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We've all been in one of those groups — whether
it's the school WhatsApp group, your

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local neighbourhood WhatsApp,
or a Facebook group — and somebody asks:

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What day are the bins
going out? Or is it PE tomorrow?

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Even though it's literally written
right there, or a quick two-second Google would

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have got them the answer.

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People don't look — they ask. And the exact same
thing is probably happening inside

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your business and driving you crazy.

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One thing I often find when I'm talking to
business owners is that they have become

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the source of truth in their business.

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So everything comes back to you. You're answering
the same questions repeatedly, and

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you've inadvertently taught your
team that if they want to know the answer to

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something, they have to ask you.

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So, for example, they're going to ask you: what
are we focusing on this week? Has

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that delivery arrived yet?

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Are we promoting this or that? How do I process a
refund? Should I be refunding this

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order? What should I say to this customer?

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And it can feel like constant interruptions,
never being able to switch off, and

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everybody needs you.

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The reason this happens is — if you look at the
way information is flowing around

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your organisation, you've created a
wheel-and-spoke system of information.

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In other words, you are the centre
of the wheel and everybody else is a spoke around

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the edge.

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So if they want to find out a piece
of information — even from somebody else in your

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organisation — they're coming to you.
They're asking you the question.

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You are then going out to somebody
else who's on a spoke to get the answer, coming

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back, and then going back out to the original
person to give them that information.

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So everyone else is the spokes. You are the
centre. And the information is going in

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and out, as opposed to flowing
around the business.

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What this results in is bottlenecks.
If you're not available, are people going to

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have the information
they need to do their job?

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So then you get delays, because nothing's
happening — everyone's waiting to hear

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back from you.

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You get inconsistency, because not everyone is
getting the same information at the

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same time.

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And to be honest, it's
probably driving you completely crazy.

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It might feel like you're sitting at home
relaxing, and then somebody will send you

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a message and you feel like you can't turn your
phone off — because what if somebody

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needs you?

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And here's the thing: when you grow your team,
when you're adding new people, it's

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not actually fixing the problem.

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It's actually creating more demand
on you, because there are now more spokes to the

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wheel — more times when information has to flow
into you and then out again in order

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for people to get the answer they need.

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So what you want to think about creating instead
is what I call a single source of

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truth.

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The single source of truth is an
information bank where key business information

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lives. Everyone knows where to go.

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It can help remove the guesswork.
It can help avoid duplicated answers and

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conflicting information.

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And the interesting thing is, this isn't just a
small business problem. I worked for

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many years in the retail industry for larger
retailers, and one of the companies I

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worked for was Coast — which is
women's occasion wear.

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It no longer exists in the form it was when I
worked there. It's now a brand for

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Boohoo, but it used to be a
standalone business.

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We had new management come in, and one of the
things they decided was that they

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wanted to send all of the buying and merchandising
teams — which I was part of — off

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on a training course.

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So we got sent away to work on all kinds of
different skills that would help us in

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our jobs. And one of the things
we had to do was write a final project.

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My final project was all about how information
flows around the business. And what

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was happening was: we had multiple decisions
being made, but they weren't being

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clearly communicated.

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So we had teams who were working off different
versions of the truth. We had updates

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that weren't being passed on properly, and
decisions being made on outdated

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information.

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For example, we had a lot of different
external partners. We had concession

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partners, we had wholesale clients. And that
information flow was not really working

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very well.

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So one team would have a conversation
about what designs were going to be in a

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catalogue spread, or on the homepage
of a website for a concession partner — without

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realising that style had actually been cancelled
by the product team several weeks

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ago.

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And therefore everything that we had done — all the
information that had been passed

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on — was incorrect.

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So it can cause a lot of confusion. There was a
lot of back and forth, and a lot of

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strained relationships.

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In fact, I was looking back over the project, and I
had identified £100,000 worth of

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lost wholesale revenue that came from
poor information flow.

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So all of that is to say — this is not just
something that happens in small

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businesses. It happens in big businesses too,
and it's something they have to

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tackle.

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You might not lose £100,000 in one go, but you
will see it in missed sales, wrong

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stock decisions, poor timing, wasted effort —
and also in your own frustration

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levels.

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So it's not really about being organised. It's
more about thinking about how the

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information is flowing around the business, and
whether or not you have become the

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bottleneck.

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So what are some of the things you
can include in your single version of the truth?

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The easiest thing to do is to start with the
questions you get asked the most.

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Some of the key categories are going
to be things like your weekly focus. What are

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we selling, promoting,
talking about this week?

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What are some of the key things your team all need
to know about, be aware of? Can

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you communicate that once, in a document? Put it
into a central planner so that

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everybody knows where
to go to find that information.

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Key dates — so new product launches, when new
deliveries are coming in, when you're

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running promotions, what dates
those start and end.

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And also any key sales drivers for
your customers. If you've got people selling on

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the shop floor without you there, have you given
them all the information they need

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to really think about what kind of occasions your
customers might be buying for?

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What are some of the key triggers for them, or
key conversation starters they can

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use with customers?

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Stock and order trackers are also really
useful. If you place an order with a

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supplier, can you have a central
area where you record that information?

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You're able to let people know what you've
ordered, whether or not it's shipped,

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been received. And it can be really
helpful if you've got multiple teams working.

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For example, you might have somebody
who's putting products live on your website. If

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you can have a central document where you're
recording whether something's been set

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live or not — that can also help you get the
information you need without having to

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check in with everybody all the time.

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You can give them information about priorities.
What are the things that absolutely

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have to be done? What are the key tasks you
really want them doing each week?

