COVID-19 Lockdown is the PERFECT time to map out your processes
No Process, No Hope
Do you want to know how to map out a process?
Are you wanting to create a business that can run without you?
Are you a small business owner feeling overwhelmed?
If so it might be time for you to knuckle down and get some processes mapped out. Stop believing no one is as good as you.
A lack of a systematic way of mapping out processes, not understanding their importance and getting bogged down in the detail.
Having processes is such an important part of creating a business in paradise, and yet so many businesses fail to do this properly. As they say, if you fail to plan, then you’re planning to fail. If your business does not have properly laid out processes, how can you expect to live the laptop lifestyle or implement automation in the future? Your business needs to be able to run without you, and for that to happen, you need processes.
This is a problem that a lot of business owners have. They build their business around themselves. In some ways this is natural; you need passion to run a business and often that results in the business centring on one or a few people. Their input becomes essential to the running of every part of the business and they soon see themselves as indispensible and irreplaceable. In reality, that’s hardly ever true. Yes, maybe tasks need to be done a certain way, but there’s rarely a legitimate reason why the business owner is any more qualified or able to do it than anyone else. In a properly functioning business, the absence of the business owner or management should not mean everything collapses in a heap.
The top business advisors in the world are clear on this topic. Michael E. Gerber tells business owners, “You don’t have a business, you have a job and it is the worst job in the world. It’s the system that runs the business not you!”
It’s true that everyone has their own way of doing things and sometimes it’s easier just to let people get things done. However, inconsistent and undocumented processes can lead to very inconsistent results.
Making a cup of tea
Let’s look at a simple process: making a cup of tea. You would think it’s quite straightforward, but see what happens when you ask everyone in your business to describe their process. When you review the results, don’t look at all the detail; look at how many steps each person has in their process.
We used this activity in our office to show the importance of having a process for consistent results. Although all the processes undoubtedly ended up with the same result, a cup of tea, each brew was different, dependent on the individual.
One person took 6 steps to make a cup of tea. I had 11 steps. Interestingly, while the 6-step process was very efficient, it was based on the process writer’s own tastes only. They had not taken into consideration how the person they were making it for wanted it. So my 11-step process, while more time-consuming, would have ended up with a more effective result: a cup of tea tailored to the tastes of drinker. It may also end up being more efficient in the long run, as the recipient would likely be more satisfied with their cup of tea and not request or have to make another one.
The first step is a flow chart and not just a process map, as you would think, as there is a lot more detail behind this. Before we put in the detail, we would need to beta test the process and the training to check if we would get consistent results.
Once you have a process mapped out and have tested the flow, now all you need to do is train the staff on two parts: A) how to use the process and B) how to make the cup of tea.
From this, you can see the efficiency of having a process. A process can account for variation, that is, the fact that every cup of tea would and should be slightly different. If it isn’t, your staff is in cahoots… and plotting to over throw you! No, not really. But you can see how you now have a system to measure results against and to easily identify where something has gone wrong in the process. If you didn’t have a process, you’d have to ask a lot of questions to find out the truth. With the process, there’s no excuse for not getting a perfect cup of tea every time, and if you don’t, there’s only one question to ask: “Did you follow the process?”
Now, let’s extrapolate to an actual business product. Imagine you are Apple and you need to do this with every iPhone or McDonalds and you need to this with every burger. How could you create a mass-market product that delivered consistently good results without having a set process? The answer is, you couldn’t. Apple would not have had the success they have had if they delivered different results for each product they produced. Apple’s customers aren’t looking for customisation or to be different from everyone else (Well they might like that and want that, but apple are selling them what they need). Ultimately, they want a phone that comes in consistent packaging, has a consistent look and feel, and runs using consistent software and can do all of the latest functionality just a little bit better. Ultimately, that is what your customers are wanting as well.
As humans we are creatures of habit, so once we have found a product that delivers consistent results, we will continually go back to it. When you go to a new town, and you know nothing about any of the restaurants there, if you see a TGI Fridays, you know what you’ll be getting. You know they do gluten free and good steaks with pretty consistent results, so you are more likely to use this restaurant than the ones you know nothing about.
How to Map out a process
Phase 1 Research — is to understand the problem.
We are making a cup of tea so the problem is thirst and the solution is a hot well made cup of tea.
We need to do our research here on how to make the perfect cup of tea. Google it, some interesting results. I have learned a lot. You would do the same for your product.
How to post a sales invoices In QBO or something like that. The work has already been done for you.
Phase 2 Development — is to understand the process.
Map it out and develop a process that works for you.
What are the components of making a great cup of tea?
- Fill the kettle with water
- We need to power up the kettle (Plug it in)
- Switch on the Kettle
- Is the water Boiling? Fault find if Kettle is not working
- Only when the water is boiled can we pour it into the cup.
- We can then add 1 tea bag
- We have to let it brew
- Do we want milk? What kind
- Do we want sugar? What kind
- Stir for at least 5 times
- Then we can enjoy our HOT brew of tea
We can then map this into a process chart, showing the steps and triangles show us inefficiencies in the process as they require input.
Phase 3 testing — Feedback Market research
We can now test our tea making skills and we can sell our tea, have a launch offer Normal £2 for today it is half price only £1.
This is where we test the process and the process variables. The Triangles are the variables and you will not have to keep powering up the kettle if you have wireless kettle.
Once we have tested and proved that it does work, we can make a cup of tea and we know how long it should take. We can then make this super profitable and that’s what we aim to do next.
Customer feedback is critical here.
It took too long to get my tea, it was cold… don’t start thinking the moaning sh!t, this is gold dust.
We know it was busy when they came in so we need to make some improvements to the process.
It was a nice cup of tea but not the best.
It was the GREATEST cup of tea I ever had.
What made it great? We need more feedback here so we can replicate that experience.
Phase 4 Improving
How can we improve the process, would using a wireless kettle save us time, how much time vs cost. Can we buy a tea urn that has a constant feed of boiling water that could speed up the process, but will this effect the quality?
Can we buy cheaper brands of tea and get the same quality, do we need help to load the cups, or should we have different levels of tea on the brew all the time so all we have to do is pass to the customer and they can get there own milk and sugar, which speeds up the process.
What level of customer service vs profitability are we looking for.
We keep improving until we have a formula that works for us and is uber profitable. Once we have this things now start to get exciting.
All along this journey we continue to add to our systems and process documentation. We can use software like Process Street if you are a larger business Kissflow
Phase 5 Masses or Scaling
Now we have a process that works is uber profitable we have the knowledge so we can open another location or start to look at partnerships and other possible avenues to sell our tea. We know how to make the best tea profitable. Can we franchise it? Can we sell it on Scale.
As a bricks and mortar business this might be difficult without funding, but selling a digital membership to licence our IP. That we can do.
That is easy to sell on scale and worldwide with translators, putting it into different languages.
Now you not only have a system and process for making a cup of tea, you have a process for a whole business model from start to finish.
So you see we start off with a very simple process and what we end up with is a scalable business. Ok it is not as easy as that.
I am dedicated to helping my friends to find freedom in their life. That is the freedom to travel, the freedom to enjoy the finer things in life and get back control of their life.
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Much Love Jay
