Everything is a Process...

Stop and think about it for a minute.  Getting ready for work, your method to get or make your coffee, your drive into work, your preparation for the workday, the way you walk into your office and prepare for the day… Everything is a process.

Now, there are some well-established processes and there are some that are not well established.  Usually, it’s only disruptive if the process isn’t followed, or isn’t able to be followed.  Your drive into work for example.  You likely take the same highway, the same exit, the same backroads, the same parking lot.  It is a well-established process because it’s likely the way to get to work in the most effective (reliable & safe), and efficient (least amount of time).

Now a monkey-wrench gets thrown into the mix.  There is an accident on the freeway (after hoping that they are all ok, you press on).  Traffic is backed up for miles, so you deviate from the well-established process and take the first exit you can.  Now, if you’re lucky, you have an alternate route (a backup process) which is less efficient, but it is effective.  If you’re not so lucky, you’re frantically watching the GPS, hoping you’re not going to be late. 

The biggest problem you run into now is not that it’s not as efficient.  What if it’s not effective?  What if you don’t have GPS and get lost?  This is why we always focus on effectiveness first, then efficiency.  Once we assure that the path you took gets you to your destination, then we can turn our focus on efficiency, and remove any roadblocks that may come up and getting you to your destination on time, or even before the required time.

Think of that analogy in everything you do now.  From your ritual for getting ready for work, to the way you open up conversations with others, to presenting a new project.  What in my company or world around me is a process? Those houses/buildings/cars that you drive by they were all the result of processes. That big project that you are about to implement, that's a process too.

Now, usually the first thing a business does is establish one or more processes.  Look around your work.  Your marketing department, your HR department, your accounting department, your operations department, supply chain, distribution, they are all processes. 

Successful companies hire Lean Six Sigma professionals to establish manufacturing processes and hard focus on making them effective first, then efficient.  Really successful companies focus on their business processes.  Their marketing, accounting, HR, finance, IT, supply chain, distribution, learning and development, and more.

What is so important in these business processes, is that when you really get down to it, you will likely find that they are inefficient, ineffective, or both, and there is likely a high level of dissatisfaction/angst/stress/anxiety surrounding them.  We can help you with this.  We have significant experience in making your business processes both effective and efficient. We have the background and experience in business, process and technology.

The primary benefits of optimizing your business processes are Profitability, Execution, Employee Satisfaction, and Customer Satisfaction.

Rick@NextLevelLSS.com