How to Build Backup Systems That Scale — Without Creating Bottlenecks or Burnout

How to Build Backup Systems That Scale — Without Creating Bottlenecks or Burnout

Show Description:

If your business relies on one person to keep a process running, you don’t have a system — you have a single point of failure.

In this follow-up to last week’s episode, Colby shares real stories and practical tools to help you build backup systems that scale without piling on red tape or burning out your team.

You’ll hear:

• A true story from Colby’s hospital leadership days that changed the way he trained teams
• How to test whether your team is truly cross-trained or just good at talk
• Why most SOPs fail — and how to fix them by documenting context, not just tasks
• A powerful “Mission-Critical Map” exercise to find and fix your hidden bottlenecks
• A weekly challenge to help you build a more resilient, scalable team — starting now

This episode is for leaders who want to grow without becoming the bottleneck, lose sleep over operational gaps, or build a company that falls apart if one person goes on vacation.

Need help building resilient teams, systems that scale, or leaders who can handle the weight of growth?

Colby offers executive coaching, keynote speaking, and custom leadership training for organizations that want to grow with clarity, confidence, and consistency.

Contact Colby directly:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colbymorris/
Booking or inquiries: https://www.nxtstepadvisors.com/

Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with another leader.
And you know why?

Because those are the things that leaders do.

#leadership #businesssystems #operations #scalingbusinesses #founderlife #teamdevelopment #thingsleadersdo

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello leaders and welcome back to the TLD podcast.
Last week we hit on a big onesingle points of failure and,
based on your messages, yourcomments and some of the
conversations, man that onelanded.
But I want you to realize thatrecognizing a weak spot just

(00:24):
isn't enough.
This week we're going fromawareness to action.
We're talking about how tobuild real redundancy without
creating bloated systems,confusing org charts or
leadership bottlenecks.
I've got a story from my daysrunning hospitals that hopefully

(00:45):
will make the point loud andclear.
So let's get into it.
Number one don't just tell me,show me.
I'll take you back.
When I was leading hospitaloperations, I stopped a nurse
during rounds and asked hey, incase of a fire.
And asked, hey, in case of afire, what would you do?

(01:08):
She didn't blink.
She walked me through the passacronym, like it was second
nature.
I get the extinguisher, I pullthe pin, I aim at the base, I
squeeze the handle, I sweep fromside to side, flawless delivery
.
But something made me dig alittle deeper.
So I asked her can you show me?

(01:29):
We walked over to the fireextinguisher over on the wall.
She couldn't even get it out ofthe case.
Once we got it out, shecouldn't figure out how to use
it.
The acronym was there, but theskill wasn't.
And here's the problem.
We were checking the box ontraining, but we weren't

(01:54):
building real readiness.
So we changed the training Fromthen on.
We didn't just talk through theprocesses, we walked through
them Hands-on, real-time.
You had to prove it.
Here's your leadership lesson.
Redundancy isn't about having abackup plan on paper.

(02:17):
It's about knowing your backupcan actually execute it.
This applies to your businesstoday.
Ask yourself can your numbertwo run the meeting if you're
out?
Can someone process payrollwithout needing six Slack
messages?
Can another leader handle thehandoff call without stalling?

(02:39):
If the answer is, well, they'veseen me do it.
That's not good enough.
Hear me, redundancy lives indemonstration, not in
documentation.
Put people in position, letthem run it and then debrief and

(03:00):
refine the process from there.
All right, number two documentthe.
Why, not just the what?
Let me tell you something I'veseen in almost every
organization I've coached or led.
There's always that one SOP docin a shared drive that looks so

(03:21):
nice.
It's solid.
Okay, it's got the niceformatting, it's got the clean
bullet points, and yet it'ssolid.
Okay, it's got the niceformatting, it's got the clean
bullet points, and yet it'suseless.
Why?
Because it tells people what todo, but not why it matters.
So when something unexpectedhappens and the process doesn't

(03:42):
fit the situation, exactlyhappens and the process doesn't
fit the situation, exactly yourbackup does what they freeze or,
worse, they improvise in a waythat breaks downstream systems.
Let me be blunt People don'town what they don't understand.

(04:02):
They follow rules until thingsget weird and then they just
stop.
So if you want true redundancy,your processes need context.
I want you to add a line inyour SOPs that says we do this
because, or this timing mattersbecause, okay, if we miss this
step, here's what happens.

