092: Train the System, Then the Person
Stress, frustration, overwhelm: These are systems flags from your business asking for renewed attention on a bottleneck or inefficiency. In my case, it was repeating myself for the fourth time in as many months to different team members in answering the same small email-related process question. This is no one personโs fault (other than mine!).
My aha moment: a strategy for training the system to get smarter first, then teaching the team how to better leverage that system, which makes their life and work easier and more frictionless too!
๐ 3 Key Takeaways:
Create a Manager Manual and separate Email Guide
Save links to email guide entries in TextExpander
Using filters in Gmail (or workflows in HelpScout): Automatically label incoming email messages with the short-link to the Email Guide process entry. Hereโs what my v1 looks like:
๐ Permission: Stop repeating yourself! Thatโs a sure sign that the business area is ripe for systems reinvention.
๏ปฟโ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Start an Email Guide with your most common decisions and process questions.
๐ Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One
๐ Resources Mentioned:
Shared Inbox CRM: HelpScout
Voice Messaging App: SpeakPipe
Transcription Software: Descript
Knowledge Base App: TextExpander
Project Management Software: Notion
Related Podcast Episodes: 086: The Cyrano Strategy for Delegating Important Comms
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