The Time Is NOW for Process!

If you’ve been reading the Process! blog series authored by Lisa González and me, you’ve seen we’ve worked hard to help you adjust your mindset and commit fully to the journey ahead. We’ve also walked you through the use of two EOS Tools designed to strengthen your business’s Process Component™. Now it’s time to “get cracka-lackin’,” as my lovely wife Kate would say.

So, to conclude this blog series, here’s a high-level, step-by-step summary of the, um, Process! process – from start to finish:

1. Commit to doing this important work:

• Assess your mindset
• Acknowledge and overcome any anti-process bias you may have:
  • Explore and reject common process myths
  • Understand the many benefits of being #ProcessStrong (and the costs of avoiding it)
• Be passionate about process and prepared to own and lead the journey ahead

2. Learn how to strengthen your company’s Process Component™ using a 20/80 approach:

• Start with the 3-Step Process Documenter™:
  • Identify and agree on your handful of core processes
  • Document (and simplify) each of them, one at a time, with the logical owner of each process leading the charge
  • Package them so they’re easy for your people to find and use
• Complete the FBA Checklist for each core process:
  • Train everyone who touches even one step in a process
  • Measure to reinforce training and help team members adopt this new, better way of doing things. For each major step in the process, consider measuring for:
    • Compliance – Are they doing it right?
    • Frequency – Are they doing it often enough?
    • Results – Are they getting the desired outcome(s)?
  • Manage (or LMA™):
    • Drive accountability for adopting the new process and consistently getting the desired results
    • Collaborate to identify and resolve issues
    • Recognize and reward progress and success
    • Coach when effort or results don’t meet your expectations
  • Update each core process at least annually:
    • Is this still the right and best way to do this thing, or does something need to change?
    • Can we further simplify the process?
    • Can we take things to the next level with automation or innovation?

As most visits to a government agency or large corporation will demonstrate, processes have a way of becoming stale and outdated quite quickly. So, be prepared to repeat the Process! process often. And please consider leveraging our book Process! and these other free tools from EOS Worldwide along the way. If all else fails, please reach out. Lisa and I are both passionate about helping leaders harness the (surprising) power of process to run better businesses and live better lives, so we’d love to help. And so would any of the 500+ EOS Implementers® around the globe.