Latest / Amplifying Impact / 005: System of Systems - Building Organizations That Run Without You
Transcript
- Mark Watkins: Welcome to Amplifying Impact, the podcast for leaders who strive to create exceptional experiences, develop high performing teams, and lead with purpose. I'm Mark Watkins, the founder of Amplifying Impact Events. I bring decades of leadership experience rooted in the hospitality industry. However, because the pursuit of growth, excellence, and meaningful impact is a universal goal, the principles I share apply to leaders across all industries and sectors. Each episode delivers actionable insights and practical tools to help you amplify your impact. on your team, customers, and community. You'll get valuable content, enough to make a real difference in your leadership journey. However, the complete transformation awaits you at our live events. Let's get started and amplify your impact together. What if I told you that most organizational chaos isn't a people problem, it's a systems problem, and more specifically, it's a feedback problem. I've watched this pattern repeatedly across countless organizations, talented teams, capable leaders, ambitious goals, that everything feels like chaos. Deadlines get missed, quality is inconsistent. The same problem keeps surfacing over and over. And here's what leaders typically do. They blame people. We need better training. We need more accountability. We need to hire smarter. But that's not the real issue. The real issue is that most organizations operate reactively instead of proactively. They're consistently firefighting because they don't have systems in place to prevent the fires in the first place. Let me paint a picture of what that looks like in practice. You've got a leader, let's call him Paul, who's been with the company for five years. Paul knows everything, how to handle difficult customers, process special orders, and navigate approval chains for exceptions. He's invaluable, but here's the problem. All that knowledge lives in Paul's head. It's not documented, it's not systemized, and it's not transferable. So what happens? Paul becomes a bottleneck. Every decision routes through him because he's the only one who knows how things work. He can't take a vacation without his phone blowing up. He can't delegate because nobody else has the context. He can't scale his impact because he's trapped in operational details. And when Paul eventually leaves, that knowledge walks out the door with him. This is what happens when organizations don't have a systems of systems. And here's what that costs you. First, inconsistent results. Without documented systems, every team member does things their own way. Quality varies depending on who's working that day. Secondly, training takes forever because nothing is documented. New hires spend weeks, sometimes months, shadowing people, asking questions, trying to piece together how things work. Third, leaders can't scale because they're trapped in the weeds. They can't move into the strategic work because they're constantly answering operational questions. Fourth, your best people get frustrated and leave because they're drowning in preventable chaos. The solution isn't working harder. It's not hiring smarter people. It's not more meetings or better communication tools. The solution is building a system of systems that makes excellence automatic and transferable. Before I go any further, if you're finding value in the content you're hearing on this podcast, I'd love for you to follow or subscribe to the Amplifying Impact podcast so that you never miss an episode. You can find the show on Spotify or Apple podcasts for audio, just search Amplify and Impact and hit follow. And if you want the full video experience, I want to specifically point you to YouTube, head to YouTube, search for Amplify and Impact and subscribe to the channel. That's where you get the full video version of every episode. And I'd love to have you there. Let me introduce you to my system of systems framework, a cyclical methodology for building organizational systems that work and last. The framework has six steps that repeat indefinitely. The first one is a systems list. The second one is feedback. Third is systems auditor. Fourth is determination. Fifth is response. And six is steady state. Before I break down each step, I need to explain the core philosophy behind the framework. Because if you don't understand it, you'll implement it just like every other initiative that starts strong and phase by next quarter. So here's the philosophy. The first principle is that perfect systems aren't the goal. Complete systems are. Most leaders get stuck because they try to design the perfect system before documenting anything. They're theorizing, planning, and mapping out every possible scenario. And while they're planning, their team is still operating with no systems at all. That's backwards. A basic system that exists It's the perfect system that's still in your head. Your job isn't to create flawless systems on the first try. Your job is to document the basic version now, then let feedback improve it over time. The second principle is that systems must be people agnostic. That means that most anyone should be able to follow your system, not just the people who've been here for five years, not just the people who get it, anyone. If your system only works when Paul executes it, you don't have a system. You have Paul. The third principle, the system improves through feedback, not through theoretical planning. You can't predict every scenario in advance. You can't anticipate every edge case. You shouldn't try. Instead, you build a basic system, put it into practice, collect feedback where it breaks or is unclear, and update it. The system gets better through iteration, not through perfectionism. If you take nothing else from this episode, take this feedback is everything. Feedback reveals the gaps you can't see on your own. Every piece of feedback reveals a missing system, an incomplete system, or a failure to follow an existing system. That's it. Those are the three possibilities. And I'll break those down into detail in just a minute. But first I need to challenge what most organizations think about feedback. Most organizations only collect feedback they're required to collect. Customer satisfaction surveys because corporate mandates it. Employee engagement surveys once a year. Compliance audits because regulation demand it or quarterly third party inspections. And