didn’t take long to get me back in line.

These days, if I have something that I feel is urgent, I can still take it to Melissa and we figure out how to fit it in with everything else that’s happening. Sometimes it’ll be a case of Melissa saying, “Yes, we can do it, but at the cost of THIS or THAT – is that acceptable?”

It can be pretty scary as a business owner to have someone else in the business challenging your direction, but I actually believe it’s required to grow to the next level. Without it, you’ll eventually slip back into your old role of trying to do it all and have it all.

The leader and the manager¶

The two roles I’m really speaking to here are the roles of a leader and a manager. The truth is you need both.

The leader is quite often the founder and/or business owner. They’re the problem-solver, quick with ideas and full of drive, passion and creativity. They’re great at starting businesses, inspiring others and powering them forward through a mixture of hard work, quick wits and raw instincts. Their blessings are a double-edged sword, though; with too many ‘good ideas’, they often find themselves moving onto the next thing before they finish the last.

Compare that to the manager, who gets things done. They’re highly detail-oriented and quite often the glue for the organisation that holds everyone together. They ensure everyone marches to the same drum and is accountable for their work. Most importantly, they are very processdriven and have the patience to see a job through to the end.

Yes, of course you can grow a business without one or the other, but if you have both, and they can learn to work well together, that’s a recipe for explosive growth.

This might also give you some insight into why you may have tried to systemise your business in the past but failed. It’s entirely possible that, as the business owner, you’re a great leader in desperate need of a manager to lock things down.

The leader and manager partnership is one of those things that might be new to you. But once you’re aware of it, you’ll start to see examples of it in many great growing companies.

For instance, did you know that Walt Disney had a brother called Roy? Seriously, Google it. I’m not making this up. Walt was the visionary leader who everyone knew and loved. Roy was the guy behind the scenes, making things happen.

Or how about Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company? We all know about Henry Ford, right? But what about James Couzens, his general manager, who handled the day-to-day operations?

Another one? How about Ray Kroc? You know, the McDonald’s guy! He took a hamburger restaurant in Illinois, USA and turned it into the most successful franchise of all time. But he couldn’t have done it without the assistance of his right-hand man and manager, Fred Turner.

Often, we don’t hear about the managers because it’s the visionary leaders who are usually the public face of the company; they enjoy, at least to some degree, being in the limelight. Managers may not mind some attention, but they don’t tend to seek it out. They’re too focused on driving every resource and team member to achieve the company mission.

Are you a leader or a manager?¶

If you’re a start-up founder, there’s a good chance you’re the leader. Some people are a mixture of both roles, but very rarely can you find someone who can do both roles well at the same time. So, who’s the manager in your business? You might be lucky and discover that you already know someone, maybe even someone within your existing business, who would be wellsuited for this role.

Or maybe you have to hire this person. If this is the case, you don’t have to rush your search, but I want to plant this seed. At some point, to truly step out of the business, you will need someone to step in and run things. You need to figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are, and then use this knowledge to help you find a person (or persons) who will complement you.

For now, as it relates to SYSTEMology, it’s okay to proceed as long as you have someone who you’ve identified as the systems champion (discussed in ‘Step Three: Extract’). At a minimum, this person will take ownership over the process and dramatically increase the success of this new initiative.

Let’s dig a little deeper into how you will roll SYSTEMology out within your team. As I noted at the start of the book, I advise reading through the entire book at least once before following the action steps since some of the later chapters (like this one) will help you with earlier ones.

Depending on where you are in the process, you may have already introduced your department heads and knowledgeable workers to SYSTEMology and that’s okay! The steps I am about to cover speak more broadly to how to introduce things to the team.

Obviously, everyone’s circumstances are different, so you will need to adjust accordingly.

Step #1: Identify who’s leading the charge.¶

It should go without saying that you need to convey your determined, unwavering commitment to making this most important change to your business. But you also need to determine who’s going to be the best person to lead the charge when it comes to implementation.

