Think Strategically...But What About the Daily Fires I Have to Put Out?

 

We have all heard the catch phrases: think strategically, look at the big picture, keep your eye on the ball. But what about the little stuff that keeps getting us in trouble? You know, the proverbial fires that flare up each day--the unexpected deadline, the telephone call from an irate client, the memo addressing a change that will happen tomorrow. Where do these fires come from? Can they ever be reduced or--better yet--prevented? A key reason for these fires flaring up has to do with awareness and alignment of your business processes.

Process Awareness. Have you ever asked the folks you work with to describe the processes they perform daily or weekly? For the purposes of this article, a process is defined as the repetitive steps that are performed to take action on an input, add value to it and pass it on to a customer. A customer could be internal or external to the organization.

You will be surprised. I asked four people to describe a routine administrative process for expensing travel. I received four different responses! This process is not a creative pursuit such as painting a work of art. It is a rather mundane, but nonetheless important, business process, which was performed many different ways. It caused frustration for both process workers who heard the wrath of employees wondering when their expense check will be issued, as well as for employees who were …

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