Methodology
The Closest Thing to a Magic Pill In Business
Designed to save or earn your company millions.
WARNING: Businesses that deliver accreditation, certification, and one-size-fits-all solutions are not advocating for their clients; they are advocating for their model. They are in business to serve themselves through their clients. Whenever a company or consultant forces their software, tool, solution, license, or accreditation onto you and your business, understand that they haven’t truly listened to your problems. Their suggested solution is backed by profit, not by clean-thinking first principles. They are focused on selling, not solving.
Our approach is not rooted in rigid methodologies or one-size-fits-all solutions. We aren’t trying to sell you a methodology, a license to use our principles, or attempting to get your business accredited.
We advocate for our clients first. What’s best for the client is best for us because we fundamentally believe that problems are industry agnostic.
Rather than forcing our clients to conform to our methods, we focus on solving the problem at hand. There is no single right way to solve every problem; instead, there are variable principles that change depending on the inputs. We aren’t attached to any specific method, tool, or software. We are not biased in our decisions, and sometimes the best system is no system at all. If that’s the case, we'll tell you.
We focus on finding the best solution for you rather than trying to sell you methods that only increase our bottom line. This is what a true business designer does: they design and solve problems. They don't act as messengers trying to sell solutions based on their method.
Unfortunately this industry is littered with these types of messengers which makes this challenging because all messengers swear by their methods. They have the case studies, the marketing material, and maybe previous successes to back it up. Layer that with slick branding and guarantees, and it becomes hard to distinguish between a messenger of a method and a business designer.
The only true signal is that a business designer reasons from cause and effect, while the messenger reasons from their method, explaining why a particular solution will work on your business. A business designer, on the other hand, focuses on finding the right solution based on your business and your actual, valuable goals.
There’s a reason why businesses adopting EOS, Lean Six Sigma, or ISO credentials still struggle with systems and teams’ problems. These well-known methodologies are publishing companies at their core. They seem to focus on publishing methods to sell books, course and products and optimizing for their own profit, not solving problems that removes the need for their clients to keep enrolling. Imagine visiting a doctor who is biased toward pocketing larger commissions?..
As a business grows, things should become easier because the systems are bearing the weight. Yet, every business that undertakes these archaic methods designed in the 1980s and the 2000s seems to struggle with excessive friction despite using "best practices." There is no best practice; a best practice is limiting in the world of unknowns because if the unknown were known, the problem wouldn’t still exist.
The same can be said about most, if not all, COOs or operation managers. They’ve been trained by accreditation to think within a limiting worldview of business. Their thoughts, experiences, and beliefs have been shaped and confirmed by where they’ve studied and what
they’ve seen.
You don’t solve problems by applying best practices or fixed methods; you solve problems by diagnosing them correctly, against the goal, regardless of where it takes you.
We don’t rely on a plug-and-play system designed for a specific industry. Instead, we emphasize the importance of understanding and addressing the unique inputs upstream, the causes, the environment in which the problem sits, and the desired outcome of the founder. This is why our portfolio is rich with varied success stories, each demonstrating our commitment to a problems-first approach to business, over rigid profit-driven accreditation.
Problems are only hard to fix because they are not diagnosed correctly.
You may have heard the adage, "the problem isn’t the problem." While this is true, it is still only a single layer deep. The problem itself is always caused by a series of upstream inputs.
Alongside that, the problem is represented by an output and always by second, third, fourth, and even sixteenth order consequences that need to be measured on an effect horizon.
Between all the upstream inputs and the final output, there is a system interacting with all the inputs to generate the problem.
From there, a feedback loop either drives or starves the loop. This could be a series of team errors, process inconsistencies, system failures, miscommunication, room for assumption, and more.
While this is happening, it is also occurring within a micro environment which sits within a macro environment. This applies to all problems in life; this is the genetic makeup of all problems.
Yet many business owners, lacking awareness, simply think they can solve this complexity on their own, in the same environment where the problem was created.
They often believe they are merely "one hire away" from solving the problem. Even worse, some think that a quick "plug-in" of this widget or that method from a book or a guru will solve everything. Owners who act this way invariably cease to exist along a long enough time horizon. They often spend more over a longer period of time with no resolution.
Don't make the mistake of simply looking to remove the pain without addressing the root cause.
Signal: Information that conveys meaning.
Noise: Items that obscure useful information.
Otherwise, problems are lost in obscurity.
These are the unknown unknowns, the problems that, once seen, are too late to address. Examples include the A-player quitting after several great years, the missing inventory that everyone thought was ordered, or the error in accounting that sets the company back multiple years. Obscurity is a killer, and using off-the-shelf best practices ensures that noise increases over time as obscurity is perpetuated.
Or there's the problem of mystery.
Where a company sells a business a method or tool that claims to solve all their problems. The widget promises to do everything the business needs and is designed to make life easier. This magic wand typically results in mystery, with members of the organization unsure of what is going on. The business is always on the back foot; there isn’t much noise, things should be working, but they aren’t, and no one is sure why. There isn’t enough signal, and daily friction has been accepted as a part of normal business life. The business gets slow and bloated, and the more people thrown at the problem, the slower and more unprofitable the business becomes.
The most common issue is distraction.
Not because team members are distracted, but because the level of noise within the business is so high that it’s nearly impossible for anyone to sit down and do meaningful work. A true signal that a business is stuck in a distraction cycle can be seen in the number of team meetings required between teams, the use of group chat services like Slack or Teams, and poor internal communications. All of this signals a lack of systems and too much noise.
We Build Operating Systems to Scale Your Business, Increase Efficiency, Boost Profits, Minimize Errors, and Reduce Workload.
