Should a Small Business Owner Be a Software Power User?

The short answer is, ‘Yes.’

One common issue I see with the Small Businesses I work with is a ‘Do as I say, not as I do,’ approach from the Owner:

• The Owner says everyone on the team should be at Email Inbox 0. But their Inbox is a nightmare.
• The Owner says everyone on the team should be keeping their tasks and projects up-to-date in Asana. But their Asana is filled with overdue tasks.
• The Owner says everyone should be logging their calls and notes in Hubspot. But they never log their calls or keep Deals up-to-date.
• The Owner says everyone should be following step-by-step processes and documenting their role. But they never follow processes or document anything they do.

Owning a business is hard. Everything is on you and there’s a lot of things to do to keep the lights on.

But, if you spend money on the best software to run your business, train people to use it properly by establishing best practices, but don’t do it yourself, it’s only a matter of time before people wonder if there’s any consequence to not staying on top of things.

Leaders should set an example and help develop ‘our way’ of using a software tool.

Coaching team members (even contractors) should include how they maintain their systems and an Owner should be able to proudly show their up-to-date systems as an example to shoot for.

Ensuring processes are followed and things are documented is everyone’s responsibility. Not just the people doing the work.

Also, creating ‘How To’s’ and other training documentation needs to be a mentality throughout the entire organization.

As in, ‘If I had to suddenly leave my role for 6 weeks, how easily could someone take over what I am working on?’

Yes, the Business Owner ultimately needs to be replaceable and think about what would happen if he or she had to step away.

Now, I am not saying that a Business Owner needs to train people on how to use the company’s software systems (more on that next week.)

But, setting a good example, includes knowing best practices for the software used in their business and having model systems which everyone else on the team aims for.