Floral design business systems empower and organize your team
In the previous blog posts of this series, I've shared some of my essential floral design business systems with you. You can see them listed here in case you missed any or would like to revisit them.
Welcome to Part 6 of my systems series for floral designers.
The systems you use to run your business need to be intuitive and accessible.
What are these floral design business systems exactly?
Systems can be all the following things: checklists, spreadsheets, could-based tools, CRMs, templates, sample marketing pieces, and training documents/videos. They are the tools and best practices used as you run your business day in and day out.
Another essential piece of an empowered and organized team is how you store and share your floral design business systems.
Are you surrounded with bits and pieces of work systems, templates, and processes that live in various places on various team members’ computers? You can simplify the ability to search, retrieve, and archive your floral design business systems. An intuitive organization of systems streamlines and speeds up every aspect of your business. It also allows each team member to think and act proactively and independently from the moment they join your team.
Organizing your floral design business systems will allow you to work from anywhere!
Why is this helpful?
It’s helpful because the practice of organizing your floral design business systems allows each team member the freedom to work autonomously. That's thanks to the intuitive structure I'm going to share with you today. Intent-based leadership will become the norm for your team members. Then, you'll be free to spend time growing your business instead of working in it. Business owner freedom is essential to small business growth, sustainability, and self-care. A self-sufficient business that runs without constant supervision is possible. I'll show you how to create the stucture that makes it possible in this post!
The solution is simple.
You’ll create a comprehensive collection of all your floral design business systems. This collection of tools and templates is the blueprint your team will use to run your business. It will encompass knowledge, best practices, processes, and procedures that you use on a day-to-day basis. Let’s be clear. It is not a policies and procedures manual. It’s a functional collection of your active floral design business systems.
Sounds good, right?
Let me give you an example. In the past, when I needed to hire a new floral designer, I would schedule a few interviews. Then, before each one, I'd pull some flowers out of the cooler and prep a work station for the applicant. I interviewed them while they were making a floral arrangement. This process gave me the chance to see their skills in action. But, I habitually forgot to print out my list of interview questions before-hand. It was a list I’d cultivated over years of research and one-on-one interviews. I’d ask a team member to print it for me 5 minutes before the interview time. Of course, it lived in a random folder they could never seem to locate.
The organizational structure I’m sharing today reduces search issues. I wish I had it back in those days! That's why I think it's important to share with you now. I struggled with these things and want you to benefit from what I've learned over the years.
Your team needs easy access to the floral design business systems you want them to use day-to-day. A cloud-based platform is the best place for your systems collection to exist. So, it's accessible from anywhere by all your team members.
Solopreneurs, you can apply this floral design business systems structure as well.
Your business goals may not include hiring team members. That’s okay. However, you will need to collaborate with freelancers. This system can prove helpful in those situations. It also proves itself in case of emergencies. You are responsible for fulfilling your clients' orders even if you are unable to deliver. So, keep that in mind when you share this collection of systems with your in-case-of-emergency contacts for your business. Your business continuity plan depends on it. If you need more resources on that topic, check out my blog post about how systems create continuity for your small business.
It is so easy to create your systems collection. Let me show you how it works.
Start with the structure first and then tackle it one section at a time. You don't have to do this overnight. You can break it down into chunks you can chew.
First, you’ll start with the top-level structure that holds all your systems. It should consist of 5-10 top-level categories. Your intention here is to create the most direct and intuitive structure for your floral design business systems collection. Let’s get creative. Imagine you are a brand-new employee. You need to find a system. A co-worker tells you to go to the cloud. Then, you can search for what you need there. What does an intuitive structure look like for this new employee? Use this thought process to establish the ordering structure of your system collection.
Here’s a suggested top-level structure. Your system collection folders may look something like this.
Sales
Marketing
Financials
Team/HR
Technology
Administrative/Operations
Design
Then, concentrate on the section that will make the most impact first and break it down into sub-categories. Think about what would make sense to a brand-new employee while you develop and name each one.
Let’s use section 4. Team/HR as an example.
Your section 4 sub-folders may look something like this.
4. Team/HR
4a. Hiring
4b. Onboarding
4c. Training
4d. HR Administration and Benefits
4e. Reviews and Compensation
4f. Exiting
4g. Archives
Next, look through your computer files and your team’s files. Find all the systems that apply to this category. Then, save them in the appropriate folders. Be selective. Only save the systems and templates that you want your team to use going forward. You are not limited to what currently exists either.
For example, you might have 5 different interview templates saved in various places on your hard drive. Review them, create a new template, and consolidate the best parts into the new template. Then, save it in your 4a. Hiring folder.
You can do this. It's easy.
Plus, you don't even have to delete the old templates. They may prove valuable yet. Take a moment to consider if they could come in handy someday. It’s okay to hold onto them if the answer is yes. Your older systems may serve you in the future for reference purposes. So, create an archive subfolder in each folder to house these older documents. Label it similar to 4g. Archives in my example above.
Remember to name your floral design business systems intuitively.
Think about keywords here.
What would a new employee search for when you ask them to pull up your interview template? Names need to be standardized for everyone to find easily. What name did I give my interview templates? Well, I named them ‘Interview Template-Designer’ and ‘Interview Template-Delivery Driver’ for the two positions I hired for in my business.
Again, the best part about this is that you can build this structure over time.
I recommend that you work on the systems that have the most impact on your business first. Then, methodically move through the systems you would like to improve as you go. You may notice you are lacking in an area or two and would like to create new systems for those. Keep them on a list as you work through the systems you have already created.
After that, you can work through the list of systems you’d like to create. Add them to the structure and update as needed. You will never have to explain to new team members where to find systems and templates anymore!
Do something great. Organize your floral design business systems
You can take these systems projects one step at a time!
The benefits of having systems in an organized structure like the one I’ve laid out above are too long to list here, but let me share a few of the top reasons why this works so well.
More productivity and less searching for tools and templates to run the business.
A standardization of client interaction creates authority and builds a profitable business.
Automation of emails, schedules, and checklists aid in getting more done in less time.
I’ll be using this structure to organize the systems for EveryStem, my new flower recipe, and ordering technology business as well. Both brand-new and more mature business can benefit from this way of organizing systems. So, give it a try and let me know if it works well for you too!
Until next time,
LuAnn
I'm thankful to be a part of our amazing community of floral designers.
I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!