I am here to tell you that aprocess is great to have inany business. Businesses requirea systematic approach tothe daily duties performed byevery department and everyindividual in that department.What that means to you, however,probably depends on yourown experience with structurein a business environment.
Many businesses begin bydoing things in a certain wayor sequence and they continueto do those things day–in and day–out. That is perfect from a conceptualviewpoint; but the problem centers around the fact thatwhat works and makes sense today may not work or even makesense tomorrow. Things change, but so often we don’t change withthem. This is not to say we are not good leaders, owners, managers,etc. It’s just reality that we don’t always notice as changes take placeso slowly. Therefore, we end up running our businesses or our departmentsthe same way we did last week, last month, last year oreven last decade.
I am sure you have heard the phrase, “…because that’s the waywe have always done it”. If not, then you probably aren’t askingenough questions. Ironically, you also find that after a few timesof getting that answer, people don’t want to answer you that wayanymore so they come up with new ways to say the same thing. Itsounds something like, “because it seems right” or “we tried severaldifferent ways and this worked the best”. The reality of it is probablycloser to “because that’s the way we have always done it”. So let’s justask a quick question and you can apply it to your own situation. Askquestions like ‘When?,’ ‘When did it make sense?,’ ‘Was it last yearwhen your company was producing 2500 widgets per day insteadof the 3500 per day you are currently producing?,’ ‘Was it whenyour organization was shipping 300 orders per day instead of the450 per day that are shipped now?,’ ‘Was it when your annual salesrevenue was at $1,000,000 per year versus the $2,500,000 now?’ As Istated before, things change; it happens slowly and over time. However,many of us continue to do things just like we did before thosechanges took place.
Think about your own business or department – or life, for thatmatter. You should have related to this in some form or fashion bynow. Hopefully you have begun to ask yourself, ‘Am I guilty of this?,’‘Does my organization evaluate often enough?’ Do we ever ask ourselves,‘Why?’ Better yet, if an employee asks you why, can you answerthe question?
What I am writing about is process. Some might call it a system.I personally like the term “structure”. The structure of a company,an organization, or a department is vital to its growth. Allorganizations benefit from structure. Larger companies have someform of structure or they probably wouldn’t have gotten large. Thisis so important to the smaller and medium sized businesses thatI believe it is the number one thing holding smaller and mediumsized organizations down, not allowing them to reach their fullgrowth potential. Time and time again, I have observed how institutingstructure into an organization can literally propel themthrough the financial ceiling their company has been bouncing offof.
So now we have discussed a little bit about structure and aboutthe benefits of a system. Next we will talk briefly about how toimplement a system. Begin by following your sales or productionflow from the beginning through to the end. Assess each and everystep along the way determining if there are bottlenecks or waste inthat flow at any stage. If so, then why? Are there things missing thatshould be in these steps such as quality control? All of the thingsthat are done need to be documented and here is just a little hint…don’t forget to involve the people that are currently performing thework. First, they have valuable contributions to give here, and second,they will appreciate their input being considered. It is mucheasier to implement change if you have the buy–in of those beingaffected by the change.
I strongly suggest having an outside perspective involved whenreviewing, updating, or implementing a structure. One of the biggestbenefits of this recommendation is a fresh viewpoint and thevalue of someone looking from the outside in. Their perspective isnot nearly as tainted in relation to your organization. We have allheard the phrase, ‘You can’t see the forest for the trees’. This is verytrue and very evident in many organizations. A new set of eyesfrom a professional can prove to be valuable and profitable.
Properly evaluating and implementing these systems can be oftremendous benefit; but let me caution you on one last thing: AlthoughI am a huge fan of process and structure, don’t overdo theprocess of process.
