How often do you sigh when you contemplate a “kludgy” system that takes way too long to complete in your organization?
Maybe it is billing a client, or accounting for scrap or completing then documenting a performance review. You don’t even want to start because it takes way too long to complete. Think systems. How can this system be improved or eliminated?
There is no time like the “Pandemic Present” to address those annoying and inefficient processes that you said you would fix one day.
Can’t think of any? Ask your team “What are the top 3 things that if we fixed them, would make your life and the life of the team happier and more efficient?” Pick a super scribe, or start voice recording on your phone cause the suggestions are likely to come in fast and furious.
Put the ideas in 3 columns:
1. easy or cheap to fix,
2 complicated/costly but really beneficial, and
3 everything else.
Put column 3 on the back burner but don’t throw it away.
Assign column 1 out to project champions. Give them a budget and a due date.
Column 2 is where you need to focus. Have your group vote on their top 3 picks. Vistage speaker Bob Roitblat recommends ratings the ideas in 3 areas: strategic value, customer value and business value. Once you add up the scores, you may find that you pick a different project than you would have predicted because it scores in all 3 areas. Be realistic about how many you can do at once, but begin one right away. If it works, the team will get excited about tackling another one.
When we finally come out of this pandemic and its economic fallout, we don’t want to have regrets that we didn’t clear out the kludgy systems, when we had the time to do it. A year from now you will be grateful – if not sooner.
Photo of a street in Hanoi, Vietnam, by Paul Dye.