If you’re looking to start or grow a business you need to understand the processes that make your business work. I’m sure you think you how and what of your business but have you ever taken the time to write or sketch it out. If it only exists in your head you run the chance of creating incorporated inefficiencies in your processes because without a solid list you will struggle to create and maintain the critical processes that drive your business’s success.
Write everything down and focus
So let’s get everything out of your head and onto paper, yes I said paper. Put the laptop down and walk away slowly. Pen and paper slow you down letting your brain process ideas longer and also connects the visual and conceptual regions of your brain making problem-solving much more efficient.
Sketching out ideas is also much faster than focusing on creating a digital map and worrying about how it looks. Use your brain’s resources focusing on content and visualizing your process then move to digital.
Process mapping and management
Once you have everything written and sketch out it’s time to map out your processes. According to FireStart, you should break down your business into what your business does and how it does it. Then what and the how then further break down into mapping categories that give you a nested break down of all of the key elements of your business processes.
If you already have a good process map of your business’s process but need to dig deeper into aspects of your companies more specific details like employee and customer experiences, workflow breakdowns, and opportunities for improvement to give it that final efficiency polish. Start to look at scenarios that happen within each step of your process. For example, what are all the points of contact a customer and employee have with each other during the sale of a product? Take a look at what systems, people, are involved and observe and question what’s happening during the interactions. This will help you discover unseen breakdowns and discover new opportunities toward making your overall processes and business more organized and efficient.
Build on routines that drive your business
Adding scenario observations as a weekly routine is as Tom Ferry says “an action that drives success your businesses.” But first, get all those processes out of your head and stop relying on your memory to recall how everything works in your company. This will lead to better decisions, more consistent success, and profit by giving you a visual map to reference so you can work toward more efficient systems in your business.
