When we seek business process improvement, we seek in turn to improve productivity and the time it takes to reach certain goals in the business.
In order for businesses to always be in constant growth, our processes must be increasingly optimized in order to move forward.
When we start a business, the initial process is always very basic, and definitely, having the same process always will bring us the same results and this does not represent progress.
For this reason, it is very important to have a constant improvement in our business systems and processes, in order to scale it and achieve the goals that we have set with it.
Despite the fact that each company is different, and each one is made up of different areas and elements, there are certain steps that will help you to have a better business process, regardless of what your company does.
These 10 easy steps will drive positive changes you to see in your business process improvement and will bring you closer to the goals you want to achieve.
1. Identify The Parts Of The Process That Must Be Improved
Without a doubt to be able to improve something, we must first find out what are those aspects that we must improve. To find these points in your business you must do an audit of your process.
Do it in a simple way and list the entire process of your business. Remember all the steps required to carry out what you do, without forgetting any detail.
This will allow you to identify which are the most important areas of your business and also the potential risks that exist in your business. When you can identify them, you can have a clearer idea of ​​where you should direct your efforts.
When we are too focused on the result, we fail to detect those things that are making the business work. Identifying these sections of your process will help you know where you should direct resources and efforts.
This will give you a very clear overview of the aspects that make your business work and consequently you can create an improvement strategy in those points that you have identified.
2. Analyze Your Current Process
After you have decided which parts of the process need improvement, you should stop to analyze the sequence of your current system.
Look at this list of your process from start to finish, to detect how you can improve it.
It is possible that there are parts of the process that actually create obstacles, or in which more time is being invested than required, or that cause a delay in the process.
The task at this point is to detect what is failing in the process, what aspects make you have to invest more resources and effort than is really necessary.
This analysis will also help you understand what steps are reducing the quality of the result of what you do.
You need to look closely at your current process to identify any flaws that may exist.
3. Create A Team That Feels Committed And Supports Positive Changes
This is a fundamental step in the process of your business. The people in charge of the different important areas of the business must be committed to constant improvement, and to supervision and quality control in these areas.
These managers are the decision-makers in the business, and their decisions affect the final result of the process.
It is essential that these people understand the message that the process needs change and that they are a fundamental part of implementing those changes.
The success of the implemented improvements will depend on the disposition of the people in charge of the fundamental parts of the business system.
They must be motivated to improve and carry out the system planning that you now have defined.
4. Create A More Optimized Strategy
It’s time to move from analytics to create a business process improvement strategy.
All the elements that you have analyzed so far about your business should go into an action plan.
After having identified the points that must be urgently changed and improved, we must think of a strategy with steps to follow.
It is important that you report the points in these areas that are failing or that have improvement points. From this, you and your team can begin to build step by step realistic goals that could improve the process.
For example, if one of the processes currently takes 5 hours, but it should really take 1 hour, then they could set objectives based on the time it takes to reduce this action considerably.
It is also necessary to determine how it is possible to reduce time and thus have a clear and easy-to-follow strategy.
It is important that the goals that are set to improve the business process are realistic and that the team can make it happen.
The important thing is to start moving forward with those small steps at the beginning, which will get bigger and bigger when they have been overcome.
5. Think About The Customer And The Value To Offer
This is an important thing to think about when trying to a business process improvement.
We must bear in mind that the business exists thanks to customers and that therefore we must always think about them, their shopping experience, the result they obtain, how to retain them and be happy with their purchase.
Understanding this, we must remove from the business process improvement, anything that does not produce value to the end customer. We may have a business process full of tasks that are not really strictly necessary and that do not influence the bottom line.
Eliminating these activities makes the process reduce its operating time, and therefore we are increasing productivity.
As the pace of process and production increases, so does our ability to accommodate and satisfy customer demand.
6. Focus On Actions That Generate Results
Before establishing objectives, it is necessary to visualize the actions of the process that report immediate results to the business.
Identify those activities and tasks that provide short-term benefits. Then do a deep analysis of how these tasks are being carried out and what can be implemented to achieve faster results.
