Design an Efficient Workflow!
Today I want to dig a little deeper into what makes your business systems and processes work effectively. No matter what system you are trying to improve—lead generation, customer care, accounting, human resource, employee training, custodial, and so forth—one law governs them all.
Cause and Effect Governs System Results
All business outcomes and system results are determined by the Law of Cause and Effect. To get a better result, you have to work on the cause; you have to improve either system procedures or the components used by the system. That's it! These are the only two ways you can improve anything.
Today I will focus on the system procedure or "process." These are the steps, from beginning to end, in one system cycle—getting a sales lead through a conversion process, a license application through an approval process, or a putting a bicycle together in an assembly process.
If the tasks performed in a system require a precise order, like assembling a bicycle, you need a procedure listing the sequential steps; perhaps a visual flowchart would be helpful. If the order in which tasks are accomplished does not matter, such as cleaning an office, the system may only require a simple checklist.
How smoothly and efficiently the work flows through your business systems is very important. In fact, the "throughput"—what goes out the door—is your single most important measurement.
The Toyota Motor Company, a model of efficiency, believes that a well designed and steady system workflow, with little variation and waste, produces the best long-term results. Considering the fable of the tortoise and the hare, Toyota favors the strategy of the tortoise, with less emphasis on actual speed and more emphasis on a process that is stable, steady and sustained; the latter produces more cars per month.
Keep in mind that every process has a specific starting point and ending point—boundaries. When defining your systems, be sure not to overlap steps with other systems. In addition, a system has only one measurable goal. If you have more than one objective, you have combined systems. Now think of your entire business as a group of interrelated and interdependent systems. Like the gears of a watch, they are all working individually to fulfill a pre-determined purpose and they are all working together for the good of the whole.
Within your business systems, there are also subsystems focused on tasks that are more specific. For example, your lead generation system may consist of direct mail, telemarketing and a website. Each of these subsystems has a unique process and objective. In fact, each page on your website is yet another subsystem, also with a distinct purpose and goal. By drilling down through subsystems, you can improve the important details of your operations, giving customers a better experience and improving your bottom line.
Create High-Performance Systems
Ideally, each step in a process contributes value to the customer, with little wasted time and energy. The system generates output that meets quality standards and avoids accumulation of rejects or rework. The workload is level, with standardized tasks, and paced with the input of sales orders. Bottlenecks that delay order completion are eliminated. "Speed bumps" such as clutter, poor layout, and downtime are minimized. Employees are trained, incentivized, and learn from the ongoing feedback of system results. If you can accomplish these objectives, you will have a highly efficient work flow!
While much thought, planning and experimentation may go into developing a high-performance system, everything learned is eventually reduced to a single procedure or checklist that is used by system operators. Their responsibility is to follow that procedure or checklist with exactness until the system is improved. If your organization encourages and rewards innovation, system operators will also drive the improvement process.
If you want to solve problems, end frustration, boost sales, improve quality, become more efficient, please customers, increase profits and grow your business, the only ways is to create high-performance systems. There is no other way!
I teach the principles of good system design and process flow in my eCourse, Box Theory™: Double Your Profit with High-Performance Systems and Processes. One idea can save you a lot of money! If you want a smooth-running and efficient business operation, read more about the course at www.boxtheorygold.com/business-course.
When it comes to creating systems, I see small business owners fail to do one thing more than any other. We cover that topic tomorrow.
Wishing You Prosperous Times,
Ron
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Mini-Course, "Fast-Start to Systems Thinking"