Let Processes Run Your Business So You Don’t Have To
I was a few months into working with a new company, and there was just so much information to digest. I am, admittedly, the type that likes to blaze trails, get a little information, and then run full speed ahead. At times, I operate like a software engineer with the motto, coined by Mark Zuckerberg, “move fast and break things.” You can imagine how bringing a well-intentioned energetic go-getter into an organization could, if you’re not careful, quickly turn a culture on its head, causing disruption to an environment that’s been in business for years.
Maybe you’ve known someone that has entered your business and brought tons of good ideas without ever even trying to practice the things that have already been working? Maybe, and likely, if you’re an entrepreneurial type, you’ve been that person? Maybe your “I can do this better” attitude is the reason you have a business in the first place? And if this sounds like you, I’d venture to guess that you may even have an affinity and admiration for these types. Even if they drive you crazy at times. If there’s any truth to that statement, you might abhor the thought of structure, but as you’ll see, process gives you freedom.
So, how do you lead someone like me that doesn’t generally operate “by the book”? The answer is, lead them by the book.
When I went rogue, my leader simply asked me if I was following the XYZ process. I would generally respond with “oh, yeah thanks for the reminder.” And when I came to him with one of my many fleeting “brilliant” ideas? He reminded me that those workarounds aren’t necessary if you follow the documented process. And when I really saw an opportunity to upgrade our existing process or add something new? Yeah, he had a process for how we did that too. So how did that affect me in my role? Every reminder reminded me that it was my responsibility to be resourceful and look to our existing processes for the answer first before bringing it to the attention of the owner. It also reminded me that these processes existed long before I came on the scene and that they worked if I worked them.
It gave me the appropriate time and forum to raise and validate (or not), innovative ideas and creative solutions without reinventing the wheel mid race or getting distracted with the new and shiny when I still needed to master the tried and true. So, how did all of this impact the owner in his role? He knew he just needed to repeat himself until it clicked: “follow the process.” It saved him hours and hours of wasted time trying to explain to me “the way things are done around here” and why I don’t need to build from scratch because the model worked pretty perfectly as designed, if it was followed. It reinforced the culture and the values that I was expected to uphold. This freed up the owner to focus on what was mission critical for him without the need to manage me or my trailblazing personality day to day. In other words, he let the processes manage the business so he didn’t have to.
In any organization of a meaningful size, you can generally find the move fast and break things personality types, the people that would sometimes rather make the rules than follow them. And then there are the opposite, the people who absolutely thrive in rules and clear instructions, the rule followers. You can usually spot them somewhere they’re supposed to be, following, looking for, or reinforcing the rules. They may be great candidates for what I call your process champions: those folks who would happily own the process and make sure everyone is following it to a T. However, if not managed by a great process or given clear instruction, these folks can sometimes slow down the business because they are too afraid to make a mistake or are too eager to point out what may be viewed as a mistake made by others.
So, how do you lead someone who needs structure and rules, especially if you don’t operate that way? The answer is to give them structure by documenting and leading with process and empowering them to own their process.
Those are the two extremes, and in your business, you likely have everyone in the middle. These can all be led by following the process.
Many leaders I speak with resist documenting their processes for several reasons. Some share that their processes change so frequently that the investment of time in documenting what they do today won’t be worth it because tomorrow they’ll do something different. Some say they don’t have the time to dedicate. Or they do have processes, sitting somewhere on the shelf, and no one ever refers to them so they’re pointless.
If your business is changing so rapidly you can’t document what you’re doing, maybe it’s so early that you’re simply not a mature enough business to operate from defined processes because you’re still troubleshooting what it is you do. But if you’re beyond that and you operate with that much change, your business is likely not stable enough to grow at a good pace for your customers, your operations, the people that work inside your business, or you as a leader. If this is the case, get honest and ask yourself if there are constant mistakes, errors, or performance issues that could be mitigated if everyone followed the same process (the one that’s in your head).
If your business is relatively mature, 5+ years operating with any level of success, you’re doing a disservice to yourself, your business, your customers, and your employees if you don’t have defined and documented processes.
If your business is evolving quickly — start where you’re at, document what’s working today, and follow the process for evolving your processes in real time. Don’t stress. In the next post, I’ll share a simple framework for how to do this.
If you think you don’t have time to dedicate to documentation — commit to this process, taking ninety days of concentrated effort to, once and for all, solve the lack-of-process problem and change your entire business forever. In the next post, I’ll provide the simple steps for how to do this. It’s ninety days; you got this.
If you’ve tried this before and your processes exist but they’re on the shelf or somewhere in the drive and you know no one is following them, it’s because they’re either too exhausting to read or not even accessible because no one knows where to find them. In the next post, I’ll share how to avoid that trap forever too.
Leading by process changes your business, your people, and your culture forever. It allows you to lead by example because you’re consistent and the business is predictable (enough) that people trust you and trust in the process more than they ever have before.
When you lead by process, you’re teaching your team to be proactive and resourceful, solving issues and challenges for themselves and coming to you (or the appropriate leaders) with solutions, not more problems.
Resisting change and adapting to this new way of operating will have its challenges, and there’s a messy middle ground between a land without process and a land with process. But I’m sharing the roadmap so you can know the way and go the way trusting that your business will drastically improve with just this one commitment.
If you’re ready to learn how to build your business land with process and let your processes run your business so you don’t have to, read on.