Processes and Resource Allocation Challenges
The Challenge Defined:
There will quickly come a time when your company outgrows your ability to manage all the important functions on a daily basis. To catch all the problems before they happen. To make all the decisions. How can you ensure every aspect of your company is run effectively?
You need to rely on ever-improving processes and process management. Without processes, an organization can become overly reliant on people, and assigning people to address challenges is a tough habit to break. Processes are the more cost-efficient approach.
Tackle the processes one by one using a consistent process (!) to identify and explore it. Finances. Marketing. Production. Human Resources. Sales. As you craft processes, consider bringing in an outside observer or facilitator to ask the hard questions. Are there key indicators in place to tell when it is or isn’t effective? Should it be divided into multiple processes? If the process owner left tomorrow, could the process continue? (That’s one of the key elements of a good process.)
And once your critical processes are in place, you’ll need to continually review them to ensure they’re providing value. Engage each member of your staff about the processes that are working and the ones that aren’t. Also talk with your people about how they spend their time and consider whether new processes could make their functions less labor-intensive to free them up for more productive engagement.
Critical Questions:
- Are your processes thorough, documented, and reviewed regularly?
- Are your people following your processes?
- Do you have managers enforcing and leading those processes?
- If processes are in place, are they working?
- How do capture data or key success indicators to demonstrate processes are or are not working?
Why this Challenge Must be Resolved:
Efficiencies drive profits and efficiencies come from adherence to and management of processes. Employee morale is enhanced with processes, too, since roles and expectations are better defined.
Need help with this topic or leadership coaching? Contact Mission Critical Teams.
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[…] forever, though. You should have contingencies for those situations. And as we’ve described in another blog, as you grow, don’t be over-reliant on people – develop processes […]
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