How to Create Team Systems and Operations That Simplify Scaling and Growth

0:0010 years ago, I made the decision to build my personal brand that was elevated, yet approachable, and reflected who I was, not just what I did. I created my website with ShowIt because it's true drag-and-drop freedom, so you can easily build and update your site. Plus, their real human support team, game changer. Want to try it for yourself? Head to jasminestar.com forward slash showit for a 14-day free trial and first month free when you subscribe. Give your team designated time to share their thoughts, their ideas, and concern without fear or judgment. By doing this, you're doing your part. It is going to be up to them to openly communicate and be very honest.

0:35Welcome back to the Jasmine Star Show, where we talk about business mindset. And today, teamwork, baby. Even if you don't have a team, I want you to keep listening because these strategies we discuss is going to help you build stronger relationships, improve your productivity, and prepare you for if you do decide to expand your team in the future. And it'll stop you from making the mistakes that I learned the hard way. But first, I want to read some very kind words from Raising7. They said, I love Jasmine's show. She's a fast talker. So sometimes I have to rewind it when she makes a great point, but overall, the speed makes it so it doesn't drag on.

1:09I also love how her show evolved from just social media strategies to overall business strategies. Well, raising seven, that means so much to me. Thank you. And speaking of business strategies, today we're diving into how to identify gaps between departments and practical tips and frameworks for creating processes to help you bridge the gap so that you and your team can move forward together. Okay, first, let's talk about why it's so important for departments to work together smoothly. When everyone is on the same page and their actions are in sync, they make things run more efficiently. This means less wasted time and resources and a team that's more motivated to hit their goals.

1:48So what could this look like? Let's do a real life example of how communication and collaboration help us in my business. The president of Social Curator, her name is Katie. Well, she'll oftentimes work with our customer success to find commonly asked questions and the most needed areas of support from our members. She might find that they're asking questions about starting a podcast or a YouTube channel. Well, then Katie will then take that to the content director so she can create action plans that address those specific needs. Now, these action plans are then developed into very detailed guides that include things like video tutorials and checklists that help members overcome challenges and take really impactful action.

2:27Okay. So by doing this, we ensure that the content we produce is directly aligned with our members' needs. And you want to know what? When members see this, they feel noticed and seen and heard and they get results. Now it's really common for Rosie. She's the head of our customer success. Now she reviews responses to my weekly newsletter, and then she'll share them in Slack. She's incredible at aggregating common themes or questions that help me create content for future newsletters and podcasts. And this leads me to ask you, are you getting my weekly newsletter? I personally write every email and I share behind the scenes looks of my business and my latest marketing experience.

3:05You can sign up at jasminestar.com forward slash subscribe. I'm going to share the link in the show notes, but it's just jasminestar.com forward slash subscribe. Now let's talk about how lack of communication and collaboration can hinder your team success. When there's a breakdown in communication, tasks get duplicated or overlooked, and that leads to inefficiencies and missing deadlines, and it leads to a lot of frustration. I have been here before. It's like trying to row a boat with everybody rowing at different times or in different directions, and it slows you down, and it makes it harder to reach your destination.

3:40When we create a new project or initiative, we have a team meeting with all the key stakeholders to explain the desired result and outcome. When we outline what's going to be needed from each department, that's great because then the team will then get tasks in Asana to keep us on track. And here's the key for creating systems for success. Dependencies. Okay, so here's the thing. It's going to sound like I'm an endorser or an affiliate for Asana. I'm not, but if Asana would like to sponsor the podcast, let's have a conversation. We live and die by Asana. Now, for a while, we would have tasks and a task would be assigned to a key member on a specific date.

4:18Well, there were plenty of times that a key member down, you know, further along in the project, they would want to start a task. But if for some reason the person before them didn't finish it or get it done on time, well, it was going to impact how they showed up and how they're allocating time in their day. So when Asana dropped dependencies, we started building out every single project with dependencies, which meant that a person would not be able to start on their task. And then we would be able to see if the dependency wasn't in action. We could see if somebody was running late and we were able to catch who was falling behind much quicker and say, hey, what do we need to adjust in the project so that we could still hit our goals even if we fell out of line?

