In order to perform at an optimum level, in part it is knowing the best way to approach a task and following a Process. When breaking a business into various departments or areas, process mapping is a great tool to discover and uncover opportunity for improvement through each area of the business. Through this process it generally starts with someone showing you the way they do what they do.
To apply this simply to your business, think of a brand new customer order. On a piece of paper, write down from the start (Client Paying a deposit) through to the completion (Install). How many different people interact or are involved in that one particular order? In each area, each team member will have a process they follow that most of the time is learned on the job but not a documented or refined Process, more adopted as a by product of the environment they work in.
Now what if, in one of those key areas, someone is not in and someone has to cover that team members role, Could they? Or does it wait till they return? To remain Profitable, we look to seek out opportunity that help's optimise repetitive tasks, but its hard to optimise and improve something that is not a fluent, documented Process.
Standard procedures are generally called upon in the fallout of a key team member leaving a role, used to help mitigate the time it takes to get the new team member to perform that role, as close to perfect as the previous team member. The true knock on effect may not be felt for a few weeks, but when it is, its generally not positive as presents itself as a major bottleneck in throughput.
We are seeing an increase in businesses looking to systemise, especially those areas that have repetitive tasks. This in part is to help reduce Stress and Mistakes/Reworks as when we are feeling overwhelmed it encompasses emotional, cognitive, and physical symptoms, including difficulty focusing and concentrating, low energy, headaches and stomachaches, and lack of interest in things you used to enjoy. Ongoing stress wears the mind and body in a state of fight or flight
Experience teaches us that by following a process, it allows you to take control and remain in control in times of challenge. A lot of the businesses we work with, we rediscover and systematize standard procedures so that we have a source of truth that we can follow, that helps mitigate future business risk. There is also a feel good aspect to this, executing a task and completing a task provides a sense of achievement, generally we all complete numerous tasks per day that help progress something towards a state of completion.
Furthermore this allows a business to identify opportunity to be more productive and also increase accuracy across the various areas of the business, helping provide perspective and a level of understanding for those in different areas increasing the likelihood of remaining profitable.
We explore Systems that can be introduced to help manage those standard operating procedures for employees and Staff to follow that will help maintain consistency and flow, with accuracy of the overall finished product a byproduct of the process, while highlighting opportunities for continual improvement.
Each business can learn from process refinement. If you think about the stages of production that you would like to reduce stress, anxiety and be more accurate or maintain consistent in desired output, what would that look like for you?
What are some of the areas that you feel you that you dont understand or feel like you dont have control over. By starting here, we then can identify better ways to manage and streamline to make the complicated, less complicated and potentially enjoyable.
I encourage you to follow a new customer order through the various stages of the business, it will teach you and the team a lot, but also provide perspective on identified areas to improve and streamline & How to remain Profitable with less Staff in business
Comments