Box your business for
greater efficiency
Usually in business we’re encouraged to ‘think outside of the square’. This month, I’d like to show you a way to advance your business by effectively putting it into a box. It involves a much maligned area of writing. Yes, internal documentation.
As a process documenter once told me: “Processes are like toothbrushes. Everyone needs one but no one wants to use yours.” So what are some of the benefits to developing workable internal documents?
You’ll save time — Once you’ve decided on the best way to complete a certain task, you can easily do it the same way. No long hours spent trying to remember what you did last time.
You’ll be consistent — and customers love consistency.
You can more easily train others — Written procedures won’t totally replace personal training sessions; however, they will give the trainee a solid grounding in what they need to do.
You’ll clarify exactly how and why you do things a certain way. Often we fail to stop and consider exactly why we do things the way we do. This analysis gives us insight into our business and our personal working styles.
Here are some general guidelines to help you write workable documents:
Involve your staff in developing them. This gives them ownership and can also alleviate their concerns that they will be made redundant. If staff become territorial, explain that these documents will mean that someone can effectively cover for them while they’re on holiday; that they too will cross-train and therefore become more skilled and if everyone within the business does training, they’ll all be able to take on new tasks and advance their careers.
Keep them short and simple — no one wants to wade through a three volume set simply to understand your mail sorting procedures.
Use active voice and unambiguous language — instead of saying, “The mail is sorted”, say, “The receptionist sorts the mail”.
Include explanatory information — people like to know why they are doing something a certain way. This also helps your employees understand the logic behind a task. This in turn means they can use their own initiative if things aren’t going quite to plan.
Include appropriate "what if" scenarios — while you can’t account for everything that could go wrong, there are usually some standard ‘what ifs’ that are useful to include.
Write the document as though you’ve just walked in off the street and are doing this for the first time. I once worked in an organization where no one could send a fax because we couldn’t find the file that had the fax header! If the process involves equipment, include some detail. The position of the ‘on’ button is usually a good one — especially for photocopiers whose manufacturers seem to consider it quite a lark to hide it.
So what sort of format should you use? My recommendation is to include the following:
Versioning information — this includes the document version, who approves the document, when it was last reviewed, who last reviewed it.
Background — give the reader some brief information on why this process is important and how it fits into the overall organization.
People involved — list all the people mentioned in this procedure.
Flowchart — a flowchart can give a simple overview of what needs to be done and how the tasks within the process fit together. Also, someone people learn more easily from pictures rather than words. This includes them in the learning cycle.
The steps — give details of each step. You can test your explanations by giving the steps to someone who has no idea about this process and testing whether or not they can complete it. Take notes of what questions they ask and add this information into your document.
Related resources — list what other resources are available on this topic.
What if scenarios — This is your risk analysis section. Consider what might go wrong and what you would want your staff to do in each of those situations. Major crises are often averted by someone who thinks and acts quickly. If your people know exactly what to do, a potential crisis can become nothing more than a mere blip in the workday.
The main thing to remember is: Whatever documents you create need to work for you, your staff and your business. Keep them simple and workable and you’ll basically be creating a business in a box. |
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Test your
brain power
I was sent this quiz via email. It's for people who know everything! I found out in a hurry that I didn't. These are not trick questions. They are straight questions with straight answers.
1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.
2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?
3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?
4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?
5. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?
6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters " dw" and they are all common words. Name two of them.
7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?
8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.
9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter "S."
Answers To Quiz:
1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends . . Boxing
2. North American landmark constantly moving backward . Niagara Falls (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)
3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons . . Asparagus and rhubarb.
4. The fruit with its seeds on the outside . . Strawberry.
5. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? It grew inside the bottle. (The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.)
6. Three English words beginning with dw Dwarf, dwell and dwindle.
7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar . . Full stop, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.
8. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh Lettuce.
9. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with "s" . Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts.
Saying to Soar By
To act is to be committed and to be committed is to be in danger
James Baldwin
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