How Startups Can Get Comfortable with Repeatability

It’s amazing how startup founders sometimes hate the idea of repeatability. Some startup CEOs see repeatability as a tool for corporations that stifles creativity and freedom while turning everything into a “process.” I can certainly see where they are coming from with this belief. Too much structure can sometimes hinder innovation.

However, every business needs some level of structure to be successful. Employees need to know what they’re doing right, what they’re doing wrong, and what they can do to best serve customers and potential customers. Doing this requires some structure and organization no matter how much a CEO wants to fight having a “process” in place.

The key for startup leaders is finding a happy medium between repeatability and giving employees the freedom that fosters creativity and innovation. I have found that checklists can be the answer to this conundrum. They provide the guidelines that employees need to do their work without hindering creativity or becoming too boring or structured. 

Both individual employees and teams within the startup can work with a checklist to know what a good job looks like. Checklists can tell them how to bring value to the customer. At the same time, those checklists don’t have to be written in stone. There can be gray areas written into the checklists. It’s also possible to revise and improve those checklists as employees learn what works and what doesn’t. 

This helps to provide the balance that early-stage startups need. They don’t want to become too rigid or too devoted to a particular “process” that can hinder creative thinking. At the same time, checklists leave the door open to exploit the discoveries made along that will require repeatable value creation. In my experience, this is the best way for startup CEOs to become comfortable with repeatability, which will ultimately be key to startup success in the long run.