Recently, we’ve been talking about the importance of creating management systems in your business. And an important part of this process is asking the people who do the work for their input.
Well designed and implemented management systems should both free up time for other productive activities and also foster performance improvements in your business, from the average worker to the most highly skilled.
Creating A System & A Way To Improve It
When you create a system, you need a way to improve it!
Once you have the components in place for the management system, the last step, and a very important one, is to make sure there is a way for staff feedback.
Your managers and your team, in fact, everyone in the organization, needs to feel that, if they have a better way to do a job, or a task, no matter how menial, they can bring that idea up.
Staff need to have confidence that the proper leaders, at all levels, will listen to them and their ideas.
An Open To Change Atmosphere
By creating an atmosphere where your team members feel heard and also expect change and are ready for it, “change” is no longer a “bad” word. It’s a part of the culture. It’s also something they feel they are expected to look for and even find.
And, when the ideas and input from team members are not only expected but encouraged and welcomed, the results will be surprising.
Do you think you know the fastest way to do everything in your company? In all likelihood, you don’t.
How about the man or woman who does the day-to-day work every day in your business? Chances are, they know.
Continuous Improvement
You only have to encourage your team to look for and find ideas and solutions to problems, improvement opportunities.
Let “continuous improvement” become an idea in your business. The people who do the real work in your business will learn to respond with their insight, when given the opportunity and encouragement.
You might not want to adopt every single suggestion. But, having new ideas generated from those who do the tactical work in your company will produce surprising results.
Let me give you an example…
Improving Results
One of my clients years ago had a small fleet of delivery vans. Things ran well, but as they expanded, mistakes began to be made. Vans not being properly cleaned, fuel and oil levels not maintained. And in general, repairs and maintenance were done on an ad hoc basis.
It began to cost the company money, in missed deliveries, repair costs and wasted payroll. The founder decided what was needed was a Draconian series of – you guessed it – checklists.
Things got better. But when he actually talked to the drivers, they explained the “morning checklist” was too long. If the van had been stowed properly, there was no need for some of the items to be done. And they spent an extra fifteen minutes each morning in the garage, not on the road.
Following the ideas for improving performance, he assigned the fleet manager the job of improving the checklists.
The result? Two checklists with a much shorter time to be completed. And no appreciable change in the metrics they had defined as critical.
In the end, they saved nearly a dozen hours each week and were able to spend more time doing the actual work rather than filling out checklists no one was ever going to look at.
Ask For Input
So, as you look to improve your company, ask the people who do the work to help contribute to the continuous improvement in the systems and processes of your business.
You’ll get a lot of traction and create faster ways to grow.
My team and I are more than happy to answer your questions and even make some recommendations. Give us a call or send us a message through our contact form and let’s get you on the right track!
