MARK'S RESPONSE: I received the comment above from the financial advisor survey I'm conducting. (By the way you can still contribute by taking the 5 minute survey at:  http://tinyurl.com/toolkitAug8).

The comment above is very much appreciated and we can all "identify."  Ten years ago I was in just this same spot.  I was frustrated that things only ran consistently when certain people working for me were present in the office and I was fearful on days my staff were out due to illness or vacation (things often did not run smoothly).

I knew the problem, but the answer was not easy at first.  When I insisted that my team document key processes, it was like pulling teeth for any of us to comply.  The problems (euphamistically called "issues") were several:

1. We felt we were too busy doing the work to stop and document the process
2. Everyone had a different method of documenting processes (no standardization made it hard to figure out each person's documentation method)
• Some processeses were too detailed (hard to follow and many pages long)
• Some processes were too vague (didn't list people accountable for each step or the timeline expected)
• There was no "process to create a process"
3. There was no organized place to post and share processes with the entire team
4. What few processes we did document had no "owners" accountable for updating the process when something significant changed.

Whew! We had quite a list of "issues." It took awhile, but eventually we solved every one.

The key was the creation of The Best Way™ (TBW) process format so that my team and I could document any process, no matter how complicated, in 20 minutes or less.  Documenting processes became quick and painless, they were all documented in a standard format and gave a sufficient level of detail. 

The Best Way™ (TBW) is one of the key resources we will be helping advisors with immediately when our online resources launch in less than 2 weeks... so stay tuned.

Our goal in September will be to upload as many of our firm's documented processes (in The Best Way™ format), so that when you need a process for something you can utilize one of mine as a starting point & customize it to your office from there.

My bigger vision with these online resources (before the end of this year), is to have a site set up to walk you through The Best Way™ (TBW) process creation through an easy online wizard allowing you to create and store all the major processes for your office on a secured intranet for everyone on your team to access.  This is what we do and I'm building it right into the online resources we're launching.

Here's to your practice running like a "Swiss Watch," and I'm focused upon helping support advisors with everything running consistently and eliminating the fear that things might fall apart if someone on the team isn't there to perform their tasks.

More to come later,

Mark