Entrepreneur.com published an infographic that caught my eye: The Most Common Bottlenecks Holding Your Business Back. Half of the top six were process issues; confusing processes, too many processes, and not enough processes. That says quite a bit about how important the right processes are to any business. They are crucial.
Your business and your team need to know what to do, how to do it, and when it needs to be done. The right processes designed for your business will streamline the work, eliminate common repetitive questions, and train your employees how to handle the day-to-day tasks so that only the unusual or crucial hits your inbox or desk. Well-defined processes make tasks easier, and the workload more manageable for everyone.
If your workload and your team’s workload feels chaotic and overwhelming, customized processes can give your work a predictable flow and schedule that relieves stress and increases productivity. Processes do need to be updated and re-worked as your business grows and changes. If you feel like you are constantly answering the same questions or giving the same directions, you may need a new process for training your team in these areas, as well as updating processes for daily work flow.
When your whole team knows what tasks do to every day, what order in which to do those tasks, and are both well-trained in their own responsibilities and cross-trained to help pitch in when the workload gets heavy on a team member, business gets done, and done well.
Take a look by clicking through to Entrepreneur.com, and ask yourself if your business being held back by any of these bottlenecks.
Is it time to review, renew, or add processes to your business?
Kristi Pavlik