A business playbook is a strategic approach to documenting your company’s core processes. Core processes are the conceptual sequence of events that enables people in a business to do what they do. A good core process is very cleanly and clearly defined.
Sports teams have a playbook. Envision your favorite team: football, baseball, basketball, soccer, etc. Each person’s position on the field corresponds with their seat on the Accountability Chart. Core Processes are what happen when the ball is in play. They are your playbook.
The problem in most companies is that everyone has their own way of performing common tasks. If you have 38 employees, you may have 38 different approaches for each common task in your business. To make matters worse, unless the method is standardized, each individual employee is likely to approach the task differently every time they do it.
When I work with a company to develop their core processes, I like to begin with the company’s most important asset: their people. Your first play may be the employee lifecycle, i.e.: human resources. The steps in this process include how you find, interview, and select your employees. This determines how you coach and develop your employees. In addition, you most likely have several processes related to the customer lifecycle. The steps may define lead generation, and how you turn warm leads into paying clients.
You may have several operational core processes related to your lines of business or how you produce the goods and services you provide. You will also likely need core processes to help coordinate the steps in finance and information technology.
This is not a 200-page standard operating procedure manual. This is a definition of the 20% of the processes that give you 80% of your results – and each core process is a list of steps, not a 20-page essay.
What happens when you define your company’s playbook, teach the core processes to everyone who has a role in that process, and routinely update your playbook as conditions change?
You create consistency and efficiency throughout your company. You will know every employee, client, and vendor is treated in the same way, regardless of who their primary contact person is. This puts the minds of your leadership team at ease because you can rely on everyone to work toward the greater good of the company.
Need some help creating your company’s Business Playbook? That’s where I come in. Please fill out the consult form below and together we can create a playbook that perfectly suits the needs of your business.
