Wherever you are today with respect to growing your
business or organization, developing systems and processes
represents a crucial part of setting the conditions for
success. Because it's so important to establish a robust
foundation before your company explodes with new business,
this article offers seven ideas for systematizing your
organization.
Before your company can respond to rapid shifts or prepare
for expansion, you will want to look around for leaks and
cracks. Ask, "How do communications and work products flow
from suppliers, within the organization, and to customers?
Who hands off what to whom? Is this ideal or should we
optimize processes?"
The answers may reveal areas where no methods exist, where
methods are still too vaguely defined to cement, and where
critical gaps reside that should be sealed before everyone
can perform effectively on a grander scale.
For example, it might be comfortable in the early stages of
a business for people to communicate very informally.
However, informal communication by itself cannot support a
consistent way of operating once more people become
involved. If you plan for growth by systematizing as soon
as possible, you'll lay a solid framework and avoid an
"implosion" later.
Another major consideration is the amount of irreplaceable
intellectual property that might be stored in the heads of
your employees or contractors. Contributors to your
organization might ebb and flow without your retaining a
fraction of what they know. Can you afford to let them walk
away without capturing their wisdom in your company's
knowledgebase? Can people go on vacation without causing a
standstill?
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Take Time to Do a Little "Task Triage"
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Look at each of the applicable areas of your business, such
as:
. Administration
. Project management
. Production management
. Information technology
. Quality assurance
. Marketing/sales
. Customer support
. Other functional activities
In each area -- and even more importantly, across areas --
you'll find possibilities for streamlining, strengthening,
and documenting your processes. Many processes will begin
in one functional area and continue through other areas
before completion.
The handoffs between people or functions often represent
the weakest links because of the possibilities for
miscommunication, bottlenecks, delays, and data entry
errors. So be especially alert for those areas!
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Seven Things to Consider When Systematizing Your Business
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As you proceed to develop and fine-tune your processes,
consider the following.
1. How mature are your processes?
Especially while in a startup mode, many of your methods
might be in a "mushy," formative state. It can take time to
develop a repeatable pattern for accomplishing work. Even
if your business has operated for a while, new activities
will inevitably emerge. Consider whether each is mature
enough to justify formal documentation, or whether less
formal "desk instructions" would suffice in the meantime.
2. Can you streamline processes before documenting them?
Before documenting your processes:
-- Evaluate whether all activities are truly necessary.
-- Consider where activities can be simplified, automated,
or eliminated.
-- Research where obstacles to productivity exist.
-- Ponder all areas with the greatest potential for waste,
errors, mistakes, and hidden drains on your bottom line.
-- Think about how streamlining each area would improve
your profitability, customer satisfaction, and internal
effectiveness, and prioritize your efforts accordingly.
3. Who should document your systems?
People often don't have the "extra" time to document their
own tasks, since they already spend all of their time doing
their regular jobs. Another option might involve "job
shadowing," where an intern or new-hire continually
observes, discusses, and documents what an expert performer
does.
This relieves the expert of that burden, while providing a
way for the intern to learn and contribute value
immediately. Alternatively, you could hire a procedure
specialist, and if a client engagement benefits enough to
pay for it, that's ideal!
The intern or specialist also can recommend ideas for
improvement that surface from a having a fresh perspective.
All resulting procedures would be fine-tuned with the
expert's help and become part of the company's information
library.
4. How can you go about systematizing?
Begin by asking, "How do we [...]?" and then fill in the
blank with the activity you wish to systematize. Diagram
all steps required to complete that process, across all
functional areas.
You may discover that if you routinely perform certain
steps in a given order, those are good candidates for
step-by-step procedures. In areas where the steps vary
based on the circumstances, a list of guidelines might be
more appropriate. If you are able to automate procedures,
consider using electronic support systems.
5. What types of documentation should you produce?
-- Systems, at the highest level, represent collections of
related processes.
-- Processes, depicted as diagrams or process maps, provide
overviews of tasks that transform inputs into outputs by
adding value during each task step.
-- Procedures cover the step-by-step, "how-to" details for
performing task steps. Procedures might appear in training
materials, job aids, and work instructions. Similarly,
guidelines show what rules to follow in more variable
situations.
6. What can you delegate or outsource?
If you have designed your processes to be easy to follow
and repeatable, so that others can produce the same result
each time, you are ready to delegate. And if you can hand
off to someone with less expertise without losing speed or
quality, hurray!
7. What can you continuously improve?
Always be alert for ways to eliminate, automate, or
simplify every activity that you perform routinely. Your
time is valuable, so your goal should be to spend time on
the activities that will contribute most to your company's
profitability. For every step, ask, "What value does this
add? What's a faster, less complicated way of getting this
done? Can a different view of this system expose new
possibilities for streamlining?"
In conclusion, systematizing your business may seem like an
overwhelming effort. But if you prioritize the areas to
simplify and document according to what will have the
greatest impact on your bottom line, and enlist outside
help, you'll be well on the road to success.
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Adele Sommers, Ph.D. is the author of the award-winning
"Straight Talk on Boosting Business Performance" program.
She helps people "discover and recover" the profits their
businesses may be losing every day through overlooked
performance potential. To sign up for more free tips, visit
her site at http://LearnShareProsper.com
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