<\/a><\/p>\nAt one of my clients, they were at this critical juncture several years ago. They had a great group of well-intentioned and talented team members. They were doing a good job serving their clients. The challenge of trying to manage an ever-increasing amount of data using spreadsheets and simple systems will reach its limit of effectiveness. At this time, we decided to implement the popular system called Salesforce.com. We created a plan to migrate existing information from a variety of sources into this new single platform. The system was customized to work within the unique requirements of the organization and their customers, vendors, and team members. There were meetings during which some key processes were documented. The processes were reviewed and then built into our new system. The data was loaded and the team began serving their customers using a brand-new system and set of processes.<\/p>\n
So what are the benefits of creating processes and implementing systems?<\/p>\n
1. Clarity of Process<\/strong><\/p>\nI have found that when you go through the exercise of defining and documenting your processes, you gain a sense of clarity as to the process in general and specifically, who is responsible for each step in a process. More often than not when I go through the process definition exercise with a client, I hear things such as: \u201cI did not realize your team did that.\u201d or \u201cI think it would be more effective if my group does that task at the same time we complete this other one.\u201d At times, we even hear: \u201cWhy are we still doing that? I think the task could be eliminated.\u201d<\/p>\n
2. Consistency of Delivery<\/strong><\/p>\nAs an organization grows, tasks are delegated and no longer performed by the person who designed the process. There may also be multiple teams or individuals tasked with completing the same process, resulting in a chance that personal preferences and opinions may creep in and alter the original intent of a process.
\nWhen you document a process, and then train all your team on how to properly execute the tasks, you will end up with the work being done in a consistent manner with the same customer experience. Whether it is your members or customers, everyone appreciates a consistent experience. For example, if you were to visit a Chick-fil-A and order a \u201cNumber 1 Combo\u201d one week and then a month later visit another location and order the same thing, you would be surprised if they did not taste the same.<\/p>\n
3. Efficiency <\/strong><\/p>\nWhen you introduce systems along with your work processes, you can gain efficiency, especially when it comes to processes that are frequently repeated. I have a good friend of mine, Lee Colan, who has a saying that we should strive to \u201cGet the highest and best use out of each of our team members.\u201d This includes letting systems handle tasks that could keep a member of your team away from interacting with a member and doing what they do best.
\nIt is also helpful to have your common processes documented, including those that are not ones you have to use on a regular basis. That way you will not spend time trying to remember what you need to do. When you have a new employee join your team, they will appreciate having the key processes documented so they are easy for them to execute while they are learning the ropes.<\/p>\n
4. Improved Communication<\/strong><\/p>\nOne of the primary benefits of installing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, such as Salesforce, is improved communication. A system provides a location to record notes about a conversation that you may have had with one of your customers or members. When used properly, if the member calls and reaches someone other than the initial person they talked with, the second team member should be able to bring up information regarding the member or customer and continue where they left off.<\/p>\n
The system can also be used to prompt a team member to reach out to a customer on a regular basis. I am not a big fan of fully automated communication, but using the system to keep you on track is a good thing.
\nA CRM system also improves communication within your organization. Follow up tasks can be assigned and placed on a schedule. For example, within my client\u2019s organization, there are several steps that must take place when a new member joins. If there were only one or two people involved, and only an occasional new member, you might be able to handle it with manual processes, but when you start to grow and the level of activity increases, it is helpful to have some assistance from a system.<\/p>\n
Process Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\nSo what do you do if your systems and processes are standing in the way of your organization providing excellent service? Consider the following steps to get things in line.<\/p>\n
The first stage in becoming an effective organization is to evaluate and document your work processes. This is what we call a process analysis exercise.<\/p>\n
Process Analysis.<\/strong> Make a list of your key processes and systems that support your work. In this list, identify the following fields:
\n1. Process Name
\n2. Internal or External. Does the customer directly see the system or interact in this process?
\n3. Grade. (A, B, C, or F) where
\na. A = Process is efficient and supports excellent customer service and efficient operations
\nb. B = The process works fine the majority of time, but falls short on occasion
\nc. C = The process needs significant improvement and often is the cause of customer issues
\nd. F = The process is broken or non-existent.
\n4. Priority. (A, B, C) This is a measure of how critical this process is to executing on the mission of your organization.
\n5. Frequency. Identify how frequently this process is used. (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Annually, As Needed)
\n6. Key Users. Who are the key internal or external users of this process or system?
\n7. Related Processes or Systems. What other processes or systems depend on the results of this process? What needs to be completed prior to this process running?
\n8. Key Process Steps. Document at a high level the key steps involved in a process. Ask yourself: \u201cWhy do we do it that way?\u201d If you ever find yourself responding with: \u201cWe\u2019ve always done it that way!\u201d then it is time for you to figure it out for yourself.
\n9. Issues. Document the problems or challenges faced with this process.<\/p>\nAs you walk through the analysis of your processes, you should create a process improvement plan.<\/p>\n
Improvement Plans.<\/strong> For each process that did not score an \u201cA\u201d in the analysis phase, create an improvement plan. Start with the lowest grades and highest priorities. The improvement plan should contain the following elements:
\na. Process Name
\nb. Key issue being addressed.
\nc. Target implementation date.
\nd. Point person responsible for seeing that the plan is completed.
\ne. Plan details. Document the steps that must be taken to bring this process to an acceptable grade.<\/p>\nEven the best run organizations never stop improving. At a minimum, you should be reviewing your critical processes at least once a year. As you grow, or as the needs of your members or customers change, your systems and processes should adapt to keep pace.<\/p>\n
Good systems and processes will never replace the actions of your loyal, well trained employees, but they will help them be all they are meant to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How many of you showed up to work today with the goal of messing up your assignment or upsetting a member or customer? I would assume the answer would be: No one. Everyone has the best intention of performing their job with excellence, but good intentions will only get you so far! It does not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":987521543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccginc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccginc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccginc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccginc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccginc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5755"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cccginc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":987521545,"href":"https:\/\/cccginc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5755\/revisions\/987521545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccginc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/987521543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccginc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccginc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccginc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}