Embracing Your Process Component

“One of them has to go”, the Integrator said. The other members of the Leadership Team nodded their heads in grim agreement. “Maybe both”, said the Ops Leader, “We may have two ‘Wrong People’.”

Jen, Production Manager, and Dave, HR Specialist, seemed to hate each other. Every time they worked together it was a fight.

The EOS Implementer asked what they fight about. “It happens every time we hire someone”, said the Ops Leader, “they argue about everything….who gets the resume first. Who makes the screening call. Who makes the offer. Every time it’s an ugly battle.”

“What does the process say?”, the EOS Implementer asked. After a long silence, the Finance Leader sheepishly answered, “What process?”

Two weeks later, the Ops Leader sat together with Jen and Dave. They expected the worst. What they got instead was a new Hiring Process. “Well that clears up a lot”, said Dave, relieved. Jen nodded in agreement. Since then, the two have gotten along just fine.

EOS’ IDS process begins by identifying the root of the issue. Spoiler alert: at least 70% of the time, the root of the issue is in either the People Component or the Process Component.

Now, it is easy to convince business leaders how critical it is to get the Right People into the Right Seats. Yet many don’t realize the Process Component is just as important! In the story above, what looked like a People issue was actually a Process issue.

Many issues across any business can be traced back to lack of clarity about how work gets done. It creates frustration and wastes time. It leads to inconsistent results, demotivating employees and confusing customers.

By contrast, organizations that strengthen their Process Component become more consistent, predictable, manageable and scalable. People become more productive, so the business becomes more profitable.

Because confusion about how things gets done is a main source of day-to-day frustration, a company that strengthens their Process Component becomes a more fun place to work.

Yet many business leaders tend to underestimate the importance of their Process Component, or shy away from taking a systematic approach to improving their processes.  Some fear the initiative will be a complicated, expensive, time-consuming project that won’t really change anything.

But strengthening the Process Component – establishing and implementing clearly defined, efficient processes – doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive, and consumes less time than you might think.

EOS’ Three Step Process Documenter focuses on the “critical few” processes – the ones that really matter to your customers and employees – and documents them in only a few pages, focusing on the 20% of activities that yield 80% of the result.

If all your processes were clearly defined, efficient, and consistently followed, what impact would that have on your business? If you are like most businesses, it would be a game changer.

That opportunity is there for every entrepreneur who is willing to embrace their Process Component.