If you’re a leader personality, this definitely won’t be the first time you’ve introduced a ‘revolutionary’ new idea to your team. So, you only have yourself to blame if some of your team members secretly roll their eyes and wonder if this is an idea that will stick or will be replaced by something new in a few months.

If you have a manager on your team, they will be the perfect choice. Otherwise, a department head or senior team member may be a good fit. Identify this person upfront, give them this book and ensure you’re both on the same page.

Step #2: Know your selling points.¶

By this stage, you can probably already reel off many of the key benefits of SYSTEMology and talk about them with enthusiasm. But I want to give you a few more that you might not have thought about. I want you to have a strong, long list of reasons you can use to help build some positive pressure.

You don’t need to memorise this list of benefits (unless you really want to). But having them handy, along with a deep understanding of the results SYSTEMology can produce, will go a long way to strengthening your resolve.

This list, while not exhaustive, hits the main points and can be roughly grouped into benefits for team members and benefits to the overall success of the business.

Team member benefits¶

• Fewer errors and less wasted effort
• Improved employee onboarding
• Reduced micromanagement
• Eliminate single-person dependency
• Identify and fill gaps in competency and capability
• Empower team members to develop and improve

Business benefits¶

• Duplicate best practices
• Improve results for clients
• Free up time for strategy and product refinement
• Scale up for profitable expansion
• Make the business more attractive to future buyers or investors
• Run efficiently even in the absence of founders or managers

Step #3: Introduce SYSTEMology to your team.¶

Getting all of your team, at all levels, into one room to announce your plan to systemise is perfectly fine if this is the norm for your business. But it shouldn’t be your first venture into the subject.

Your partners, managers and team members are all going to have different questions and concerns, so it makes sense to bring each group into the conversation separately.

A top-down approach is the most logical route. Get your partners onboard by sharing with them the business benefits. Then move on to your department heads, knowledgeable workers and team members using the team member benefits.

Remember, everyone is different, so you want to frame things with their perspectives in mind. Ideally, you don’t want to move onto the next group of people until the current group shares your level of commitment. Here’s the thing… change is scary for many people, and the topic of systems also has baggage around it. People have preconceived notions on what this will or won’t mean to them and their work. Many times, they have reached their conclusions without fully testing their assumptions. We have addressed many of the biggest myths as you work through this book, but there will no doubt be others.

It may be unrealistic to think you can get complete buy-in from everybody on the first attempt. Some people will ‘get it’ and embrace it while others may take more time before they fully commit.

Just remember, if your team members feel like SYSTEMology is going to make their job harder or they can’t see the clear benefits to their situation, you’ll get pushback. Put yourself in their shoes. Think of their current problems and how SYSTEMology can help to solve them.

For example, you might say something like … “You know what it’s like when you go on vacation (or you’re sick) and you come back to find all your work has piled up. Your inbox and voicemails are full, you have one million tasks that have been waiting on you and now you need to work double-time to get back on top. You spend the next three weeks trying to get things back on track for the one week you took off. Well, we’re looking to document some of your key systems so it’s easier for other team members to step in and help out when you’re on leave.”

Or maybe it’s something more aspirational. “We would love to move you into a more senior position but to do this we’ll need to delegate some of your current duties. By creating some stepby-step systems it’s going to be infinitely easier to elevate your position.”

See how those two reasons might appeal to different people? Walk them through the Critical Client Flow and the Departments, Responsibilities & Team Chart. Ask for their help in refining and tweaking those documents. Have them as part of the process. People are much more likely to stick with something they have played a part in creating.

Remember to set the stage and address any concerns about the process being time-consuming or difficult. Tell them about your plan to make this a two-person job, where someone else will be doing the documentation. All you need is their help to capture what they’re already doing. Easy!

Remember, people are great at reading energy, so be sure to introduce this with excitement and focus on the opportunities this will create for everyone.

Step #4: Start the extraction process.¶

With your key players onboard, your systems champion selected and your knowledgeable workers ready to go, it’s time to start the extraction process. Work through your CCF using the System for Creating Systems and let your systems champion do the heavy lifting.

That is to say, focus on making it as easy as possible for your knowledgeable workers.

