"We've always done it this way."
(Translation: We have no idea how we do it)
Tuesday afternoon, scrolling LinkedIn between coaching calls. A post from a local business leader catches my eye—Final Boost Holiday Brunch reflections about teams and systems.
One line stops me cold:
"Without systems, processes and documented standard operating procedures, so much knowledge can be lost when someone moves on."
And I'm nodding so hard my tea almost spills.
Because I see this EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK.
Business owners who are shocked—genuinely shocked—when an employee leaves and suddenly no one knows:
How to process returns
Where the vendor contact list is
What the actual onboarding process should be
How to answer the phone professionally
"But Sarah always handled that."
Yeah. And now Sarah's gone.
Here's what I notice when I walk into most businesses:
They have nothing on paper.
Not the basics. Not the "how we do things here" stuff. Not even a simple:
Phone script or greeting standard
New hire checklist
Step-by-step for recurring tasks
Template library for common communications
Instead, they rely on tribal knowledge—the stuff that lives in people's heads and evaporates the moment they walk out the door.
And when I ask, "Can I see your onboarding process?" I get:
"Oh, we just have them shadow someone for a few days."
"They kind of figure it out as they go."
"We do it differently depending on who's training them."
Translation: We have no system. We have chaos with a smile.
What This Means for You
If your business can't function without one specific person, you don't have a business system—you have a dependency problem.
And here's the painful truth: most business owners don't realize this until it's too late.
Someone quits. Goes on maternity leave. Gets sick. And suddenly:
Projects stall
Quality drops
Other team members scramble
You (the owner) have to step back in and do the work yourself
Because "only Sarah knew how to do that."
This isn't a people problem. It's a systems problem.
Why don't we document things?
I've asked this question dozens of times. The answers are always the same:
"We're too busy." Busy doing what? Reinventing the wheel every time someone new starts?
"It's too hard to explain." If it's too hard to write down, it's too hard to train. Period.
"Everyone does it a little differently." Exactly. Which means you have no standard. No consistency. No way to scale.
"We'll get to it eventually." Eventually = never. Until someone quits and you're in crisis mode.
Building systems isn't sexy. Documenting SOPs isn't exciting.
But it's the difference between:
Scrambling when someone quits vs. having a smooth transition
Reinventing the wheel every time vs. repeating what works
Burning out your star players vs. building a sustainable team
Running a business that depends on you vs. building one that runs without you
Weekly Tool You Can Use Today: The One-Process Challenge
You don't need to document everything at once. That's overwhelming and it won't happen.
Start with ONE process this week.
Step 1: Pick one recurring task What's something your team does regularly that:
Takes more than 5 steps
Has been done inconsistently
Would cause chaos if the person who does it left tomorrow
Examples:
How to process a customer order
Monthly reporting process
New client onboarding
Handling a complaint or return
Opening/closing procedures
Step 2: Document it step-by-step
Write it like you're teaching someone who knows nothing
Include screenshots if it's a digital process
Note who's responsible for each step
Add decision points: "If X happens, do Y"
Step 3: Test it. Have someone who's NEVER done this task follow your instructions.
If they get stuck, your documentation needs work. If they can complete it independently, you've got a system.
Step 4: Store it where people can find it Google Drive folder. Shared document. Training manual. Wherever your team actually looks.
A system that lives in your head or buried in an email thread isn't a system.
Try This Before Next Week
Pick ONE process. Just one.
Document it. Test it. Save it.
Then next week, pick another one.
In six months, you'll have 24 documented processes. That's 24 fewer things that disappear when someone leaves. That's 24 fewer fires you have to put out as the owner.
The business you're building deserves to outlast any one person—including you.
Until next week,
Penny Nilsen