It is possible that the process is interrupted, or that there is some way to minimize errors in certain processes, and therefore there is the possibility of minimizing production costs.
It is important that you think about the execution of the different activities because in this way the production will increase, the errors will be minimal and also the production costs.
7. Define Roles In Your Business
To carry out the process of your company, each area needs to be managed efficiently.
When your business workers or associates all work in the same roles or are part of the whole process, it stops working as a well-optimized process.
It is important to identify the areas in which each team member performs best, and divide the efforts. In addition, it is essential to have a manager for each area of ​​the process.
This will make the different teams have the responsibility to do better in their area. It is a way of having the business organized.
It is necessary that the flow of information is distributed efficiently in the process, and that accurate information is available when it is needed.
When this happens, it is possible to standardize jobs and functions, and this will definitely avoid unnecessary waste of time. In this way, we ensure the quality of each process and consequently, there will be an improvement in business processes.
8. Set Ambitious But Possible Objectives
Resetting business goals is sometimes the best option. When we have made an exhaustive analysis of the situation of our process, it is necessary to state or rethink our objectives.
Depending on the current conditions of each area of ​​the process, we can establish short and long-term objectives.
The best strategy is to create goals in each area and team. If a team has certain goals and deadlines, its efforts will be focused on it.
The objectives must be ambitious but possible to achieve. A measurable and predictable goal will give teams a very clear vision of what they must do to achieve it.
The long-term objectives should be outlined by short and medium-term objectives, as this will be a roadmap for the business team.
For example, if the long-term goal is to cut production time from 3 hours to 1 hour, a short-term goal would be to cut 10 minutes of production in the next week.
9. Establish A Timeline And A Roadmap
Nothing will happen positively if there is no roadmap to ensure team productivity.
Create a schedule for each of the processes and business areas. Successful businesses always have proper time management.
For a business to carry out the activities and objectives it has set, it is necessary for there to be an organization and for the tasks to be carried out under priorities.
At this point, you will have already identified those activities and processes that are most important, so time management should be directed to these activities being carried out efficiently, and in the shortest possible time.
Establishing a schedule will make the team much more productive, faster, and short-term and long-term goals come true.
10. Focus Efforts On Activities That Bring More Benefits To The Business
Delegating activities is a complicated topic for those who create a business and want everything to work well, but spending time on activities that bring low profitability or benefits to the business is not a good idea.
Delegating and selecting the right people to carry out important tasks is time-consuming and often has a level of complexity.
But to start, you can go little by little. First make a list of all those tasks that you now do, but that you think can be delegated to other people.
Remember that most of the things you do can be learned by other people if you teach them; At this point, do not underestimate the ability of other people to efficiently manage some of the tasks you are currently doing.
For example, if your business receives many emails, this can be delegated, also accounting, or social networks, if you have them. Having a manager that helps you with the numbers and all the papers of the company, is an investment that you will not regret.
Remember that when you are doing activities that others may be doing for you, you are actually missing the opportunity to focus on the things that will really make you scale your business, like sales and finding solutions to problems.
Conclusion
With all the things that you have to do in your day-to-day business, it is normal to lose your way and ask yourself what you should do to improve your current business system.
The business has the purpose of making an improvement in its processes, to increase profitability, sell more, or get more customers.
You really don’t need to try complicated techniques to accomplish this. The tips and practices that we have left you in this list will definitely be enough to see positive changes in your business process improvement.
Perceiving a business process improvement is not really something that should take a long time, because with these simple steps you will notice how the dynamics of your business change almost instantaneously.
These steps work for any type of business and company; so without a doubt, they are applicable to yours too, regardless of whether it is a small or large business.
These steps will help you improve your business significantly since they will make you improve your current system and you can also achieve the goals you have set for yourself, in a much shorter time.
It is important that you do not spend your day-to-day activities in your company, and that you spend time thinking about these strategies, which will help you achieve results and solutions to the problems facing your business.