then they treat the feedback as a necessary evil. Something to get through. Something to respond to defensively. Something you minimize. That's the opposite of what you need to do. You need to build an organization that actively seeks out feedback. Because feedback is how you identify which systems need to be created or updated. So let me give you a comprehensive list of feedback source categories. Some you probably already using and some you've never considered. The first category is internal feedback sources. Self-assessment is first. As a leader, are you evaluating your own processes? Where do you get stuck? Where do you waste time? Where do you wish you had clear processes? Next is peer perspective. Other leaders in your organization who interface with your area. What confusion do they experience? Where do handoffs break down? Where are they frustrated with your team? Team questions. And this is huge. Every time someone on your team asks you a question, that's feedback. It means your system didn't answer that question clearly enough. Onboarding struggles. Watch new hires closely. Where do they get confused? Where do they make mistakes? That's not their fault. That's your system's gap. And lastly, in this category is repeated mistakes. If the same errors keep happening, you don't have a people problem. You have a systems problem. Next is external feedback sources. This is customer complaints, not just formal complaints. Every question a customer asks reveals where your process isn't clear. Vendor confusion. If your vendors don't know how to work with you smoothly, your procurement or partnership systems have a gap. Audit or inspection findings. This is a big one. Compliance audits, financial audits, operational audits. safety inspections. These are gold mines of system gaps. Lastly is regulatory feedback. When regulations change, that's feedback that your system needs updating. And here's feedback that most leaders miss. The category is passive feedback. The questions that people ask. Do you answer the same questions five times in one week? That should trigger a systems creation. The workarounds that people create. When your team builds unofficial shortcuts or work around or creates tribal knowledge. They're telling you the official system is broken or missing. Then lastly, the places where communication breaks down, misunderstandings, misaligned expectations, missed deadlines. That's all feedback. Now here's the mindset shift. Don't just accept feedback. Actively invite it. Ask your team, where are we unclear? Where do we get stuck? What do you wish someone had told you when you started? Ask your customers, what questions do you have that we should be answering proactively? Ask your peers, where does working with my team create friction or frustration for you? The more feedback sources you build into your systems, the faster they improve. Let me give you a real example. I worked with this leader who thought her hiring process was crystal clear. She'd been using it for two years and made perfect sense to her. Then she had a new manager join her team and she asked this new manager to run the hiring process for open position. The new manager came back with numerous questions. Where do we post the job? What's our interview sequence? Who approves the final offer? What's our timeline? How do we check references? What are our deal breakers? Numerous gaps. And this leader had no idea those gaps existed because she'd been filling them in with her own built-in knowledge. That new manager's questions were feedback. Instead of just answering questions, this leader documented the answers, updated her hiring system, and the next time someone needed to be hired, they had a complete system to follow. That's the power of feedback. It shows you exactly what to fix. If you want to stay connected between episodes, I publish a monthly newsletter on LinkedIn called the Leadership Hub. That's where I introduce leadership concepts at the high level, the kind of topics we unpack more deeply here on the podcast. Think of it as a front door to the content. If you're not subscribed yet, just search for the Leadership Hub on LinkedIn and hit subscribe. It's free, it's monthly, and it's built to give you practical leadership ideas that you can start using right away. I'll leave a link in the show notes. We'll now take a break for a word from our sponsor. Most organizations know they need better systems. They know their processes are unclear. They know they're losing knowledge when people leave. They know they're stuck in reactive mode. But knowing you need systems and actually building them are two completely different things. That's exactly what the System of Systems Workshop from Amplifying Impact Events solves. This isn't a theoretical training session where your team takes notes and nothing changes. This is a hands-on implementation workshop where we build your actual systems together. Here's how it works. We bring the system of systems framework directly to your leadership team. We start by identifying your highest priority processes, the ones that create the most chaos when they're unclear. Then we document them together, right there in the room. We don't wait for later. We don't assign homework that never gets done. We build the basic systems during the workshop. But here's what makes this different from typical process mapping exercises. We teach your team how to make systems person agnostic, how to test them with new team members. how to build feedback loops that improve systems over time. You leave the workshop with three things. First, actual documented systems you can implement immediately, not just ideas or intentions. Second, a repeatable framework your team can use to build additional systems long after we're gone. Third, a culture shift where your leaders stop avoiding feedback and start actively seeking it, because they understand feedback is fuel for improvement. The organizations that implement the system of systems consistently see dramatic reductions in operational chaos. faster onboarding for new team members, greater consistency in quality and customer experience, and leaders who can finally focus on strategy rather than constantly firefighting. This workshop can be customized for any industry and any organizational size. Whether you need a half-day intensive for a small leadership team or a multi-day implementation for a complex organization, we'll design the experience around your specific challenges. Visit amplifyingimpactevents.com