While you might be excited about systemising your business (and with good reason!), your staff may not share your enthusiasm.
If you think about it, you can understand their position.
First of all, they may fear for their very jobs. We’ve all heard about employees being let go thanks to the advances in digitisation and automation. Your employees might worry that once the new systems have been implemented, they will become surplus to requirements.
Secondly, it’s something new to learn. If your staff are already busy, they might view this as a real nuisance.
However, systemisation is absolutely vital if your business is going to succeed. So rather than be deterred, you should flip the table and get your team on board. There are various ways you can go about it, but here are five of our top tips.
How to get your staff excited about systemisation
- Ask for their input
You are more likely to get buy-in from your employees if they are invested in the systems being created. To do this, ask for their input throughout the entire process. It actually makes perfect sense – after all, they are the ones who will be on the front line, dealing with these systems day-in, day-out. They will probably have some excellent ideas about what is required. If you ask them what they want, and you develop something tailored to their needs, they are going to be much more motivated going forward.
- Offer the right training and support
That being said, you still need to offer the right training and support. Remember, some of your staff will have been doing certain tasks the same way for months, or years, on end. Then one day you tell them they can forget everything they know. This can be extremely overwhelming, and now they have new programmes and processes to get to grips with. So, give them in-depth training at the start and provide ongoing support, be it in person or with a systems manual. Otherwise you’ll find people become frustrated very quickly.
- Get feedback and act on it
There are often teething problems when you introduce new systems and processes. That’s why it is good practice to ask for feedback from your employees. They will know better than anyone how things are going. You might discover that a certain process isn’t working and needs to be tweaked. Or there might be confusion in the ranks, meaning more training is needed. Whatever it is, act on this feedback. That way, any issues can be quickly ironed out, keeping your employees happy.
- Lead from the front
It can be tempting for everyone to slip back into old habits – including you. But as a business owner, you must lead from the front. Otherwise your employees will see that you are not practising as you preach. And if you aren’t playing ball, why should they? Instead, use the new systems from the word go and galvanise everyone else to do the same. If you are an advocate, it will be much harder for anyone to disagree with you.
- Don’t make it a punishment
Lastly, don’t make the entire exercise seem like a punishment – your staff may be reluctant enough as it is. Begin by gently explaining why these systems are needed, and most importantly, how they are going to make their lives easier. Then, try to make the whole process as enjoyable as possible. Maybe you can make an event out of your training days, or use incentives to garner enthusiasm. Whatever you do, make it into a positive experience. You are much more likely to be rewarded with cooperation.
Contact us now
If you would like to know more about how we can help you and your business, please contact us. Email hello@i-systemise.co.uk, call 07771 775741, or fill out our free online enquiry form – https://www.i-systemise.co.uk/#contact