Operational Excellence

In every company there are things that don’t work quite as well as they could. 

Processes that worked just fine in the past are outdated and get in the way of achieving goals now.  This could be a result of teams growing over time, two companies merging or even technology improving!  Paper systems are often digitized without consideration of whether the old process is still optimized for success.  Companies are appropriately focused on getting their work done, whether that is developing or building a product or providing the best customer service they can.  Underlying that hard work might be frustration and wasted time with processes that are onerous or communications that are ineffective.  Business processes as diverse as, sales (lead to PO), manufacturing (raw material to product shipping), laboratory certifications (creating certificates of compliance) and finance (PO to AP) all benefit from periodic evaluation and improvement.  As Steven Covey might say, investing in “sharpening the saw” by examining existing business processes will yield dividends with massive time and quality improvements, all while increasing team morale.  What’s not to love about that? 

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We don’t set the standard on how to work together

Collaboration and communication are fundamental elements to team success, but are given surprising little attention. In the old days communication was either in person or via phone.  Files would be in file cabinets and communicated to others via fax.  Today, speed of communication and methods of collaboration have increased exponentially, but so has the complexity.  Is that file I need on the Google drive, in my inbox or attached in a Teams chat?  Do I ask quick questions via slack, text or phone call?  What’s the best way to get your attention on an urgent matter?  Does that change if it’s not during working hours?  While there is no wrong answer, many teams waste time and may even conclude that teammates are disorganized or unresponsive because no communication and collaboration standards have been established.  Confusion, disagreement and wasted time could be avoided by setting team operating mechanisms around communication and collaboration.

We’ve always done it this way

With success comes growth.  When the company was smaller, things got done without a formal process.  But as the company grew and technology improved, the “way things are done” was not upgraded.  Now everyone scratches their heads on why it takes so long to get things done, incorrectly assuming it’s a natural outcome of growth or bureaucracy.  In fact, critical business processes benefit from periodic evaluation and “spring cleaning”. Investing a small amount of time to examine why things are done to get from A to Z, will result in a more streamlined process that also improves results!

I’m just doing my part

A common mistake is a lack of understanding how our work impacts others on our team.   Like a relay race, team members work hard to perform their jobs quickly and to the best of their abilities.  The challenge is that over time, teams may no longer understand how the entire process works or how their day-to-day work affects the final result.  Activities that were critical to an old paper system are simply digital busywork today.  Alternatively, downstream team members struggle to do their part, not realizing that a colleague could simplify their job by providing information that is already at their fingertips.  Understanding the critical elements needed to achieve a business goal allows the team to simplify their process while enhancing results.