Survive or Thrive
Wouldn’t we all like to work in businesses that were productive and efficient all of the time. Yes, I’m sure everyone would jump at the chance for this. To generate productivity and efficiency you first need to understand what activities form the fundamentals of what you do. All businesses want to understand where the VALUE is in their processes however, it can sometimes be difficult to identify.
All business owners, department directors, project managers….the list could be endless, want to achieve the optimum performance from their staff. To do this there needs to be consistency in the approach to work. Consistency comes from process. By creating standard processes businesses are able to offer the benefits of consistent working where the right actions should be taken at the right time to deliver an expected result. An added bonus from this is that when a process is implemented correctly there is a greater chance it will be able to scale effectively ultimately offering further benefits back to the business when the important task can be replicated and carried out by multiple staff members without affecting its output.
During times of change, as has been seen through history, those who adapt are the ones who survive and thrive. Adapting our ways of working is paramount to our success both as individuals and as workers. Processes that we are working no now may not be the same as they were a few weeks ago but we must not forget how we have adapted them. We have made them more fit for purpose now but there will come a time when they will need adjusting again.
When a ‘new normal’ happens wouldn’t it be advantageous to have thought about the variations of process adaption we may need to implement. Being seen as those who are ahead of the change rather than left working our way through it will differentiate those who thrive and those who survive in business. If we are ahead of the trend we can remain at the top of our game.
Think about your processes, What are you currently working on?, How are you continuing to deliver products or services? Has it been made obvious to you where there is a bottleneck or single point of failure in an existing process?
Understanding the purpose of your process is important for clarifying the value of independent activities within a process. The processes which you are focused on during this time are likely not to be the same as those that were a key focus before. For instance making contact with clients and learning how they are working during this time instead of being focused on delivering services.
Your critical processes now may be related to cash flow and ensuring you can ride the storm, so to speak. It is also critical to make sure after the storm there will be opportunities of work, therefore identifying what your key marketing and lead generation processes are is essential during this time and will prove highly valuable for the future. This may be where the process value now lies in your project/business rather than in the actual product or service that you were delivering.
Process Envision support businesses in understanding their processes, specifically the key activities across their businesses which deliver the greatest benefit to the business.
