EVENT RECAP: AN ENTREPRENEUR'S PLAYBOOK PART 3, "PROCESS TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF PEOPLE"

For the past three months, Rebecca Lockwood, Pinnacle Guide and former Certified EOS Implementer, has sat down with entrepreneurs walking them through “An Entrepreneur’s Playbook,” outlining different practices that are key to help one’s business run at peak performance. 

On Monday, October 4, Rebecca presented the third and final workshop in the series focused on, “Process Takes the Pressure Off the People.”

Building off of her previous workshops introducing What is a Business Operating System and Why You Need One to Truly Grow with Purpose, and Getting the Right People Doing the Right Things, Rebecca said the next step in completing a business operating system (having all of the people in your organization aligned around the same vision and strategy), is executing on that strategy through clear roles and responsibilities and individual plays. 

STEP 1: IDENTIFY THE PLAYS 

Work with your team to identify what plays need to happen. What are the important actions that people take in your business on a regular basis? Think about who’s involved. How are things set up? Who’s calling the shots? Who does what first? What happens next? What are the exact steps that will take them to the goal? These should be very clearly defined. For instance, they may be Sales, Marketing, IT, etc. You will likely come up with more plays than you can handle, so it’s important to get aligned and agree on the plays with your team. 

STEP 2: WRITE THE PLAYS

Then write down the plays, including an owner, and a goal for each process on how the play is successful. 

There are two methods to document the process: 

Individual Owner. The first method is to assign one person responsible for actually drafting the play, and getting buy-in from other people who are familiar with the process to help refine and define it. This assigns one person in charge, with buy-in from other people. 

Brainstorming Session. The second method is more of a brainstorming session and can be more fun and offer more buy-in. You may have an entire team brainstorm on post-it notes each step of the process, making it collaborative. One person would still be assigned to each play, though the approach to identify the process is more team-based. 

Whichever method you choose, it’s essential to get buy-in from the team who are actually following the processes. Writing out these processes in a checklist format is encouraged. Engage employees to understand that if you do this small checklist then you have more autonomy over the whole project. 

Don’t forget to also include playbooks for the client or employee journey, which often overlaps many different functions on the accountability chart. Once your plays and their processes are written, compile them to create a list of plays. (Ideally, you would only have two pages or so per play.)

IMPLEMENT AND CHAMPION THE PLAYS

Typically there should be at least one play per major function in your accountability chart (Sales, Marketing, etc.). Since there will be owners for each play, be sure they understand and explain why it’s a priority to their teams. Make them the champion of that play and have them teach others. Rebecca likes to say, “watch one, do one, teach one.” Print off a physical copy and send a digital copy of the play to anyone involved. Include the playbook in your onboarding and hiring process. 

In many cases, it may take 6-12 months to document the processes and train, train, train employees. If there are a lot of violators of the processes put in place, make sure they have a chance to weigh in. After all, it’s a journey, not an event. Most importantly, leadership has to be committed to the playbook and endorse it for their teams to follow suit. 

What plays do you have in your business and who is owning those? Share with us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram!