Having well-designed procedures builds operational efficiency and offers a huge benefit to any business. When performing tasks, people develop a specific way that they do things. The way that things are done become operational systems.
Operational efficiency and effectiveness improve when you document the workflow by your staff. In the process of documenting, you can identify redundancies and gaps. You can consider what steps can be automated. You can identify what steps can be eliminated. Allowing staff involvement with this activity is a great way to increase staff buy-in.
At times, work can be boring. Other times work can be difficult. You still need to maintain operational efficiency and effectiveness. Here are some tips.
Keep on Track by Focusing on Purpose.
It’s optimistic to think that everyone understands why it’s important to follow a specified process, but in reality, the truth isn’t always clear. If your staff doesn’t see how their work contributes to your company’s overall purpose, they are likely to become less motivated and may skimp in their work or dawdle along the way. The process has been created for operational efficiency and effectiveness, but the work can slide off track if staff isn’t motivated to go the extra mile.
Know Who is Responsible.
The worst part of operational procedures going amuck is that it becomes hard to turn things around. Having people accountable for their work and identifying who is responsible for each part of the work process allows you to quickly assess who needs to make the adjustments to get the work back on track. Also, the people responsible for monitoring procedures can quickly notice if a process needs to be modified so that operations can run effectively and consistently hit their targets.
Communicate the Impact to Keep Everyone Motivated.
By speaking with everyone about the importance of tracking their procedures, they begin to understand their impact. Allowing them to write the procedures in a document form, you allow them to become owners of the final agreed upon procedures. They are more likely to follow the process more accurately since they are the ones who documented the workflow. This sense of ownership is another way to keep people motivated. People like to know that their input was requested and respected. Focus on progress not pefection.
BOOST YOUR PRODUCTIVITY AND MEET YOUR BUSINESS GOALS. This guidebook will provide you with the tools to keep your business moving forward seamlessly. Purchase GET THINGS DONE THAT MATTER and jump start your business.
