Thursday, August 23, 2012

Enjoy The Process


Sometimes people make things harder than they need to be.  I for one want to make a system out of everything I work on.  If I’m going to invest my time to figure out how to do something, I want to make sure it can be replicated and others can achieve the same success as me, if not more.

 

Unfortunately, the system view comes at a cost.  It costs us extra time, effort, and learning.  The thought of taking yourself through the entire process again in the form of documentation is painful.  More work….Ahh!  I’ll never be done what I’m supposed to do and finish the documentation.  So we lose heart and leave future success to chance, versus documenting our experience and teaching others. In order to overcome this dilemma we need to shift our focus from all the things we need to do, to all the benefits our work will provide us and our team members.  Taking the first step is the hardest part.  Don’t worry about perfection.  Start your documentation as if you are writing it to go in the trash can. 

 

I was excited to learn about team members how are starting documentation and also jumping into things that need immediate fixing.  J.J. and Jim have started documenting and training on their Set-up and Closing procedures.  They will be following this up with role reversals and schedule shifts to confirm all aspects of the system are understood and can be replicated.    Jenn and Kelly have jumped in head first to improving our Marketing.  They are investigating Tradeshows, developing WOW type email flyer concepts, and exploring the exciting world of social media.   

 

The last paragraph of our Strategic Objective states that “every area of the Company has a set of documented systems”, “procedures help facilitate training and reliable delivery”,  and “team members are empowered to make decisions”.   What it doesn’t say is that this is a heck of a lot of work, but you can have fun doing it.   Thank you to these team members for embracing our vision and making road to success more enjoyable.

        

Jim Socci, President