CEOs, Get the Information Out of Your Head

systems often start by recording the knowledge trapped in your head so everyone else has access to it without having to ask you

We often operate under the notion that we need to schedule a meeting or ask a question to get information — even if it’s the sixth meeting or the seventh time we’ve asked — because it’s the fastest way to get things done.

For those things we do routinely, it really isn’t. We end up spending a lot of time on low-level decisions instead of putting our minds to the bigger picture and more valuable deliverables.

Here’s an example: Say you run a service company. If you choose to go the Q+A route, you could spend a lot of time managing the client, reviewing what should be established best practices, and regrouping internally instead of putting all your focus toward the things that really deliver value to your client.

Try defining systems instead. Systems are regularly interacting or interdependent groups of parts forming a unified whole. Our businesses are made up of systems — from relationships, to processes, to meetings.

Here’s another way to think about it: If you had to leave and couldn’t work with clients anymore, would you be confident that your replacement would handle things the way you want them to? Not that they would do everything just like you but that the client would get a consistent, on-point experience, and the new person would be able to find everything they need to deliver it.

Chances are, you just got a little nervous. When it comes to systems, a lot lives in our heads as leaders. Maybe it’s the backstory of a particular client or a standard you follow you’d like others to follow — but have never expressed. Whether we realize it or not, we become a stopgap in unnecessary meetings to fill in the blanks, over and over again.

You can break the cycle. As a leader, think about the things you would want someone to know if they were to take over for you, and write that information down in a document. Then pay attention to the questions people ask you again and again. Make a list of those questions and write up the answers in another document.

Now you have a starting place. There’s more to do to build proper systems, but you’ll have taken an important step to get things out of your head.

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Originally published at https://www.matterlogic.co on October 4, 2021.