Step #5: Introduce your software.¶

If you already use project management or job-assigning software, simply add the links to your systems (stored within your systems management software) to your project templates.

Remember, the goal with your systems management software is to have all your documented systems already there, easily accessible at the point at which they’re needed.

Combine this with your project management software and you have full accountability for the completion of the task to the required standard. Note: Don’t expect every team member to open a system every time they’re completing a task – especially the more experienced ones. That’s okay; just having them mark a task as complete is a step on the right path. It’s the job of their manager to then ensure it’s completed to the required standard.

Step #6: Manage via the systems.¶

Once all the big rocks are in place, you must start to make your systems central to the way you do things.

For example, you need to train your team to always look to the system first. If they want to know how to do something, if they have a challenge, if they’ve got a question, whatever it is … their first port of call should be to review the relevant systems and/or search your systems management software.

Systems empower your team and it gives them a resource to get their questions answered without judgement. All too often, new team members fail to ask questions when they’re not clear on a task because they’re worried about whether that would make them look silly. A systems database empowers your team to be self-sufficient.

I have been as guilty as anyone of slipping back into old habits when we first started this management style. Especially when it came to responding to questions from my team! My instinct was to try to solve all the problems myself. I’d answer any question on the spot because it was easy, fast and I liked being helpful. But the truth is, all I was doing was training my team to come to me whenever they had a problem.

Melissa eventually coached this out of me (another reminder that you need a manager with the courage to stand up to you). The fact was, managing the team this way didn’t help me or the team member in the long term. These days, when someone comes to me with a question, the first thing we do is open our systems management software and look to see if the answer is in there.

This makes me happy since I still get to be helpful, but more importantly it trains the team member to look for answers themselves before asking for help. If they can’t find the answer, this is an opportunity to improve a system and/or create a new one.

This environment also makes it safe for team members to alert their supervisors when something goes wrong. Individuals no longer feel like they’re expected to take the blame. It’s always the fault of the system, assuming everyone has followed the established processes – the focus is on improving the flaw in the system rather than blaming an individual.

It’s just a better way for everyone to work. Of course, if a problem is caused by a team member who failed to follow the outlined steps, their supervisor has a clear path to a resolution. They can start by reminding the team member that by marking a task as completed, they are confirming it has been completed to the outlined standard in the system.

If the standard isn’t met, it’s a sign that the team member needs further training and/or a reminder to follow the documentation.

This will result in one of two scenarios. Either the team member will get into shape or they won’t. If they don’t, we need to uncover why and get to the heart of the resistance.

Step #7: Identify resistance and meet it head-on.¶

Yes, there’s a good chance that through this process you will meet some resistance.

To be clear, I’m not talking about the people who push back, grumble or struggle to change the way things are done. Be persistent and patient with these individuals, make sure they’re held accountable for their progress and these bumps will smooth themselves out.

I want to address how to deal with people who either outright refuse to participate, procrastinate and/or sabotage to the point where it amounts to the same thing. These are the people who create tension in the workplace and who risk undermining your efforts.

There are many reasons why people resist change, but some of the more common reasons include:

• Some people may hide behind the idea that no one else in the business knows how to do their job. They feel this gives them added job security. The idea that their knowledge and experience is going to be documented could be unsettling because it implies that they might eventually be considered replaceable.
• Other people have learned how to make their workload appear heavier than it actually is, to the point where they fear that documenting their work might uncover how little they actually do on a day-to-day basis.
• Still others have been with the company for so long and are so used to doing things a certain way, they feel like they have the freedom to dig their heels in and resist change. These can be the trickiest to tackle.

Let’s not wait for these problem personnel to show themselves. Decide in advance how to deal with these problems depending on your preferred management style. For instance, you might decide on a three-stage approach that starts with discussion, moves on to disciplinary action and concludes with termination.

Always start by putting yourself in the team member’s shoes, trying to understand their motivations and helping them to see why change is necessary. It’s good practice to try a few different approaches. You might find the solution is as simple as linking people’s success with SYSTEMology to their performance reviews and bonuses.

