7 Strategies for Keeping Your Business Processes Ahead of the Game

7 Strategies for Keeping your Business Processes Ahead of the Game

Keeping your business processes up to date is one of the most frustrating tasks, in my opinion.

As entrepreneurs, we like to brainstorm ideas, create things, and have our staff bring them to life.

We typically hate administration, data processing, and keeping processes up to date.

But these processes need to be kept up to date to maintain efficiency, keep clients and staff happy, and most importantly, be able to scale.

You actually need a system to update the systems 😳

Here are a few 7 ways to keep your business processes current:

1. Have a systems party🎉! Just don't call it that, I am not creative. While I am not an advocate of meetings, I can attest to the power of group thinking. Getting departments in a room to review the process and challenge them to think critically about it is powerful. We've done this a handful of times; we work out together, eat together, get drinks together, and at the end, we've usually created way less drag.

2. Regularly review and update your processes. Set aside time on a regular basis to review your business processes and identify areas for improvement. This can be done through a process audit, where you take a detailed look at each step of a process and evaluate its effectiveness.

3. Involve employees in the process review. Your employees are the ones who are directly involved in the day-to-day operations of your business and are often the best source of insight into what is working well and what needs to be improved. Encourage your employees to provide feedback and ideas for process improvements. At Kilo, we encourage our staff to update processes on the fly and inform their team leads later.

4. Scorecards. Each key staff member should be responsible for a key performance indicator (KPI). By giving them the KPI and goal, they are encouraged to take ownership of improving the KPI. Each quarter, review the KPI and set new targets. Motivated employees will come up with ideas on how to improve the metric, thereby improving the process.

5. Leverage Automation. There are endless technology solutions available that can help streamline and automate many business processes, making them more efficient and effective. Consider investing in tools or software that can help automate repetitive tasks, such as invoicing, scheduling, or data entry.

6. Look to best practices in your industry. Look at how other businesses in your industry are approaching similar processes and consider adopting best practices or strategies that make sense for your business.

7. Take advantage of new trends. Technology is moving faster than ever, so make friends with those sharing or creating industry trends. Be open to incorporating new ideas and methods into your processes.

BTW, this article was originally published in Inc Magazine here, if you want to check it out and share :)