DON’T SLEEP ON THESE FIVE BUSINESS SYSTEMS
Written by Jessica Murray
Every business is distinct, and not all operational processes are the same. However, commonalities exist regarding foundational systems that small businesses and startups must establish and optimize. The differences lie in the details.
Defining business systems
A business system is not a single process or checklist. A system consists of interconnected processes, procedures and other components required to achieve a specific company goal or serve customers.
To further define the key elements of a system:
Interconnected processes: Multiple processes that work together to deliver an outcome.
Organizational structure: Personnel, policies, technology and equipment strung together to coordinate activities.
Goal-oriented: A system is specifically designed to achieve an objective. For example, customer support, driving revenue or improving efficiency.
Value delivery: Systems should consistently produce results that benefit the business.
Scalability: A good system should be able to grow and adapt as a business evolves. Flexibility is key.
Cross-functional: Often, systems span multiple functions or teams within a business and become interconnected.
Standardization: Systems provide rules, procedures and standards for how work happens.
This post started with the title: “Don’t sleep on these five business systems.” While a business may not be made up of only five systems, we highlight a key handful crucial to overall business health and your ability to accelerate growth. If the following five haven’t been tuned up in a while, or aren’t well established, you may want to take a closer look.
Five critical systems to audit for business optimization
For the rest of this post, I’ll outline the first system — communication — its components, importance and tips for conducting an audit. This deep dive will also help you examine other business systems.
A closer look at communication systems
Definition:
The processes, channels and tools brought together to deliver efficient and effective internal and external communication.
Empower’s perspective:
Communication may sound simple, but doing it well is nuanced and can be complex.
Without strong internal communication, your team will lack cohesion, decision-making will be stymied and customer service will suffer. This is especially detrimental to emerging businesses with limited resources. Poor external communication means you aren’t reaching customers, suppliers, investors and other stakeholders well, potentially missing important opportunities. These are just a couple of reasons this system is key for your business’s growth, its ability to operate well and its resilience.
Now that you understand why you should care about your communication system, let’s get into the details of what comes together to make this system run and how to evaluate its performance.
Components:
Internal communication: How information flows among the internal team. This includes communication across teams and up or down the hierarchy structure.
External communication: How information flows outside the company to customers, suppliers, investors and other key stakeholders
Crisis communication: Processes around emergency response and public relations communications.
Communication channels and tools: How internal and external communication happens (e.g., face-to-face, Slack, Teams, Zoom, customer support platforms, Email, team announcements, newsletters, etc.)
Communication flows: Processes and protocols related to communication, including where, when, how, what and who. This also includes outlining decision-making and approval frameworks.
Training and knowledge management: A centralized repository and the training materials that help maintain the system’s integrity.
Measurement: Data and metrics relevant to communication so you can measure effectiveness and enable continuous improvement.
Integration: The connection points between this system and others across your business.
Impact:
How does the communication system affect how your business operates?
Improved understanding and collaboration: A well-established communication system ensures stakeholders have the right context and messaging. It also fosters collaboration among team members and external parties.
Supported decision-making: Clear communication allows you to assess information and make faster, better decisions.
Better productivity: A strong communication system streamlines workflows and reduces bottlenecks.
Alignment: Strong communication means people clearly understand your vision and the business’s objectives. There’s less room for both misinterpretation and lack of understanding around expectations.
Employee engagement: Clear communication leads to a positive work environment and empowers employees.
Improved data: Strengthens your ability to evaluate performance in real-time and make more regular, incremental improvements.
Audit tips:
Gather feedback: Ask for internal and external stakeholder input to evaluate what’s going well and where there are communication gaps. Review existing feedback to identify trends and surface potential issues.
Observe: Take note of processes and communication in action. Notice if there are discrepancies between established standards and what’s occurring in practice.
Review tools: Assess tools you’re currently using to aid with communication. Do the capabilities meet the needs? Has there been sufficient adoption? Is there redundancy?
Review existing documentation: Understand existing processes, standard operating procedure documentation (SOPs), service level agreements (SLAs), and more.
Review data: Look at internal and external data to better understand communication effectiveness, engagement, timeliness, tool adoption, etc.
Benchmark: Calibrate your understanding of industry best practices and compare your overall system and toolkit.
You now have the information to build, evaluate and evolve your business’s communication system. The question is, when will you take action?
Our five core system audit playbook
Empower has built a similar playbook for the remaining four systems — core operations, financial management, customer relationship management and sales and marketing. If you’re interested in receiving a copy, email info@hiempower.co.
Closing thoughts
Auditing the health of your business systems and understanding how they’re affecting your business today — positively or negatively — is the first step. The second is determining how to make changes if you find inefficiencies and bottlenecks.
Even though each system is unique, they are all interconnected in one way or another. As an example, improving your customer relationship management system can positively impact your sales and marketing system performance. Conversely, ignoring inefficiencies in one area could have negative ripple effects across the business.
Conducting regular audits and building a culture of continuous improvement will allow you to stay ahead of the curve, compete in your market and stay better positioned for the long term.
P.S. - The Empower Method offering is a great way to work with a partner who can assess the current state of your systems and provide actionable recommendations. Contact us for more details.