Not enough hours in the day.
Hours spent identifying that invoice, more time spent tracking down why that important piece was missing from that proposal, then some more time trying to find out why that critical task slipped through the cracks.
All the hours spent on this niggling ‘busy work’ while trying to squeeze in the ‘real” job.
This is the daily experience of a Vice President in a smaller organization that I was speaking to.
Does it sound familiar to you? (I’m sure it does for many) We use many jargon terms for it, putting out fires, scrambling, keeping our head above water, perhaps you use a different one.
That same Vice President claimed it was too busy to even think of improving internal business processes.
My reply was that it was too busy not to consider improving internal processes! Efficient use of poorly spent time is pointless. Focus first on ‘effective’.*
Invest some time in improving business processes because that ‘putting out the fires’ busy-work will pretty much disappear. That saves you time over the longer term.
Formally creating processes for how repetitive work is performed is simply documenting how that work or task is executed, what role performs each step, and what role is responsible and accountable for input or output.
Because when everybody knows that workflow, knows who is responsible for what and when - you only need to actively manage any exceptions. Everything else pretty much automatically takes care of itself. And there will be exceptions, some will be individual mistakes that can then be corrected, some will opportunities to learn and improve the process, and occasionally there will be a new exception – right out of left field – but as you progress, there will be fewer and fewer exceptions chewing up your time.
The SMB Takeaway
As a manager in the SMB space, I guarantee that if your time, day in and day out, is being chewed up and lost scrambling to fix the same problems – the problem is you.
The examples I mentioned in the first paragraph?
Hours tracking down why and for what you are receiving that invoice? How about a simple purchase authorization and requisition process. When the invoices arrive, accounts payable already has all needed information.
The missing piece on that proposal? how about simple templates, checklists and subject matter expert reviews of key portions?
We have another jargon term to bring up – you know that situation when work just gets done as everyone knows the why, the how and the who of tasks? we call it a well oiled machine……
* Quoting @MarkOOakes on Twitter