Lean Tip #3091 – Create Standard Operating Procedures
One of the simplest ways to improve office processes is to have simple,
straightforward and standard operating procedures. Another issue to consider is
communicating these standard operating procedures. You need to make sure
everyone – not just new hires – knows what the standard, approved procedure for
tasks related to their job is. Don’t forget to have a standard process for
changing procedures and communicating them so that everyone knows what the
latest accepted way of doing something is. This eliminates mistakes caused by
someone doing it the old way when you changed it to solve some other problem.
Lean Tip #3092 – Map Process Improvement Out
It is one thing to have a standard operating procedure. It is another
to viscerally understand the procedure. The solution to this dilemma is to map
all of your commonly used standard operating procedures. One benefit of this is
that you can see the standard workflow and understand what each step does. When
you collect that information along with statistics, you can see how often the
standard process delivers things correctly and plan better ways to handle
issues that aren’t part of the standard process.
Lean Tip #3093 – Make Quality a Priority
Many business metrics tend to focus on volume or speed. How many customers
did you handle today? How many orders did we ship out? What was the average
time per call? How quickly did you assemble that product? One way to improve
office processes is to add quality metrics to the scorecard.
If you want to improve office processes, you need to understand what
you’re doing and how you’re doing it. You also have to decide that better means
delivered right the first time as well as quickly and cheaply.
Lean Tip #3094 - Encourage Proactive Communication
A lot of errors can be prevented by proactive communication. If an
employee foresees an error or inefficiency in the process, coworkers should
realize the impact and act on it quickly. Nurture a work culture that
encourages team members to identify and solve problems. Announce incentives to
employees for increasing the efficiency of the process.
Proactive communication does not mean restlessly seeking problems and
solving them. It is acting on a problem immediately after you identify one.
Lean Tip #3095 - Make Changes that Bring Maximum Impact
There are hundreds of improvements you can make to the process. But
everything cannot be done in one shot. Be smart at choosing which improvements
to execute. The Pareto principle comes in handy.
The pareto principle states that 80% of the consequences come from 20%
of the causes. It also means that if you act on 20% of the causes you bring 80%
improvement. Instead of doing pointless busy work, concentrate on making
improvements that bring more impact.
You need not break your head calculating the percentage of impact.
Remember and apply the principle theoretically when you have multiple
improvements to make.
Lean Tip #3096 – Promote Training and Development of Employees
Job training and continuing education help to fuel employee career
growth. Encourage team members to pursue relevant business courses and
workshops that will further their career advancement. Virtual learning
opportunities are a must for many teams right now, and fortunately, there are many
affordable options available.
In addition to nurturing individual needs and growing specific skills,
help your employees keep up with what’s happening in the wider industry. One
cost-effective method that’s easy to arrange is to host lunch-and-learn sessions
by video, featuring either external or internal guest speakers. Also, give your
employees the time and flexibility to engage in industry events. Consider
asking those workers to share what they learn at these events with their
colleagues.
Lean Tip #3097 – Paint the Big Picture
Reminding employees of their unique contributions to the company’s
mission adds meaning to their role. It can also increase their motivation to
expand their responsibilities and advance in the organization.
Don’t assume they already know how their work adds value, however.
Offer regular insights into how their day-to-day actions make a difference to
the organization. In your regular updates to team members, be sure to highlight
the firm’s progress toward key objectives. And acknowledge individual employees
for specific achievements that are helping to drive the company toward those
goals.
Lean Tip #3098 – Create a Learning Culture
Incorporate learning and growth into your core values and make sure
they shine through in your people strategies and business decisions. Talk about
career growth throughout the employee lifecycle, beginning with recruitment and
onboarding, and continuing during one-on-ones and performance reviews.
Encourage your team members to engage in learning activities during the
work day and to share their learnings with their colleagues. Demonstrate the
value you place on learning and growth by rewarding your developing team
members with recognition, promotions, and raises.
A learning culture enables your employees to grow in their current
roles and achieve upward mobility within your organization.
Lean Tip #3099 – Identify and Develop Transferable Skills
Working through a pandemic taught many organizations the importance of
agility and the ability to adapt to continually changing circumstances. Soft
skills or transferable skills are qualifications that help employees excel in a
variety of roles. They help employees transition seamlessly from one position
to another. Organizations that offer training and educational resources for
honing soft skills reap the benefits of productive teams and employees who are
engaged with new opportunities.
Lean Tip #3100 – Provide Frequent Feedback
Annual reviews often fail to provide an accurate description of an
employee’s overall performance. It’s easy to assume employees have a firm
understanding of how they contribute to the organization. Yet, without
feedback, most employees suspect their efforts are overlooked. By offering
regular insight into how the day-to-day actions of your employees contribute to
organizational success, high performers will be inspired to work toward
higher-level positions within the company and continue to work toward company
goals.
Lean Tip #3101 – Offer Cross-Training Opportunities
Cross-training your employees to do a couple of jobs in a department
that is not their own can help them keep their day interesting and continue to
be productive. This will increase your employees’ current level of knowledge
and skill and help them gain a broader perspective of the organization, and
build a foundation for further career advancement. They will develop more
appreciation for their colleagues’ duties and better understand the company’s
overall mission.
Regular cross-training among employees can also help teams work
together more effectively and build a stronger rapport. And the organization
will benefit from having a more well-rounded workforce.
Lean Tip #3102 – Identify and Encourage Unique Skills
Learning the special traits of a worker can differentiate them from
others in the workforce when applying for future positions. Employees may even
have prior work experience that can be repurposed for new careers, like a
former artist who can use their talents to design logos for businesses.
Encouraging people to take pride in their unique abilities and apply their
skills in different ways will lead to more confident staff members, and should
promote creative thinking in the workplace.
Lean Tip #3103 – Encourage and Facilitate Networking and Mentoring
As a manager, you may be able to connect members of your team with key
players within your company (and, particularly, people beyond your own
department) who can provide valuable career guidance and industry insight.
There may even be someone in the organization who could serve as a
mentor to your employee, sharing practical knowledge and hands-on guidance and
insight that could help an up-and-coming professional better understand the
organizational politics they’ll need to navigate to achieve their goals.
Lean Tip #3104 – Clearly Communicate the Strategy, Direction of the Organization
In order to ensure an employee’s career goals are aligned with the
company’s goals, the company needs to be open about its strategy and future
directions.
If the company plans on pursuing new opportunities which would make
some skill sets obsolete, employees should know this up front and decide for
themselves if it is time to move on or if they want to be on the forefront of developing
new skills to help explore new opportunities. Employees can’t be in charge of
their career and make good career decisions if they don’t understand where the
organization is going.
Lean Tip #3105 – Managers are the Key Source for Developmental Experiences
Managers have not fully realized the critical role they play in
understanding the career goals of their employees and crafting development
opportunities that help them to achieve their goals.
To get work accomplished, we tend to ask people to do things they
already know how to do. This is particularly true today when we have to do more
with less and expediency is very helpful. But if our managers are not
proactively thinking about special assignments or roles for team members with
potential for advancement, then how will employees be able to continuously
learn and grow?
