Guest Blogger Alex Judd shares:
If you’ve started a business in the past year (data shows there’s a lot of us), congratulations! These are exciting times.
One thing I’ve been reflecting on lately is that it’s so much easier to do something new when you are small than when you are big. This is especially true when it comes to systems and processes.
Although the start-up season is a challenging time to introduce routine and cadence, it is WAY harder when there are hundreds of people involved. I have worked with and observed enough large businesses to know that the growth of your team never makes the addition of new processes easier. There’s more people to convince, more habits to change, and more variables to consider.
Yet, because systems, by nature, imply rhythm, they represent a business’ best shot at generating the focus necessary to achieve compounding returns. So, if you just started a business, create them now. Define the vision that you have for your culture, service, leadership, and team. And then, identify the systems and processes you can introduce today.
Here's some ideas:
Weekly staff meeting
Weekly customer feedback review
Incentivized customer referral process
Documented hiring process
Documented onboarding process
Documented course correction process
Documented KRA's (Key Results Areas)
Monthly team shoutouts
Monthly team lunch
Monthly zoom happy hour
Team Book Club
Monthly strategic brainstorming
Quarterly leadership development
Weekly 1 on 1's
Monthly dashboard evaluation
Annual leadership retreat
Don't do all of them. Just do the right ones. RIGHT NOW. Even if you are just one person, it will never be easier to block that time off on the calendar than it is today. And then, for anyone that you hire, it will simply be "the way things have always been done." I promise, that's the type of thing your future self will be really thankful for.
About the Author:
Alex Judd is the CEO + Founder of Path for Growth, which exists to help leaders, teams, and individuals define vision, take action, and get results.