The other day I was talking to one of my friends and she was having a bit of a business problem.
She was expressing that she has the resources and the team but she didn’t know how to leverage them properly.
She said that she knew she could be doing more, but didn’t know where to start and didn’t have everything standardized so things were constantly changing and done in different ways.
This is where her problem lies!
As she didn’t have any systems or processes in place it makes it hard for her to give her team tasks or tell them to do something because she doesn’t have a system behind it.
This isn’t the first time someone has come to me with the exact same problem!
And it all comes down to the fact that they don’t even know where to start. So I’m gonna tell ya!
As your resident operations expert, I’ve got your back.
I’m going to break down exactly where I recommend starting and how to start as well!
Every business is different
Before I jump into the good stuff, I want to add a little disclaimer: All businesses are different.
This means your processes, systems, and team will all be different too and that’s okay! Just know that leveraging your team using systems is never a ‘one size fits all’ game and you may be at a different point, so need to start in a different place to someone else.
That being said, I’m about to recommend two places I believe are the best places to start if you haven’t started at all or are feeling really confused.
Start systemizing
If you don’t know where to start when it comes to leveraging your team effectively, you need to go back to the basics.
Start systemizing your processes so you have more of an order to what you do and how you do it. This makes it easier to identify how you can use your team in the best way!
The first processes I would recommend systemizing are any repeatable and ongoing activities your are doing in the delivery processes. This includes anything from that first kick-off call to the moment you send over the final deliverable.
I recommend starting here because it’s one of the biggest income-generating activities and it’s also a big part of what could turn you into a referral-worthy business! (Which is something we are very big advocates of over here!)
When I talk about the delivery processes (and leveraging your team through it), what I don’t mean is hiring someone to be an extra consultant who can deliver your service. You could if you really wanted to get rid of that task first, but it’s not typically where I start with my clients.
What you need to identify are the parts of your delivery process that can others do for you.
For example, could your admin or VA start sending over the call schedulers and onboarding questionnaires or start answering general questions from the clients, or send weekly updates on the status of the project to the client?
These are the type of tasks in your delivery process that you don’t necessarily have to do or be involved in. Yes, you might be the one who has to take calls with the client and do the work but that doesn’t mean you have to do every step in between too!
But the only way you can identify the things you don’t need to be doing is to map out your process and standardize it.
How to start systemizing
- Map out every step you take (or want to take if it’s different every time)
- Go through it and decide what steps you have to do yourself and what tasks don’t need your personal touch.
- Take all of the steps that could be automated or taken over by a team member and start assigning!
- Once you’ve done this with your delivery processes, move on to other processes in your business and do the same!
Track your energy zaps
Another great place to find ways to leverage your team is by looking at the repeatable task in your week.
Start paying attention to what activities are really draining you and pulling you out of your zone of genius each day/week/month.
For example, if you’re the business owner and you are spending some time each week scheduling content, chances are, it’s not your favorite job (I mean, if it is, by all means, keep doing it!).
If you find yourself doing lots of these tasks that zap your energy or you just don’t like doing them, then this is a great entry point for leveraging your team!
How to track your energy zaps
- Spend a week or two monitoring everything you doing (you could write these down or use a time tracking up to note down your tasks). You don’t have to track min by min but at list note when you feel the task feels like an energy zap. You are just bringing awareness to those areas by doing this.
- At the end of the week, look through all of the energy-zapping tasks you’ve done and highlight all of the tasks that someone else could do or the ones you don’t like doing.
- Look at your team and identify who else could do these tasks and get delegating!
Take it one step at a time
Finally sitting down to map out your process and start leveraging your team can feel a bit overwhelming but just take it one process at a time and you’ll slowly start to see everything fall into place!
If you feel like you don’t have time to do this though, but know you do need it done, I’m always here to help you get ahead!
I now offer my Systems Brain Service where I help you map out one process in your business for you! If you want to know more about this service, click here!
And if you have any questions, I’m always here to help my friend!
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