subject: The Best Way To Create A More Efficient Business [print this page] Sometimes it is merely a small thing, which can create a big difference. Sometimes it simply takes stepping back and looking at the whole picture, looking at all of the pieces together and then breaking it down to look at all of the processes which structure the whole. Breaking it down to controllable, bite sized chunks makes looking at them a little but easier.
If you have a process that holds 20 steps from start to finish, taking every step and taking a look at it individually will probably be simpler than taking the whole thing on simultaneously. Looking at the steps, the processes that make up the whole process will let you analyze each and every step considerably more closely.
These steps need to be scrutinized from start to finish, timed and evaluated. It's going to take a trained eye to look closely enough to determine what works and what is not working as well. Does that mean that you need to bring somebody from the outside in to take a look at your business? It does not necessarily mean that it's a good idea, given that you often have the people already in place that will be able to tell you what you need to hear.
The people that are closest to the action are the first people that you should be asking when it comes to discovering what can be done to smooth out the process. The people that are on the front lines, addressing the everyday problems are the people that have had time to think about how to make things improved. However, more than that, they are looking to make their jobs simpler, not to have less work necessarily, but to make the work that they do have more efficiency. It's all about making enhancements and making continuous improvements is the only way to get anything accomplished.
If you aren't making progress, then you're going backwards. Get the people together that have the experience in the work, working with the process and then get people that work in the peripheral. You need individuals from other departments, people that have to deal with the issues from various angles and at different points in the process. This way you get differing viewpoints and different ideas that you may not have otherwise gotten. This is the absolute best way to get all of the varied ideas and other ways to look at the situation.