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And another key area for your single
version of the truth is your processes — how

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things get done. This is so helpful
to have your SOPs, or Standard Operating

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Procedures, mapped out in a document.

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It will help you enormously when you have new
people coming in, if you've got to

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train somebody. You've already got everything
documented, telling you what they need

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to know, what they need to do, how they're going
to do it — with pictures or videos

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showing them the exact screens they should be
looking at, or little scripts to help

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them understand exactly what to
say to customers.

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Or a flow chart to help them understand
whether or not they should be giving a

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refund and what the various criteria
are. Those are all examples of having your

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processes mapped out — and it makes it so much
easier to bring people in and train

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them when you've got it all documented.

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The key thing to remember though
is that people will not use this information

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automatically. This is one
of the hurdles I see people stumble at.

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I've worked with lots of clients
where we've done this kind of work — putting in

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these processes, putting in the single version of
truth — but they're still getting

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the teams coming to them and
asking questions.

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And they said: okay, well obviously this isn't
working. They're not really able to

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access this information.

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And I was reminded again about the neighbourhood
WhatsApp group example. In our

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neighbourhood WhatsApp group, different
people will ask very regularly: is it the

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black bin day today or not?

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Because it's not every week, it's every other
week. And somebody will always

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respond, pasting in the link to the council
website, which everyone can access,

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which tells you whether or not it's the
week for the black bins.

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Does anybody ever actually just think, oh, maybe
I'll Google that or look it up on

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the council website instead of asking?
The answer is no — because it's the path of

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least resistance. They feel more confident
because they can ask somebody. And

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they're not going to go and get
that information.

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You might have seen this as well. This is the
absolute classic in the parents'

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WhatsApp group — what are the kids wearing to
school tomorrow? The information's

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there. They could get it.

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But for whatever reason — whether it's a
confidence thing, or just that it's the

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easiest way — they're not going to actually go and
get that information. It's human

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nature.

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So your team will do this too. You could put in a
lot of effort setting up all of

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these documents, and it may well be that your
team members are still going to ask

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you those questions.

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So if that happens — if you've set those up or
you've already done this exercise and

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you're thinking, well, Catherine, this just
didn't really work because everyone's

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still asking me — then it's going to be time to
take a more direct approach with

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your team and really set your
expectations.

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It's not just a document. It's not just a
repository for all the information in your

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business. It's actually a new
way of working.

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Can you get people together in a team meeting, or
have one-on-one conversations,

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where you explain: this is where the
information lives?

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And — in the nicest possible way — I actually won't
be answering questions until you

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can tell me you've checked this documentation.
And if it's not there, then ask.

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So the first question should be them asking
themselves: do I know where to find this

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information? Yes. Okay, have I checked? Yes.
Okay, am I still not sure? Now I can

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ask the business owner.

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You definitely want to be making it clear to
them that you are not going to be

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entertaining the questions. The
information is already available.

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So make sure you've walked them through it.
Obviously, make sure you're showing them

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where things are, how to use it,
give them examples.

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This is where you find this week's
focus. This is where you check the deliveries.

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This is where you find the flow chart for what to
do if a customer comes in asking

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for a refund.

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This is where you find the documentation
that tells you how to dispatch an order.

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Make sure they know where this is.

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But then, after a while, you have to put the
emphasis back on them. They have to be

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able to self-serve with that information.

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Make sure you're repeating that, and make sure
you are reinforcing it. So this is

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really the key thing: holding the line.

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When it does happen, instead of answering,
redirect them. Say: have you checked the

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planner? Have you checked the tracker?
Have a look and come back if you can't find

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it.

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Yes, it feels slower initially, but most people
will get the point sooner or later.

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And hopefully it will create independence.

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Because nobody likes being micromanaged.
Nobody. Generally speaking, people prefer

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the feeling of being independent and
self-serving. So why not encourage them to

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stand on their own two feet and find the
information they need?

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It can reduce the constant interruptions,
the reliance on you, and the accidental

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micromanagement. Because that's
the thing — as a business owner, you may find

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yourself having to check in with
people and ask them questions if they haven't

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recorded that information
somewhere easy for you to access.

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So you should get people asking you fewer
questions, doing things quicker. You

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should get them taking more ownership.

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And you should be able to have some visibility of
what's happening without having to

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be involved in everything — and without
having to send endless checking-in messages.

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In terms of where to start — it can feel really
overwhelming. It can feel like a

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really big job. Certainly something
like mapping out your processes is something

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that can take some time.

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So my suggestion is: start small.
Start with what you get the most questions on.

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What is the number one most commonly asked
question you get from your team? Start

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there.

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Is it going to be about this week's focus? Maybe
that's something you end up telling

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them the most, and you feel like you're
constantly having to remind people about

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something. Is it key dates? Is it a simple
question about how to do something?

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Whatever it is, start there. Get it documented, or
get some way of people coming up

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with the answer that doesn't involve asking
you. And then hold your ground.

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Explain kindly but firmly that this is the way
you're going to be doing it moving

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forward, and this is the information
they need to access.

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Because if everything is living in your head, then
your business depends entirely on

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you. It makes it harder for you to take time out.
It makes it harder for you to have

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downtime.

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It makes it harder for almost everything
to happen, because it just feels like you

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are the middle of this wheel — and the more people
you bring in, the more spokes you

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have around you. So this whole information flow
isn't getting easier — it's only

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getting more complicated.

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Thanks so much for listening.
Thanks so much for watching.

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Don't forget to like, follow or subscribe —
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00:14:28,970 --> 00:14:33,470
— and you'll be the first to know about each
new episode that comes out on a

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Thursday morning.