Today’s Guest, David Jenyns
David Jenyns is the author of the bestselling book SYSTEMology and the upcoming Systems Champion. He is also the founder of systemHUB, where he helps business owners build systemized businesses, profitable enterprises that work without them. With a track record of successful business exits, David has developed proven methodologies for capturing, documenting, and implementing business systems. His practical approach emphasizes making businesses repeatable and scalable, rather than perfect, empowering business owners to step out of daily operations and focus on strategic growth.
Interview Takeaways:
1. The Systems Champion Role
The Systems Champion is the person who takes systems implementation as their personal mission, working alongside the business owner to roll out systems across the organization. While the business owner provides vision and resources, the Systems Champion works front-line with the team, extracting knowledge, organizing processes, and ensuring systems remain front and center rather than forgotten on the to-do list.
2. Consistency Over Perfection
Using McDonald’s as an example, Dave emphasizes that tremendous gains come from making things repeatable, not necessarily world-class. McDonald’s doesn’t make the best hamburger; they make the most consistent hamburger. SYSTEMology focuses on capturing what you’re currently doing and making it repeatable, rather than trying to design perfect processes from scratch.
3. The Three Excuses Framework
All excuses for not following processes fall into three categories: “I didn’t know how,” “I didn’t know it was expected of me,” and “I didn’t want to.” By proactively addressing these through documented processes, transparent project management, and proper recruitment/onboarding, businesses can eliminate excuses and create accountability.
4. Systems as Personal Development
Business serves as the ultimate personal development tool, magnifying both positive and negative traits in your personality. The reverse also applies, implementing systems in business often leads to systematizing personal areas like health, fitness, and relationships, creating compound benefits across all areas of life.
5. The Human Body Metaphor
Business operates like the human body, a system with subsystems (marketing, sales, operations, etc.) that must function properly for overall health. If one subsystem fails to deliver what it’s meant to deliver, it causes damage to the entire business system. This awareness allows leaders to identify and work on specific areas that need attention.
6. AI Revolution in Documentation
AI has dramatically changed business documentation, with some documentation services disappearing overnight as AI tools became capable of turning recorded processes into checklists and procedures. However, this reinforces that processes will always have value, whether executed by humans or robots, they still need to be told what to do.
7. Fix It Twice Methodology
When problems arise, fix them once in the moment to address the immediate issue, then fix them a second time by addressing the underlying system that allowed the problem to occur. This prevents the same issues from recurring and elevates the organization to solve higher-quality problems.
8. The 80/20 Implementation Strategy
Rather than trying to systemize everything, focus on identifying the most important systems that will drive the greatest results. Not everything needs to be systemized to the nth degree – strategic application of the 80/20 principle helps prioritize which systems will have the biggest impact.
Thank you for listening!
Thanks for joining us for this episode. Do you have any questions or feedback you'd like to share? We'd love to hear it! Let us know in the comments section below.
If you enjoy listening to this podcast, please share it on Facebook and leave an honest review on iTunes. We'd love to know what you think.
Remember - the next system we share could be just the one you been looking for, so subscribe on iTunes so you can get the latest episodes as soon as they’re published.
About The Show
Business Processes Simplified
We interview industry experts and have them share their best small business systems and processes. This is the quickest, easiest and most efficient way to build a systems centered business.
