Is Documenting Your Systems Necessary? (Reason #1)
At Reynolds OBM, we document the systems in your business and help strategize ways to make them better. I was speaking to a business owner who told me that that was a “nice to have” thing in business but not something they would pay for. I can’t even tell you how wrong that thinking is.
It pissed me off so much that when I got back to office I started rattling off a ton of reasons that having systems in your business, actually writing them down, making videos, keeping them organized and up to date are necessary. Necessary!
So everyday I am going to explain one reason why I believe this. Why I think they are necessary and you should pay for it.
And if you think this might last a few days tops, I got a whole lotta reasons so I may have content for a long (time!)
First up - and I think the most important - is knowledge retention.
You need to keep all the knowledge in the business, in the business. That means how everything is done where everything is can't just be in the heads of a few people in the company.
Everyone knows that stereotype of the right hand person who knows all the things and everyone goes to them if they need anything. But what happens if they leave? It doesn't have to be malicious, they could just get sick (hello, COVID) and all of the sudden POOF! no one knows how to do anything. There is a lot of time spent trying to find things that are important. The work doesn't get done. The clients are unhappy. And don't even get me started if the parting of ways was malicious. The company is now held hostage by one person and is paralyzed.
The livelihoods of everyone on the team are now in jeopardy because the CEO thought systems were a nice to have and not necessary.