to explore bringing the System of Systems workshop to your organization. or email events at amplifyingimpactevents.com to start a conversation about what your team needs. Because leadership development should build capabilities that last long after the workshop ends. All right, welcome back. Now, let me show you how to process feedback systematically. This is where the system auditor role comes in. In small teams, this is usually just the area leader. In larger, more mature organizations, the system auditor can be a dedicated role, someone who has the additional responsibility to collect feedback and make a determination about how to respond. The auditor's job is simple. Take every piece of feedback and determine which of the three states it represents. Every piece of feedback will fall into one of three states. Not four, not five, there's three. State one is a new system needs to be created. This gap exists because no process addresses it. There's no documented way to handle this situation. Here's an example. You're a restaurant manager and every catering order seems to have a problem. Orders are missing items, deliveries are late, or specific instructions are not recorded. You realize there's no standard process for catering. Everyone handles catering orders differently depending on who's taking the order that day. So your response is, you don't have a system for catering orders. You need to create a document that details the order confirmation process, prep timeline, quality checks, delivery coordination. Once it's documented, everyone follows the same process. State two is that an existing system needs to be updated. The system exists, but it's incomplete or outdated. It doesn't cover this scenario or the process has changed and the documentation hasn't kept up. Here's an example. Your restaurant has a document, a closing checklist that's been in place for three years, but six months ago you added a new piece of kitchen equipment that requires a specific shutdown and cleaning procedure. Nobody updated the closing checklist to include the new piece of equipment. New closers follow the documented checklist, but they're missing the critical step because it's not listed. The equipment isn't being maintained properly and now you're looking at expensive repairs. Response is that the system exists, but it's incomplete. You need to update the closing checklist, include the new equipment procedures. State three is that the system exists is fully completed, but it wasn't followed. All the elements are in place. The process is documented. The expectations are clear, but someone didn't execute it. Here's an example. Your restaurant has clearly documented cash handling procedures. Every shift closer must complete a drawer count with a manager present before leaving. It's in the training manual. It's posted in the back office and every team member signs off on it during onboarding. One night, a closers in a hurry to leave and complete the account alone, lock up the cash and goes home. The next morning, the drawer is $150 short and there's no way to verify what happened. response is that the system exists and it's clear. The employee simply chose not to follow it. This is an accountability conversation, not a systems gap. You address it with corrective action, coaching, or consequences depending on the severity and the pattern. Here's why this three state framework is so powerful. It removes ambiguity. You're not guessing about what to do with feedback. You're not having long debates about whether it's a training issue, a systems issue, or a people issue. You process the feedback, make a determination, and take action. Let me give you examples of how this plays out. Example one, here's the feedback. I didn't realize we were supposed to date and initial the temperature log every time we check it, not just at the end of the shift. Determination. Do we have a document procedure that says date and initial after every temperature check? If no, state one, create a system. If yes, but it's vague about timing, state two, update the system to specify after every check. If yes, and it clearly states the procedure, state three, accountability conversation. Example two, feedback. A parent called asking about a refund policy for canceled classes, and I gave them different information than what the front desk told them yesterday. Determination. Do we have a documented refund policy for canceled classes? If no, state one, create the system. If yes, but it doesn't cover all cancellation scenarios, state two, update the system to include clear criteria. If yes, and it clearly outlines the complete refund policy, state three. That's a training or accountability conversation about why the staff isn't communicating consistently. See how that works? Every piece of feedback gets processed the same way. You're not reinventing the wheel every time. You're following a systematic approach. Now, the auditor role in the early stages, building your system of systems. This is almost always the area leader, as I mentioned. They collect the feedback, make a determination and create or update systems. But as your system of systems mature, this can become a growth opportunity for an emerging leader on the team. Someone can be trained to process the feedback using the three state framework. That's how you multiply your impact. Now you're not just building systems, you're also developing leaders who know how to build and maintain systems. Let's talk about how to build systems that actually work in the real world, not just theory. Going back to our three core principles, the first principle, start basic, then build. Don't wait for perfect systems. Don't spend three weeks mapping out every possible scenario. Document the basic version now. What's the core process? Write it down. Even if it's just bullet points, even if it's rough, even if you know it's incomplete, a documented basic system beats an undocumented perfect system every single time. Why? Because once it's documented, your team can start using it. And once they start using it, you start getting feedback and feedback is what makes the system better. If you keep it in your head while you perfect it, you're not getting feedback. You're just theorizing. So document the basics now, let feedback improve it over time. Second principle is that your system should be person agnostic. Under the second principle, we want to do a person agnostic test. Here's the best way to test whether your system works. Give it