How to get your team to fall in love with process documentation

Technically, Instagram’s new quiet mode is focused on teens, but hands up if you’re also planning to use it for some uninterrupted heads-down time. 🙋

Hot off the SMB press this week:

• Productivity vs. efficiency: What’s the difference? (And how to improve both.) 
• Tips for motivating your team to document their processes.
• Confused about operationalizing your biz? There’s a free webinar for that.

But first, here are some headlines that caught our attention this week.

TL; DR

This week's highlight reel

• And YOU get a small business, and YOU get a small business... New business applications were up 44% in 2022, resulting in over 5M new startups. Someone get Daymond on speed dial. 
• Game on. Master gamers and prodigies (think Rubik’s cube, Scrabble, and chess — not, respectfully, Mario Kart) are sharing their secrets to gaming success. Like, “don’t lose hope until the last tile is played.” (Coming soon to a fortune cookie near you.) 
• Fiji, anyone? Looks like corporate retreats are becoming the new office. Thanks to remote work, the market for corporate retreats is expected to reach $510.9B by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 17.3%. Pass the company-branded sunscreen.
• In Dolly we trust. Legend Dolly Parton partnered up with Duncan Hines to release a limited-edition baking collection. On the shelves: biscuits, cornbread, and caramel turtle brownies. Forget the man — Jolene, please don't take this buttermilk biscuit.

SO LITTLE TIME

Productivity vs. efficiency: How business leaders can maximize both

There’s a difference.
This isn’t a game of po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe. While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they have totally different meanings. And the difference between them can actually help you improve both. By definition:

• Productivity refers to the amount of work you can get done in a set amount of time.
• Efficiency measures how well you use your resources (usually time) to get something done.

They go hand-in-hand.
Maximizing your efficiency can lead to improved productivity. Meaning, if you learn to use fewer resources to do certain tasks, you may naturally find yourself doing more in an hour than you had previously. That leaves you more time to focus on more impactful tasks, like developing your business and prioritizing growth.

So, how do you actually go about increasing your productivity and efficiency? Try these tips:

1. Consolidate your tech stack.
Software is developed for the express purpose of helping people do more in less time — but having too many apps can actually decrease productivity. Organizations use an average of 110 different software apps, and switching between them can lead to a lot of wasted time.

So, consolidate your apps and look for software that can do multiple things for your business. And if you’re looking for one that can store your processes, train your employees, and help you scale your business, we’ve got you covered with Trainual.

2. Document your processes.
When you hire new employees, you know you have to commit a certain amount of time to onboarding before they can start being productive. And to get them up to speed as efficiently as possible, you need standardized processes — which means you have to document what you do at your business.

Plus, documenting your SOPs can actually help you identify areas of improvement and increase your efficiency.

👉 Check out four more tips.

PROCESS MAKES PERFECT

The best way to get your team to document processes

Why do we need to document processes? We’ve been doing okay without it.
You sure about that?

Some leaders see documentation as a huge time investment, so they put off recording their processes and policies to focus on operating the company instead. But because they get stuck working in the business, they never really grow it.

On the other hand, when leaders prioritize documentation, they set their companies up for growth and real revenue results long-term. Simply put, if you really want to grow in 2023, it’s time to give process documentation its due — and the first step is understanding how it inherently improves your revenue.

Okay, improved revenue sounds nice. How do I get employee buy-in?
Thought you’d never ask.

See, simply investing in your documentation isn’t enough. Because to get it to work, you must also get buy-in from your team to write down what they do and keep it updated.

How do you motivate employees to keep company knowledge up-to-date? To find out, we talked to Adi Klevit, founder and CEO of Business Success Consulting Group, Process People community member, and a Trainual certified consultant. Here, she offers five simple ways to motivate employees and make sure you get the best results from your documentation.

1. You have to believe in it — or no one else will.
Despite being a cliche, there’s real truth in the saying, “It starts at the top.” Because without your buy-in (and your leadership’s), employees just won’t take to documentation. “The business owner, the C-suite, and the leadership team have to be behind [documentation],” Adi explains.

2. Make it easy to access and update.
If you really want to get buy-in from your team, you need to make the information a question away for employees. And for Adi, that means using a cloud-based program like Trainual to document your company knowledge. So everyone can easily access the information anywhere.

👉 Check out the rest of Adi’s tips.

90 MINUTES TO SUCCESS

Register for a free webinar on operationalizing your business

Operationalizing: the process of making excellence repeatable and intentional instead of accidental and unpredictable. We’re talking about creating success on a consistent basis — sounds like something you’d want for your business, right?

Path for Growth founder Alex Judd agrees — which is why he laid out four easy steps you can take to operationalize your business. But sometimes, it’s easier said than done. So, Alex is hosting Operationalize Your Business, a free webinar that will teach you how to guard quality amidst delegation, practice healthy growth, and make a sustainable impact.

Join us on Monday, February 13, 2023, from 1:00-2:30 p.m. CST for 90 minutes of learning how to achieve consistent wins at your business. Bonus: It’s free and completely virtual. Sounds like time well spent.

👉 Register now!