"As long as you keep doing what you're doing, you'll get what you're getting. Although opinions about the authorship of this quote are still divided (it has been attributed to many famous personalities, from Henry Ford to Tony Robbins), one cannot deny that it has a sound basis. Yes, too often, managers impose the same outdated work processes on their subordinates and expect different results each time.
A workflow is a glue that binds all components together, and it's the glue that gets tasks done in a systematic, organized manner and with a minimum of mistakes.
But here's the rub: Workflow is not something you can set up once and forget about. Workflows need to be constantly evaluated to understand what's not working and then use that information to create a system closer to ideal. Because only change is permanent, workflows must obey the same rule.
How will you identify your work processes and then make changes to them? This article has everything you need to know.
What are work processes?
Baldrige's Glossary defines it as follows: "The term 'work processes' refers to the most important internal processes for creating value. These processes encompass most of a company's workforce and create value for customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders."
If you want to boil it down to a more straightforward explanation, here's a simpler version: workflows are standard ways to achieve important goals.
Whether you're writing a report or launching a new product, you'll always have a systematic flow of information and a standard set of tasks for your team to accomplish.
But why are these processes so important? They help align team members; because of them, everyone knows what they need to do and how their part of the job fits into the big picture.
"For team members to accomplish certain tasks, they need operational guidance. This can be a manual or a person who will tell them exactly what needs to be done and when," Watts Humphrey explains in his Carnegie Mellon University's Programming Institute article. - That's the role of the operational process. It provides a simple and concise description of the steps involved in accomplishing a particular work task."
But processes can't be rigid, and unchanging-they have to change as your team, its goals, and available resources change. But before you adjust your work processes, you need to identify your current methods.
How to identify the current workflow.
Some people think it's easy to determine how a task is performed. But you have no idea how much information goes unspoken and undocumented, especially if the team has employees with extensive experience who know how best to perform a task without looking at the instructions.
How do you implement a new process?
Although the new process is designed to help your team members work better and solve the problems they face all the time, you will have to overcome their resistance. When you announce the new and improved process to your team, some will be hesitant, and some will be dissatisfied. But I'm sure that with a product like https://www.makini.io/products/eam360, there will be very few indifferent employees.
You can have an open meeting, discussing all the benefits, since they will have to work with the product. Explain to them the need for change, reassure them that you can solve all the problems and difficulties you have been able to identify, and then invite them to ask questions about the new process and make their own suggestions.
The better employees understand why the change is being made and the benefits, the sooner they will meet your expectations and adapt to the new ways of working.
In conclusion.
Your work processes are how the team achieves its goals. But you can't just set them up and forget them, because only change can be permanent in our work.
Some team members leave, and others take their place. Some tools and technologies become obsolete, and new ones are introduced to replace them. Goals change all the time. Failure to adapt and align work processes with change can lead to frustration, disorganization, and disputes.
Don't hope that team members will adapt independently and that processes will optimize themselves as new and different changes emerge. You must proactively manage change by identifying current methods and developing new ones to help the team accomplish its tasks optimally and predictably.