(04:23):
If we miss this step, here'swhat happens.
And take it further Duringtraining or handoff, tell
stories about something thatwent wrong in the past and why
this process now exists, becauselogic sticks better than rules.
Hear me If you want people tostep in confidently, you have to

(04:45):
give them the thinking behindthe doing.
It's not just abouttransferring tasks, it's about
transferring decision-makingability.
All right, number threemission-critical maps.
Let me tell you about aconsulting call I had with an

(05:06):
executive team not too long ago.
They were growing fast, revenuelooked great, but the founder
just had this nagging feelingthat if one or two things happen
or one or two people left,everything could fall apart.
So I walked their team throughan exercise I call mission

(05:27):
critical mapping.
I asked them what are the fivesystems or processes that, if
they failed today, would costyou money, momentum or
credibility?
They looked around the room fora second.
There was some nervous laughterand then one of them said well,

(05:47):
probably invoicing.
That's all in one person's head.
Another said our clientonboarding process is mostly in
Slack threads.
Payroll came up next, tied tothe one finance person.
Okay.
Then sales, pipeline tracking,all managed in spreadsheets, and

(06:09):
finally facility operations,which only the ops manager
really understood.
So that's five Invoicing,client onboarding, payroll,
sales pipeline, facilitymanagement.
Then I asked okay, I want youto answer these three things for
me One who owns it, two, whoelse could confidently run it

(06:35):
tomorrow.
And three, when was the lasttime that person actually did it
?
And, as you can imagine, that'swhen the room got real quiet,
because for most of those areasthere wasn't a backup, or there
was, they hadn't touched it inmonths.

(06:57):
That team had smart people, theyhad good systems, but all the
doing lived in individual heads.
They had single points offailure, hiding in plain sight.
So we built out a missioncritical map.
Each process got a primaryowner, a designated backup and a

(07:20):
cadence for when that backupwould actually step in and run
it Real time, not pretend,because here's the reality.
If the only time your backupruns a process is during an
emergency, that's not a system,that's a liability.
You want a business that'sstrong enough to flex, not

(07:41):
fragile enough to fall apartwhen someone else is out or sick
or moves away.
Or sick or moves away okay, yougot to have a way to get there.
Regularly rotate ownership okay.
Create clarity.
Train in real scenarios.
You're thinking, colby, thatwould be chaos.
Well, yeah, at first, butthat's why you're training,

(08:05):
that's why you're doing this, soit's not chaos when it matters.
Okay, you're doing this.
So it's not chaos when itmatters.
Okay, that's how you buildresilient, scalable operations,
not duct tape survival plans.
All right, here's the truth.
Leader to leader Redundancyisn't about just adding layers

(08:27):
Okay, about just adding layersokay.
It's about building resilience.
If your business needs you at100% capacity just to function,
if your team is one, resignationaway from chaos.
Or if your systems only live inone person's head, that's not
scalable, that's survivable fornow, but definitely not for long

(08:48):
.
So here's your challenge thisweek Identify one critical
process, just one.
Choose someone who isn't theusual owner but it needs to make
sense and have them run it fromend to end and then sit down
with them.
And then sit down with them,debrief what worked, what didn't

(09:10):
, what you learned, what theylearned, and make this a monthly
habit okay, not a one-time firedrill.
You want to scale, build abusiness that doesn't need to be
rescued to keep going, and ifthis kind of leadership
development is not important inyour organization, you've got to

(09:34):
get it there.
You've got to get them tounderstand the importance of
this type of operation Okay.
And if this kind of leadershipdevelopment is what your
organization needs more of, I'dlove to help.
I speak at leadership summits,offer custom team training.
I coach high-level executiveswho are serious about leading

(09:56):
well, scaling smart and stayinghuman through it all.
I'd love to connect with you.
You can connect with me on myLinkedIn.
That's in the show notes.
There's my webpage, my email,however, you want to get hold.
If you have questions, I'd loveto answer them.
Just connect, reach out.
I'm having some greatconversations with everyone and

(10:16):
I definitely appreciate it.
So please go out there, buildredundancies, no single points
of failure.
And you know why?
Because those are the thingsthat leaders do.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Thank you for listening to Things Leaders Do.
If you're looking for more tipson how to be a better leader,
be sure to subscribe to thepodcast and listen to next
week's episode.
Until next time, keep workingon being a better leader by
doing the things that leaders do.