Does Everyone in Your Business Do Things Their Own Way?

In most small businesses, there’s usually more than one way of getting something done.

One employee has their own spreadsheet. Another keeps notes in a notebook. Someone else has a system they’ve been using for years that nobody else really understands.

And while everything seems to be working, nobody thinks too much about it.

But what happens when mistakes start creeping in, a new employee joins, or someone needs to cover a colleague’s work?

Suddenly, those little differences can become a much bigger headache.

The problem with keeping everything in people’s heads

It’s surprisingly common for businesses to rely on employees simply knowing how to do their jobs.

And while experience is valuable, it can cause problems when there’s no agreed way of completing important tasks.

You might start noticing things like:

• The same task being completed differently depending on who’s doing it.
• New employees receiving different instructions from different colleagues.
• Mistakes happening because a step has been missed.
• Managers repeatedly answering the same questions.
• Work taking longer than it should because nobody is quite sure what happens next.

None of these necessarily means your employees are doing a bad job. Often, they’ve simply developed their own ways of working because there’s never been a clear process in place.

If that sounds familiar, you might also find it useful to read Could Your Business Run Without You for a Week? — another common sign that too much knowledge lives with individuals rather than in shared, usable guides.

Process notes don’t need to be complicated

When people hear the words process documentation, they sometimes imagine lengthy manuals that nobody will ever read.

But good process notes don’t need to be complicated.

Depending on the task, they might be:

• A simple checklist to follow at the end of each month.
• A step-by-step guide showing how to use a system.
• A flowchart explaining who is responsible for each stage of a process.
• A new starter guide with screenshots and instructions.
• A standard form to make sure the right information is collected.
• A short procedure explaining what to do when something goes wrong.

The aim isn’t to create paperwork for the sake of it.

It’s to make everyday tasks easier, clearer and more consistent.

Think about how much time gets wasted

Imagine a new employee starts and needs to learn how to process an order.

One colleague explains the process on Monday. Another shows them a slightly different way on Tuesday. By Wednesday, they’re confused about which method they should actually follow.

Or perhaps there’s a task that only gets completed once a month. Every time it comes around, someone has to ask how to do it again.

These might seem like small things, but over time they add up.

Having a straightforward guide that employees can refer back to can save time, reduce mistakes and make training much easier — whether that’s for HR and onboarding, payroll or day-to-day admin and PA tasks.

Where should you start?

You don’t need to document every single task in your business overnight.

Start with the areas that cause the most frustration.

Ask yourself:

• Which tasks generate the most questions?
• Where do mistakes happen regularly?
• Are there processes that take longer than they should?
• Which tasks are difficult to explain to a new employee?
• Are there jobs where nobody is quite sure who’s responsible?

Pick one process and work through it from beginning to end.

Speak to the people who actually do the work, identify the best way of completing the task and write it down in a format that’s easy to follow.

Then get someone else to test the instructions. If they can’t follow them without asking questions, the guide probably needs a little more work.

And remember to review your notes whenever a process or system changes. Even the best guide is no use if it’s out of date.

Sometimes an outside pair of eyes can help

When you’ve worked in a business for years, it’s easy to get used to doing things a certain way.

You might not even notice that a process involves unnecessary steps, duplicated work or information being entered in several different places.

Sometimes having someone look at things from a fresh perspective can highlight opportunities to make everyday work much simpler.

And it doesn’t always require new software or expensive systems.

Often, a few well-designed forms, clearer responsibilities and straightforward process guides can make a real difference — especially if you’re preparing for growth and want to avoid chaos as workload increases (see Is Your Business Ready for Growth?).

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