"But what does that have to do with the economy?" I can hear you ask. Well quite a bit, actually. Because the more organized a business is, the easier it is to implement operational efficiencies that improve cash-flow. And let's face it, right now more than ever, cash is king.

If the mere mention of systems development makes you start to yawn, I guess I can't blame you. Few entrepreneurs jump out of bed in the morning excited about writing another internal company document. They'd much rather get out there and make another sale or close another deal. But while sales are obviously critical, what if I told you that each of these internal documents has the ability act like a magnifying glass, increasing the value of everything you do, including your sales. And what if I told you that each of these documents could bring you one step closer to your ultimate goal as a business owner, no matter what that goal was. Would you be more interested?

If you aren't totally convinced, consider the value of your business from a buyers' perspective. Even if you have no intention of selling your business, viewing its value from a buyer's perspective is always a useful exercise. In many businesses, the majority of its policies and procedures are stored inside the minds of staff and the owner. While the owner may be fine with this, a buyer won't be. That's because, without clearly defined roles, responsibilities and systems for every area of its operations, a business is unlikely to be running as effectively and lucratively as it could be. Without full systemisation of a business' policies and procedures, there is no way to ensure that efficiency improvements are implemented accurately and consistently. And in an economic climate where a penny saved is a penny earned, this becomes even more important.

There's no need to go overboard with this, but rarely do I come across a business with a fully functional infrastructure. We get so caught up in our daily activities that we don't take the time to stop and make even the most rudimentary improvements to our companies. And when times get tough, that's how good businesses fail.

For example, I recently spoke with the owner of a retail operation who had to lay off a couple of key employees in order to keep his business afloat. He complained that with these key individuals gone, things were falling through the cracks because his remaining employees didn't know how to properly manage their additional responsibilities. Clearly documented systems would have made a huge difference to his situation, shortening learning curves, and taking a significant amount of pressure off the owner to fill in the gaps.

The single most effective way to organize your business is through a well-thought-out and documented business manual, containing all of the policies and procedures required for operating your business, including all associated forms, letters and checklists. If you ever plan on selling your business, it will increase its value, and if you don't plan to sell, it will allow you to identify and correct weak areas of operations.

But if this sounds like a daunting task don't worry. It doesn't need to be. Here's how to tackle the project in a concise and manageable fashion.

Begin by pulling together a task force with members from each of your departments, and have them come up with a list of company systems for their respective areas. These could be anything from "collecting overdue receivables" to "sending packages by courier".

Next, prioritize the list in order of importance (i.e. A, B and C), giving top priority to those with a direct link to cash-flow. For example, many companies would put "collecting overdue receivables" near the top of the list.

Then, assign each of your A level systems to a key employee who is actively involved with that system. B and C level systems can come later. If you have the personnel, I also suggest designating a leader to manage the project on a timeline; otherwise, this should be your job. In my experience, things rarely get completed without hard target dates.

As these are ultimately living documents, they will be subject to change from time to time. Consequently, I'd recommend organizing all of this in an electronic format. We use a customized version of Microsoft SharePoint with our clients, organized into the general categories of Leadership, Management, Marketing, Finance, Operations, and Sales, but any good document organizing tool will do.

I can't overemphasize how much you'll benefit from this undertaking. At Wardell, we provide a value diagnostic to every business we work with that actually measures its market value before it begins this type of systemization process, repeated on an annual basis. Typically, the relative value of a business will double, or even triple, within two to three years of embarking on this type of project.

Just remember, if you fail to document workflow and corresponding staff accountability you are leaving an enormous margin of error in the hands of employees who - in most cases- are simply not invested in the value of your business in the same way that you, the owner, are.

If driving value is your goal in 2009, I encourage you to get started right away. Feel free to drop me a line to let me know how you make out.