5:01Y 'all, I'm telling you, dependencies follow in. I've consulted with businesses that fall into the lack of communication trap. Now, I want to get into an example. Imagine a marketing team and they're going to be launching a campaign without clear communication from the sales team. Now, the sales team might not be prepared to handle the customer inquiries that was generated by that marketing campaign. And that could lead to missed opportunities and a lot of wasted marketing efforts. But it could have been avoided with coordination and communication between the departments. So how frustrating is that for everybody?

5:35It just is. And the thing is, communication doesn't have to take up any more time or energy when you have the systems in place. And we're gonna talk about that in a few minutes. So let's talk about identifying gaps between departments because here's the deal. When you can pinpoint exactly where things are falling through the cracks, you can start to fix them. But a lot of time, business owners overlook those weak spots where communication and processes, wow, they're not quite working because, listen, we're too busy. The data operations are overrun and maybe they simply don't have the right tools or frameworks to identify them.

6:07As we were growing in Social Curator and then we changed from a membership to a SaaS subscription, we quickly realized that there was a big gap between our tech team and the customer success team. So customers, they would request these changes and features and then the customer success team would catalog them. And the tech team would ship the features and not update the CST team quickly enough. and there was a lot of like playing catch up. This went out, what went out, who wants to know, who got updates. And so once we hired a product manager, he created a system to manage all the requests, he prioritized their order and he informed the rest of the team of updates.

6:41We began to move and work faster once we filled the departmental gaps. So here's a three-step framework to quickly identify those gaps. I'm gonna tell you the steps before we dive into each one. You know how I do with my frameworks. Step one is to notice and document. even the smallest miscommunications. Step two is to bring them to your team. And step three is to choose and implement a solution. Now, the first part of this framework is for you or a leader on your team to notice even like minuscule, small mishaps in communication. And you might be thinking, okay, Jasmine, I don't want to micromanage every detail.

7:16Okay, this is not about micromanaging. It's about being observant and understanding where things might not be in alignment, where they're slipping through the cracks. You're going to look for patterns in miscommunication, or maybe there's big communication delays. These can be clues to bigger underlying issues that prevent something huge falling through those cracks. Okay, and so when you notice them, just jot them down every time, and you could track them and eventually fill that area. Now, if a similar mishap or communication happens more than three times, y 'all, three times, if you are sending the same email, if you're doing the same task, if you're having the same conversation three times, Ooh, change it.

7:53Fill that gap immediately to avoid long-term damage. Now, I know it seems small, but trust me when I say that documenting things, man, it's gonna help you identify recurring issues and make it easier to implement solutions. And when you do this, well, you're gonna stop those future communication breakdowns. So the first step is noticing and documenting. Let's move on to step number two of this framework, which is bringing it to the team. Now, this isn't to call anybody out. It's to bring awareness and give team members the opportunity to step up and have them find the solution. You do not want to be, I once heard it explained as this.

8:24So you're at your desk and you realize I need help. So I'm going to hire somebody to help me with X. And so you want to think of this person as like this jumping monkey and you get this excited jumping monkey and you're like, hey, help me with X. And so you hire a monkey to help you with X and you hire a monkey to help you with Y. But if you are not actively asking the monkey to help you with X, monkey's going to come back to you and say, so how do I do X? How do I figure out X? And then monkey comes back Y. why? Help me figure out number why. And so what happens is that you've hired people who need you to find the solution.

8:55What we need to do is ask our team members, hey, and I'm not saying that team members are monkeys. So before I get anything, no, no, no. It was just an analogy to say that you have somebody who's highly capable, talented, and excited, but we have to turn it to them. How might you? Can you come up with three ways that we might be able to find a solution? Asking the team to help you lift makes you a better leader and it makes them empowered to function on their own. It is so, so important to create a safe space where everybody feels comfortable sharing their thoughts. Now, you could start by saying something like, okay, team, I've noticed a few recurring issues in our communication, and I would love to get your insights on this.