to someone who's never done the task before. Not someone who's been on your team for years, not someone who's already noticed the context, someone completely new. Hand them the document to system and say, follow this process. Don't ask any questions unless the document doesn't tell you what to do. Then watch what happens. Where do they get stuck? What do they have questions about? Where do they make assumptions that aren't documented? Every question they ask is a gap in your system. Here's what most leaders do. They fill those gaps with their own built-in knowledge. The new person asks, What do I do next? And the leader says, ⁓ just do this. And they move on. That's dangerous because you're just answering the question and you didn't fix the system. The next new person will have the same question. Instead, when someone asks a question, your response should be great question. That's not clear in the system. Let me document that right now. Then you update the system and the next person won't have a question because the answer is already there. Now, this is how a system becomes person agnostic. You remove every assumption. You eliminate every, everyone should know that step. You document every detail that only veterans understand. If it's not written down, it doesn't exist. Lastly, the third principle is document everything. No shortcuts, no assumed knowledge, no tribal knowledge that lives in people's heads. If there's a decision point, document the criteria for making the decision. If there's an exception process, document exactly how exceptions are approved. If there's quality standard, document what good looks like with specific measurable criteria. If there's a handoff between teams or departments, document exactly what needs to get handed off when and to whom. The goal is for someone with no context to pick up your system and execute it successfully. Now, let me explain what you're working towards. The last step in the six part process is steady state. Steady state is when all feedback you receive results from a failure to follow an existing system. This means that every necessary system has been created, every system has been fully built out and updated based on previous feedback. And there are no gaps at that point when something goes wrong. It's not because the system is missing or incomplete. It's because someone didn't follow the system that exists that steady state. And when you reach it, your organization runs like a machine, predictable, scalable, transferable. Now here's the reality check. You may never actually reach pure steady state. Why? Because environments change, regulations change, technology changes, customer expectations change. Competitive pressures change. So just when you think you've built every system you need, something shifts and you're back to state one or state two, creating a new system or updating an existing system. But that's okay. The goal isn't to reach steady state and stop. The goal is to move forward to what I call stable state where most of your feedback is in state three and you're primarily dealing with accountability rather than continually creating or fixing systems. When you're in stable state, You're proactive instead of reactive. You're leading strategically instead of firefighting operationally. You're multiplying your impact instead of bottlenecking it. That's what a system of systems creates. Here's what I want you to do this week. Step one, list your systems. Take 30 minutes and document what currently exists in your area of responsibility. Don't overthink this, just write down the major processes that your team follows. Hiring, onboarding, customer service, project management, quality control, safety, whatever applies to your area. This is your baseline, your starting systems list. Step two, identify your feedback sources. Where can you receive input about gaps in your systems? List at least five sources, internal and external. Team questions, customer complaints, peer feedback, audit findings, onboarding struggles. The more sources you identify, the faster you'll improve your systems. Step three is to pick one system. Choose something your team does regularly. Not the most complex process, not the most critical, just something frequent enough that you'll get feedback quickly. Step four, test it with someone new. Hand your document in process to someone who's never done it before. Could be a new hire. Could be someone from a different department, could be a peer. Tell them, follow the process, only ask me questions if the document doesn't tell you what to do. Watch where they get stuck. Every question is a gap. Document those gaps and update the system. And step five is build the feedback loop. Start processing feedback using the three-state framework for every piece of feedback you receive. Ask, is this state one, state two, or state three? Then respond accordingly. Create the missing system, update the incomplete system, or hold someone accountable for not following the existing system. This isn't complicated, but it is systematic. That's exactly why it works. If this framework resonates and you want the complete toolkit, the workbook assessment templates, complete support for implementation, hands-on facilitation for your organization, this is Amplify and Impact Events dot com to schedule your consultation. This isn't just theory. This is field testing methodology that I've used to transform operational excellence in high performance environments. I can bring it directly to your leadership team through customized workshops that don't just teach the framework. It helps build your actual systems in real time. One more thing before I let you go, if this episode gives you something valuable, would you take 60 seconds and leave a rating or review on the platform where you're listening? It sounds like a small thing, but it generally helps other leaders find this content. And the more leaders that we get these tools into the hands of the greater collective impact we can create. Thank you for joining me on the Amplify and Impact podcast. If this episode helped you see leadership development differently, Please share it with another leader who's ready to move beyond conventional approaches. Leadership is better when we lift each other up. For more resources, please visit AmplifyImpactEvents.com. You can check out the full podcast archive at AmplifyingImpactPodcast.com. Until next time, keep amplifying your impact and remember the world needs the unique leader that only you can be.