Every business should be reviewing processes regularly. Much like we tend to do major clean up at home and in the yard during the spring, why not use this time to review processes in your business? I counsel my clients to regularly review their processes – ideally twice a year, but at least annually. When processes are regularly reviewed and fine-tuned, efficiency and effectiveness increases.
Take these best practices to review your processes:
- Reach out to those individuals who are doing the work to ask how the way they do the work can be improved. Ask also if they have already changed the way they get the work done (often employees find better ways to working on their own.)
- Consider these questions:
- Has new technology changed how employees have to work?
- Are there more or less resources that affect the workload?
- Have client expectations changed?
- Have you expanded the organization?
You might accomplish this through a combination of surveys, department, small group and one-on-one meetings. This simple review process, done regularly, enables you to find ways to improve how the work gets done. If you find opportunities for improvements, assign a process improvement team to work on the initiative. Be sure the team is comprised of members representing across the function.
