Systems Before Staff: What to Build BEFORE You Hire
Most hiring regrets don’t come from hiring the wrong person. Before you bring someone into your world, your business needs clarity, structure, and systems that work without constant oversight. Otherwise, you’re not buying back time—you’re buying frustration.
A clearly defined and documented process log. You do things everyday in and for your business and clients; but is that in writing? Is it repeatable, and detailed, so that your client has the same experience regardless of who is performing the tasks? In addition to documenting your operations workflow and client process, consider adding visuals or short videos for reference. You’re brilliant at what you do yet, your staff won’t have access to what’s in your head.
A communication system. I said it. Plan ahead, and create rules around what items require a meeting vs. a message, when to escalate communications, WHERE communication is happening (are you using Teams, Slack, email, etc.), and response-time expectations.
A role clarity system. Who does what? With proper expectations set, there is no denying when your new hire is lacking in an area or excelling. Nothing here is set in stone; with the right staff, you’ll grow together and can reflect and reassign roles. Also discuss decision making rules; when can staff make decisions on your businesses behalf and when do they need to involve you?
A task and client management system. Many people opt for tools and software that are industry specific for this area. Once you chosen your tools, be sure you know how to use them enough to train on them. The idea is to delegate of course however, it is your business and you need to understand the baseline of all operations.
An onboarding system. It’s hard to believe that this one gets missed a lot. Before you hire you need to know how and when they’ll be trained, how long that process should last, how you’ll evaluate performance and activity and at what intervals you’ll do so.
A leadership plan. Whether you’ve had staff before, or this is your first time, knowing HOW you lead is a necessary step to a successful team. Prepare for how issues are dealt with, what your compliance looks like, how you communicate with others, and how you respond to different communication styles.
Yes, putting this all together will take time you might not believe you have. Trust me though, hiring doesn’t create capacity. Systems do. Staff simply scale what already exists.
It’s About Time!