Why Technology Isn't The Answer
Many businesses exclusively focus on adopting the latest technology or AI gimmicks, hoping these will solve their operational challenges. Unfortunately, this reliance on technology can lead to disappointment and initiates a costly pattern of changing systems every 12 to 17 months.
The reality is that technology alone is not a cure-all. The frequent switching of tools can cost your company precious profits annually.
The root of the problem lies in a lack of consistency and predictability, coupled with an excessive dependence on key team members. While technology may seem to streamline operations across departments, it typically amplifies existing complexities and issues.
Simply adding more—whether it's another tool, software, or, heaven forbid, another top performer—rarely helps the situation. Instead of adding to the equation, it is more effective to address issues through subtraction and stabilization. The problem often originates from insufficient knowledge within the organization.
So, what is the solution?
Simply adding new tools, software, or team members isn't enough to resolve it. The core of the business—the owner and leadership team—must adopt a new systems-thinking methodology for managing their operations and teams. This issue is frequently a result of inadequate personal and professional development within the leadership. An over-reliance on team training, hand-holding, rushed documents, shortcut solutions, and constant reworks only exacerbate the problem, while the larger issues remain unaddressed.
This isn't a problem that businesses can solve on their own. Attempting to address challenges with the same knowledge and skills that led you into a chaotic operational storm can result in burnout and going in circles. Does the phrase, 'What got you here won’t get you there' ring a bell?
A fundamental shift in the business's thinking and operations is necessary. New skills must be adopted by the owner and the leadership team. An expert team like ours at Systems And Teams should be brought in to guide the initial integration of new business systems before handing them back to the owners.
It's our job to get your business, systems, and team to a point where you don't need us anymore. If we simply handle everything behind closed doors and then hand it back, you'll be forced to rehire us whenever something goes wrong, trapping you in a continuous cycle of dependency.
We aim to build, optimize, train, educate, and guide you so that at the end of our engagement, you'll be able to manage and steer the ship on your own, while enjoying your time and profits.
We are deeply passionate about solving problems and teaching the art of systems design.
Six Areas For Operational Excellence
Instead of spending the next few years acting as a firefighter in your business as you figure it out alone, we'll save you from the time, money, and stress of trial and error when you switch from “business operator” to “business owner”.
Explore the 6 core system areas where we can reduce friction and drive growth for your business. No specific order of these is required.
Optimize your operations, services, and team for greater efficiency, productivity, and happiness. Reclaim an average of 4-6 hours per week per employee / founder.
Foster accountability and transparency across teams by reducing meetings, emails, and time on Slack. Cultivate ownership and a team-wide commitment by making information and skills accessible to all.
Eliminate assumptions and ambiguity. Our Perfect Process Method™ replicates the effectiveness of A-players, duplicates decision makers, and clones creativity.
Streamline your hiring process by reducing time spent on applications and interviews. With our systems-first approach, focus on attracting the right person for the right system, rather than role-first hiring.
Begin to run your business like an operator and an investor. Develop dashboards, operational systems, and KPI levers that enable your business to function with clock-like predictability.
Integrate our top-performing sales systems to easily boost revenue per employee with less effort. This integration also provides increased visibility to identify and address sales problems before they escalate.
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A letter from our founder:
From The Desk Of Jamie Stenhouse
Adelaide, Australia (Bright and Sunny)
Re: Why you should consider us...
Great question! It's completely reasonable to approach this with a degree of skepticism.
Unfortunately, our industry has seen its share of companies that do not fufill their promises—the land of empty promises and flashy gurus.
Creating an advertisement, launching a website, or producing a video claiming to be the best is relatively straightforward.
What is not easy to do, however, is to:
- Work with over 1,000 business owners
- Test a repeatable method across more than 100 different industries since 2018
- Build, scale, and sell multiple businesses
- Spend millions of dollars of your own money testing your methodology
- Devote over 17 years to the art and science of systems thinking
- Have your clients renew and refer their friends to you
At Systems And Teams, we solve problems.
Our team has extensive experience, and we continuously evolve our services to aim for the pinnacle of problem-solving across any industry, sector, country, and team size. I take immense pride in our offerings, our company, and our collaborative approach with clients.
We dedicate an extraordinary amount of effort to perfecting our client success process. Each step of our partnership is carefully crafted to optimize your experience and ensure great outcomes that compound.
Our goal is not merely to deliver results but to ensure that who you are, your life, and the trajectory of your story is forever improved.
We would be honoured if you considered partnering with us to help systemize your business, allowing you to increase your earnings, make a greater impact, and enjoy the rewards of your hard work.
Looking forward to the opportunity to contribute to your success,
Jamie Stenhouse
Founder, Systems And Teams
"So good, I love this module The productised matrix helped me to identify my best-performing offering and confirmed what I suspected about my least profitable properties being larger houses.
And the client boundaries actually helped me to take back the power in some scenarios that I felt were "unfair" and "out of my control". There is power in having this level of certainty."
Nathan B
"I just want to say thank you so much. The project management system has changed my life!! And the life of my company to be honest. We hired two new people and transferred our onboarding to the Asana. The girls just completed it and we asked for feedback. They said it was the best onboarding they've EVER HAD in any job. And they also said that all the work we put in shows how much we care and they never want to
let us down. :)"
Jo C
"Hiring Framework GOLD!
I recently used the hiring frameworks taught by Jamie in the Prospecting Systems Library, and it worked wonders for my team. I received over 130 applications on Upwork for an appointment setter position, and thanks to Jamie's guidance, I was able to find the perfect fit. Thanks again, Jamie, for all that you do!"
Corey R
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