Science Journalist Tara Haelle wrote an enlightening article for Medium entitled Your ‘Surge Capacity’ Is Depleted — It’s Why You Feel Awful, suggesting that many of us have exhausted the fuel from our “surge capacity” tanks.
Haelle reveals the work of Dr. Pauline Boss, “a family therapist and professor emeritus of social sciences at the University of Minnesota who specializes in ‘ambiguous loss.’”
We are living in a time of “ambiguous loss: any loss that’s unclear and lacks a resolution.”
That feels like an appropriate descriptor for our time, “unclear and lack(ing) resolution.”
Here is the most bazaar reality, every single human is feeling it simultaneously.
For you as a business owner, there is still a business to run; books to balance, messages to be shared, food to serve, teeth to clean, shrubs to trim, houses to build and insulate, property to be rented or sold, planes to fly, and debris to remove.
Lead Well.
If you’re looking for more resources to work ON your business, we have them.
You cannot hold it all together while running on empty. How do you motivate employees to develop your business systems and procedures?
Figuring out how to motivate your employees to develop your business systems and procedures will lead not only to a delegation of day to day tasks which will restore your “surge capacity” fuel tank, but it will also re-engage your team so they can spend their days living within the joy of their skill set while also occupying their mind to things they can control rather than living under the banner of “unclear and lack(ing) resolution.”
The good news is that, as Haelle alludes, “so many systems aren’t working as they normally do”. It’s good news because it means even the most minute improvement in systems will lead to significant improvement for so many. Every system improvement right now is hyper-concentrated because we as a society are longing for predictable rhythms.
Here are four things you can do right now to motivate your employees to develop your business systems and procedures.
First, acknowledge that life isn’t normal. Don’t hide from it. Your team needs to hear that you are a human too, not immune to “ambiguous loss”.
Haelle gives a great metaphor, “Our new normal is always feeling a little off-balance, like trying to stand in a dinghy on rough seas, and not knowing when the storm will pass.”
Set a time to have an honest conversation with your team about the reality that we are in. Empathize. Share. Listen.
Certainly, don’t mope or generate more hopelessness…but acknowledge…this stinks!
Second, speak real hope.
Haelle follows her metaphor with this hope, “…But humans can get better at anything with practice.”
Yes! Let’s practice new ways to balance, new rhythms, new habits, and opportunities to engage and learn.
By acknowledging the challenges, and then laying the groundwork for some optimistic hope, you are preparing your team for the tactical sides of developing your business systems and procedures.
Third, give them a vision of what you hope to accomplish. The heroic business owners we work with each build a Master Process Roadmap. Think of it as a one-page cheat sheet where any employee can get quick access to any process in the business.
When employees can see a vision of what they are being asked to be a part of, buy-in skyrockets.
A Master Process Roadmap is simply a listing of the four major systems that exist in every business regardless of size or product, and then underneath each system is a box for every process that must be in place in order for that system to operate.
Fourth, preach the systems mindset. The systems mindset is simply this, whatever the next task, document/capture it like it’s the last time you’ll ever do it.
No need to set aside hours or days in hackathon-like environments to capture all of the processes that it takes to operate the business. Each day those processes are already being accomplished, the difference is, the next time that process is being completed then an employee will document the process either by writing it down on a Google Doc or by video/audio recording using a tool such as loom.com.
As each team member captures a process in real-time and adds it to the Master Process Roadmap you will see the confidence and engagement of team members feeling a sense of pride in what they are building knowing that they are having the chance to leave their mark on the business.
It’s a predictable, stable platform in the choppy seas of the “new normal” where we may all feel “a little off balance.”
Today we celebrate the heroic employees who have been working for the past few months to enthusiastically build processes for the businesses they serve.
We narrowed all the entries down to the top 5 and then had our independent business coaches go through and review each process submission.
Our five finalists are…
From Taylor’s Landscape Supply And Nursery, two of their entries made the top 5…Lauren Hermann and Dawn Kleiman..
From Coastal Shores Landscaping, Beth Monohan.
From American Paving Design, Nicole Burnett.
And from Atlantic Spray Foam, Michelle Fernandez.
The prize for winning? A winner-take-all check for $1,000.
Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose, author of Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, And Build A Business That Matters. Scott also hosts The Business On Purpose Podcast and can be found at mybusinessonpurpose.com.
