subject: Is Every Department In Your Company On The Same Page? [print this page] When you step back and look at a process that you happen to be using to make your product, are you being as proficient as possible? Are all of the unnecessary steps taken away and each department on the same page?
There is almost always room for development, however identifying where to get that improvement can typically prove to be challenging. That's one of the reasons that you need everybody on the team working to evaluate the opportunities. The more people looking for opportunities, the greater chance there is to find the areas that need to be fixed.
Sometimes it is easier to step back and look at the total process as a whole, but then break it into smaller steps. Look at all of the components which frame the process and try to spot what can be improved in each individual step. Then look to see if the changes can be applied over the entire length of the process.
If the improvements are able to be stretched out over the complete process, it will be able to make a large impact on the process. Of course any improvement is good, but what you really want is to identify the improvements that make the largest impact with the least amount of effort and change. In other words, look to pick off the low hanging fruit because it is going to make the largest impact at the least expenditure of effort, expense and time. It's difficult for one person to locate all of these areas, but if you put together a team that can work together, you'll frequently get greater outcomes. You need to ensure that you have the correct individuals as members of your team. They need to be from all the different levels of the company and from different areas and department within the company. This way you get people with different experience levels and people that view the processes from different angles and viewpoints. Somebody that's working on the floor or is a floor manager will look differently at a problem than a person that is in the main office.
You have to use these opportunities to get the best ideas and viewpoint to your benefit. Who knows, if you dont consult the people on the floor, you may not get the best ideas or the idea that solves the problem. Dont simply look at the traditional avenues of what you're used to and what has always been done.
