Your Brain Is Not a Filing Cabinet

As a business owner or manager, do you think about all of the things that live in your head that your team doesn’t see? All of the processes you run, all of the tasks you do regularly, all of the mistakes you’ve made and thus learned from - what happens when you aren’t available or are too busy and can’t take the time to delegate the work?

What about the opposite of this? What about all of the processes, tasks, mistakes, and learnings of your team? Do you know what they do and how they do it? If they were to leave one day or not be available for any number of reasons, do you feel like you have a good grasp on how to pick up their work or train on their work to another team member?

The solution? Get it out of your head!

Nothing makes me feel better than looking at all of the things that live in my head in a visual space. Whether that be a flow chart, a table, a graph, a document - getting it out of my head makes me feel so much better and frees up space so I can think of other, more important things!

Everything that lives in your head can be translated into some type of visual space and with systems and automation, you can keep track of it all, action on it, share it, and improve on it much more efficiently. Transparency between you and your team around what's in your minds and on your plates is a sure fire way to ensure the seamless continuity of your business.

What should you track and how do you track it?!

I’ve created an Operations dashboard where any small business can keep track of the ever growing list of noise as you scale:

1. Documentation Tracker: Between your processes, policies, templates, and resources - you need this to not only keep all documentation in one place and easy to find, but also notify your team of its approval status and who the owner of the process is! (Pro Tip: Ensure that you’re provisioning access specific to the users role so that you aren’t sharing sensitive processes or documentation with employees)

2. Systems Tracker: As you continue to scale, how do you know what systems your team is using along with the cost? How do you know you’re not using multiple systems for the same purpose or that you can consolidate your tech? (Pro Tip: Make sure that you’re keeping track of the system’s limitations and additional features that you may want to use in the future - this will help as you scale and optimize your technology).

3. Users: How do you know what users are using what systems? How do you know who the owner of that relationship is? Some HRISs allow you to track this within its tech, but what about contractors that you give system access to that aren’t in your HRIS? You need a single source of truth that you can visit when you’re offboarding an employee OR a contractor.

4. Dictionary: As businesses develop their language and their culture, there may be frequent words that are used that employees may not know. The dictionary is a place for employees to reference when introducing a new word or phrase to ensure everyone’s aligned.

5. Helpdesk: How are you keeping track of all of the feedback you get from employees around a system or process? Maybe one moment you’re going from troubleshooting, to another when you’re trying to improve it, or maybe you’re just receiving feedback - create one place where your team can submit this info and your Ops team can track it.

Though it’s ideal to have all of this info in a full blown wiki, not every company has the resources to use a Notion or Coda, let alone the people to build one. This framework allows companies just starting out to build out a transparent reference point regarding the company and its operations. And the best part? It’s free! Pair this with a solid project management system or build one out in this and you’re on your way to a more organized, self-sustaining, and scalable business—one where nothing critical lives solely in someone’s head.

PS: If you’d like help building this out for your company or even managing these systems or processes, feel free to reach out! Our team at Tag Operations would be more than happy to support you in your journey to organized Ops!