I was privileged to work with John Tonkin from Brain in a Box for over three years.
John is undoubtedly Australia’s small business expert in defining and documenting the processes to run an effective and profitable business. I listened to John every day speak to business owners who were ignorant of the advantages of a documented approach to defining what they do and how they do it.
As John called it, their “cost of inefficiency” was costing them tens of thousands of dollars each year, not to mention the frustration of having those difficult apologetic conversations with clients when mistakes caused drama and destroyed reputations.
It’s been over ten years since I worked with John, but I have never forgotten the value of good systems in a business.
Six years ago, I returned to the Whitsundays to manage a tourism business called Explore Whitsundays. I’d been involved years early but had left the day-to-day running of the business to my business partners. One of the first things I did was to review the processes we used to run the fleet of vessels that were the backbone of the business. Most of the processes you’ll adopt in any business focus on productivity and efficiency. Rarely are they lifesaving.
Our process resembled the sheer majority of other businesses I had seen.
A jumble collection of words that blended both process and procedure together. When more than one person was involved, the documentation inevitably ended like a maze. Hard to read, and you’ll get lost trying to work out what’s next. Confusion reigned, and people simply gave up. Training became an on-the-spot exercise where all instruction was given by the person who taught you. Not a great way to ensure consistency or transfer knowledge.
Every day in the Whitsundays, we took over 200 people snorkelling across eight boats and over twenty crew involved. Safety was of the utmost importance and relied on who did what when.
Using Lucid chart (software), I asked the Operations Manager to document the process of snorkelling, who was involved, what their role was and how they interacted with other crew members. This software is awesome, and if you also need to document a better process, look no further.
If you take a few minutes to review the process, you’ll see a clear division of roles and a process that’s easy to use when training new crew. Snorkelling is governed by QLD laws and regulations and requires a high level of supervision and skill.
Around three years ago, we very, unfortunately, had a passenger who lost her life during a snorkelling activity. It was a harrowing experience for all involved. Unfortunately, she passed away of natural causes, and there was nothing anyone could have done.
We were investigated by FAIRWORK and received praise for the training and documentation of our process.
Hopefully, you’ll never have to face a workplace incident that results in injury or worse. But if you do, please ensure you can clearly show how you train your staff.
If you’ve been putting off the document process because it’s all too hard, please don’t. Today, it’s costing you money and reputation. What might it cost you in the future?