9:31Now, this invites collaboration, and it shows that you value their input without blaming, you know? So step three, after we've gone through our step two, and now we're on step three, is to take action and close the gap. Once you've gathered feedback and ideas, it's time to create and then implement those solutions. Maybe you would like say, hey, I saw a few ideas from this team, I'm gonna fuse them together. Maybe you need to set up regular cross-departmental meetings. Maybe you need to establish clear communication channels or develop new processes that ensure information flows smoothly between the teams.

10:03Now, the good news is that once you've done this, you'll not only fix the communication issues, but you're gonna build a culture of teamwork and collaboration that not only identifies, but it also addresses, says, hey, this is how we communicate. This is how we fill gaps. This is how we find our own solutions. Now, you're going to do this as a leader to prevent gaps from even happening. So here are three tips that worked really well for me as I was learning to build and lead a team. First, I've said this before, but in some kind of regular, maybe preferably a weekly forum, maybe it's a meeting or a Slack thread or a shared document, give your team designated time to share their thoughts, their ideas, and concern without fear or judgment.

10:45By doing this, you're doing your part. It is going to be up to them to openly communicate and be very honest. Now, I think it could be as simple as having a Slack channel where the team can voice their opinions, provide feedback, or say, hey, I've noticed that this isn't actually working all that well. Great. We want to hear it. If we implement, that's on us, but we want to hear it and know about it. Now, the second thing you can do is to create a collaborative and communicative community to leverage technology. I promise you, the right tools can make all the difference. I've already said, I'm like my love for Asana.

11:13We use Slack, we use Notion. Now, I want to note one thing about Notion. We did not start using Notion until 2020. Once we hired our first CTO, at first we were totally against, we're like, oh my gosh, adding another tool to our business. But I have to tell you, it's been incredible. We now use Notion across the entire company. So we use it for documentation, for research, and we also use it as a company-wide wiki. This is like the Bible. This is where you go to find everything. Now, we still use Asana, but we just use Asana for task management. Now, it took time for us to get used to it and implement it.

11:44But when we took time to explain to the team how each tool was used, and then we built systems around it. Now, you might be thinking, I don't really know how. I don't really want to dive into new tech. Okay, well, then maybe you can consider bringing on a systems-oriented team member, or maybe you hire a consultant to help you get set up. Embracing technology is so crucial for every aspect of your business. Please don't avoid it and don't delay any longer because the benefits to your company and your company goals, there's going to be well worth the effort. A couple of weeks ago, I had Dan Fleischman on the show and I'm going to link to his show in the show notes.

12:20It was very interesting, but he said something that just, man, it stuck with me. He said in relation to talking about his influencer agency, how they don't make mistakes. And he said, quote, I leave no room for error ever. End quote. He sends everybody on his team and his influencers the exact information, nothing more, nothing less. It has to be very systemized to ensure that there is execution flawlessly executed every single time. Now, I told you I was going to link to his show, but one thing that he also said is that people die when they don't innovate. He said you innovate or you die. And so I want to take a second and talk about how they don't make mistakes.

13:00But he can say that with confidence because he's built a system. And then he said that people often don't embrace new systems because people don't want to innovate. And if you don't innovate, then you die. So I have a feeling that I'm going to get a lot of questions about how it works for us. And this is like a process in a system is that notion has become our end all be all. This is where we do our huge projects. This is where we do ideation. This is where we go and we complete our key messaging. This is where we go and set out our goals, our objectives. This is where we say, this is going to be the entirety of a particular project, a new arm, a new innovation.

13:33We're taking on a new client. And then what we do is we use Asana to reflect the things that need to happen in order to make that project come to life. And then we use Slack. Slack is our inner team communication. Now, there's a lot of times where a conversation will be happening in Slack. So how then do we take that conversation in Slack and ensure that we have a task around it in Asana? Well, our project managers have been trained to go through and anytime a division director or a manager says, hey, and then we'll cite whoever that project manager is, can you make sure and add this task to our flow so we keep it on track?