However you decide to approach this step, it needs to be clear to everyone that becoming accountable for their work is not optional. Time will be given for everyone to adjust and learn the new procedures, but opting out is not on the table.

If this step is making it sound like SYSTEMology is going to result in a round of mass terminations, remember that this is about preparing for the problem. If you take a benefit-led approach to presenting your new approach, most, if not all, of your team members will join with you.

As much as anything, this step is about ensuring you’re committed to following through, even if difficulties arise.

Don’t lose sight of the ultimate goal of SYSTEMology: complete business reliability.

Step #8: Build a systems-thinking culture.¶

The term ‘culture’ often feels airy-fairy or, at best, something only big companies should worry about. The truth is, it’s more important than you realise. Your business’ culture is one of the biggest influences on how your team members behave.

Perhaps it’s because your culture attracts similar team members; maybe it’s because people look to the actions of those around them to decide what’s acceptable and what’s not; maybe it’s just a reflection of the health of your business.

I’m no expert on culture building, but I do know a thing or two about embedding systems-thinking into a business. The good news is, you’re already well on your way.

Putting systems front and centre when you assign tasks, focusing on the way you create accountability and managing your team via systems all play an important role in building the culture you need to make this work. I also suggest getting clear on the qualities your team members need to have to succeed within your business and building that into your recruitment process.

Imagine building a business where you attract the right team members to you and repel those who aren’t a good fit. It’s entirely possible and, as you would expect, it’s a process. The point is, you need to deliberately cultivate this sort of environment. This doesn’t happen by chance. In the next chapter, we’ll discuss your hiring, onboarding and management systems. You want team members who are primed for systems-thinking and you need to spot these qualities upfront. It’s also important to stress that you’re not looking for robots who mindlessly follow instructions. Quite the opposite – you want smart team members who think! Systems are simply documented ways to handle recurring tasks within your company. Systems allows team members to focus on areas where they can add the most value.

Heck, we think it’s so important that we added it to our company values!

“Systems-Thinking. We always seek out and create systems-centred solutions for any recurring tasks and challenges.”

For you to achieve complete business reliability, you must become a systems-centred business. This isn’t just about having documented systems or the software tools to store them. Your team, at their core, needs to develop a systems-thinking mindset.

Not everyone is a systems person¶

Pinned to the wall of my bedroom was a piece of paper known only as: The Sheet.

Created by my father, The Sheet was his attempt to gamify his children’s life. Based on the mission-critical systems that he believed were essential for having a rich, meaningful existence, it offered points for completing various tasks, such as washing the car, getting on well with my brother, going to bed on time and so on.

The number of points that I earned would determine how much pocket money I received at the end of the week.

But this was more than just a simple checklist of chores that converted into our allowance. The Sheet was an elaborate system that rewarded consistent behaviour. Points accumulated over time and exceeding certain limits would result in the award of additional cash bonuses.

The idea was that The Sheet would encourage and build positive and responsible habits that would become deeply ingrained over a long period of time (see appendix 2).

I just wanted the money! So, I figured out how to play the game. I worked out which jobs provided the most points for the least amount of effort and made sure I exceeded 300 points a week for successive weeks to activate the cash bonuses.

I cracked the system so completely that my dad had to change the rules. It was either that or get a second job to cover my massively inflated pocket money.

I was eight years old. As much as I loved a system that was fun to follow and with which I could maximise my results and pocket money, my brother hated it in equal measure. He loathed the sheet, and if he ever scored points it was usually by accident.

He simply had a different model of the world to me, and it taught me a valuable lesson. Some people just won’t follow your systems no matter what you do. As they say, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.

There’s nothing wrong with this, it’s neither good nor bad, it just is. There’s no point in getting upset by this or trying to force someone into doing something they don’t want to do. You have decided to build your business a certain way and if someone identifies themselves as someone who doesn’t resonate with this approach, the sooner you discover this the better.

There will be times when you need to make difficult decisions. Just remember, it’s worth making those tough choices sooner rather than later because you’ll be one step closer to building a team who loves this new way of doing things.