This article raises the question of whether your lack of or unproductive business processes are costing you unnecessary time and affecting your ability to achieve your version of success.
Do you have the ability to recognise when a process isn’t working? Does everyone in the team feel accountable to stick to the rules and do things as documented? Do your employees share the responsibility of keeping the processes up to date and making improvements as they come across them?
I often ask myself, how can anyone expect something to be done correctly let alone efficiently when there is no process? If I close my eyes and imagine the things I am responsible for at work (or in many aspects of my personal life) lacking even some sort of process, my world would be utter chaos.
A whole lot of back-and-forths, quadruple checking, coulda/shoulda/wouldas, mistakes, time wasting…you get the point! Pretty much a day to day whirlwind of a lot of little unnecessary things with no real direction, or a goal that has been buried deep and well and truly forgotten somewhere within the storm.
On the other hand…
I’ve been in scenarios where I almost literally had to walk through fire, jump through 100 hula hoops and beg approval from the high court before I could send a signed contract through to the involved parties. This kind of process is not fun, it’s actually repulsive. And it’s these kind of ‘OTT’ processes within a business that can cause more harm than they do good. No one is ever going to want to co-operate or be accountable for this, trust me, I was one of them!
Regardless of my heightened fear of checklists that are the size of the novel on my bedside table and having to read a procedure before I can begin the process of filing a few documents, I have to admit, I am a lover of order! By implementing efficient processes, I can measure my progress and productivity. If a mistake is made or something doesn’t go as planned, it becomes easier to go back to where it came undone and fix it up.
There’s a fine line though and it doesn’t take long before an efficient process turns into a restrictive and overcomplicated process that no longer makes any sense.
So today, I’ve collated 4 of the biggest process issues I’ve come across in my career and with the clients I am fortunate enough to work with. Do any of these strike a chord with you and your business?
No Processes
In a business that has any sort of customer service, no process is simply not good enough. Customer satisfaction should be treated as a priority, therefore, there should be a process in place to look after your all-important clients.
In terms of your team, a complete lack of process can cause confusion, work being duplicated or not done at all. This can create all sorts of backlog problems and people end up wasting time having to follow up with colleagues or fix unnecessary problems.
Your processes don’t have to be perfect from the get-go. Test and measure, try different ways and then determine which is the best! Like your business, your processes will (and should) evolve over time.
No Documentation – The process is clear in someone’s head but they have not taken the time to document the steps for the benefit of other team members.
This is so common! Where one person has worked for the business for many years and therefore knows it like the back of their hand. They’ve been a loyal and reliable employee and they have proved to be quite capable of the task at hand. And then they go on leave, or *touch wood* have an accident and are required to have an extended amount of time off work.Will the rest of the team know where something is at? Will they know how to ensure it is dealt with in the required timeframe?Will they even know what the timeframe is?!
Always document processes, even if you do not have a lot of time to make it look fancy, just get the steps on paper!
No Buy-In – The process has been created by one person based on their ideas and what they deem to be the most efficient way, without having consulted other team members.
Just because someone thinks one way is the best way, doesn’t mean it is the best way! Be open to other people’s input, respect their ideas and bounce off each other. Yes, sometimes it seems time-consuming to have a meeting to discuss a potential new process and it may be easier to just do it yourself, but in a growing business, discussing the ‘operational’ functions as a team will go a long way to getting buy-in from those around you. Ultimately this will drastically improve the chance your process is adhered to properly.
No Accountability – Team members do not equally take responsibility for process requirements and improvements
Processes do require constant attention. Things change and new better ways of doing things are discovered. Just the idea of frequently having to update a process can be a little bit daunting but why does that have to be a negative thing? Quite frankly, I get excited when I find a way to do something more efficiently or a way that will produce a better result!
If processes aren’t implemented properly or improved by the team on a regular basis, it paves the way for people to become careless and mistakes will be made.
Having a team of truly accountable individuals will ultimately build a more capable team.
No matter where your business is at, I would hazard a guess and say one of the above issues is holding you back from delivering an amazing experience to your customers, clients, and network. Don’t wait for perfection… whatever ‘process problem’ you are having in your business, start somewhere. Every little bit of improvement applied will help save you time (and money) in your team in the long run. It also doesn’t have to be boring and is a great way to get the team together and interacting in a positive way.