14:10What we don't want to happen is a conversation that happens in Slack or worse, if you have a team that communicates on Slack in text message, that is just bound to be a lot of mistakes. I did that early on when I had a much smaller team. All communication is in Slack, and we try to do as much as possible written articulation so that we can keyword search if we need to find a conversation at a later point in time. So now that you know the entire system, how starting Notion, move to Asana, go to Slack, anything that happens in Slack that needs to have somebody accountable and responsible, it will go back to Asana to make sure we stay on the same page.

14:46So if you're having miscommunications and efficiencies pop up in your processes, these. Okay, then the main question is, how can you systematize and remove that room for error? My third tip for you is to lead by example. I want you to show vulnerability and admit and own your mistakes. Imagine if your team feels scared of making mistakes. They might hide those mistakes. Or maybe they're like, I'm so worried about the consequences. Or I don't want to be embarrassed. I don't want to be shamed. And I'm going to tell you, this is no bueno. It is quite literally the opposite of clear communication.

15:20I had our content director, she reached out to me and she said, Jasmine, it feels really good when I see you admit when you couldn't hit a deadline. And for her, just seeing me admit publicly in Slack, she said it was really powerful for me to see this because what happens was I was staying up late to finish everything, but I wasn't giving it my best work if I'm staying up late to do it. So the fact that I, just like you, can tell the team, hey, I don't know if I can finish this on time. If I am needed to finish it on this day, I will. But if there's any chance that I can get it done tomorrow morning and give you a specific time, that moves us forward.

15:59And I didn't know that it meant something to her for me to say, like, hey, I'm trying my best, but my best ain't cutting it. So I'm going to need a little grace. That communication has really set the bar for the team and it made me feel really good to hear that from her. So I'm sharing it with you in case you need to be open with your team as well. Okay. I also want to say that by embracing vulnerability and admitting to your own mistakes, you send a very powerful message. It's okay to be imperfect. And we're going to learn from our mistakes. And this is how we grow. And that's how you turn a mistake or a missed deadline on your part into a valuable team culture building moment.

16:30Okay. So kind of went over a lot. You know, I mean, we talked about systems and I have to say, and I'm going to share about this in a future podcast episode is I have been spending the last month interviewing seven and eight figure business owners. And I'm going deep into conversations about what their business looks like, what they've done to scale, what are the things that got in their way, what have been the best things to help them scale, and then where they feel currently stuck in their business. We're going to talk about more of that in the beginning. But let me give you a sneak peek. The people who have been able to successfully move past that 1.2, 1.3 million dollar mark and breeze right past it is if they took the time to build clear systems around the$500 ,000 and$600 ,000 mark.

17:13Because what happens is we can build systems that seem to be like working and it's gonna get us through, you know, like that four or 500 ,000 and you're like, okay, I'm doing this and I'm keeping all the balls. And then for the people who are like dogged, sharpen their teeth, bust through walls, those people who can juggle a lot and have a high capacity, they can push it to like a million and 1.2. And then they get to a point that if they did not have hardcore systems in place, they stay stuck and they burn out. So the people who had the systems got to about 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, and then continued to scale seamlessly, those are the people who took the time to have the systems and then refined the systems over time.

17:50And I want to say, I'm going to get into that in a second, but I'm giving you a precursor of how much we adhere and believe in our systems because that has been the thing to keep us moving forward. Now, as a review, we talked about the importance of teamwork, obviously, and we talked about facilitating clear communication. And we went over a framework to help you bridge gaps in your business, which was step one, to document miscommunications that happen more than three times. Step two, bring them to your team. And step three was to implement a solution. And we also talked about ways to prevent miscommunication from happening in your business and leveraging technology to decrease the need for manual coordination.

18:27and that's very good because it removes those errors from happening. And the third tip was to lead by example. So your team isn't afraid to communicate their own mistakes. And that, y 'all, is a wrap. Thank you for listening to the Jasmine Starr Show. It is an honor and a privilege to talk about business, to talk about scaling, and talk about the things that I have done and not done and then later had to redo in order to reach new levels of success and scale. I wish you all the best and I hope you have a beautiful day.