The best way to reduce company productivity, stability and continuity in a business is to lose employees. When an employee leaves, there are unexpected consequences. For example, who is picking up the work that needs to be done by the leaving employee?
Chances are you are farming out the work to other employees. The important tasks get done, but a lot of work will drop through the cracks. The result? Lost productivity.
Another unexpected consequence of an employee leaving is that the employees who are picking up the slack become dissatisfied with their job because they are asked to do more every day.
And chances are good they are not being compensated for the extra work they perform. If it goes on too long, they may also start looking for greener pastures in another company and leave as well.
And as employees leave, you are losing knowledge which affects your business stability and continuity. It?s not just the tasks that they perform; it?s the history, people, traditions and location of information.
It?s all the stuff that people learn as they stay with an organization for a long time. That?s hard to capture and teach others, especially if there is no documentation and your employees are not cross-trained.
Here are 3 proven ways for you to enjoy more productivity, stability and continuity in your business.
Document Current Procedures
Before you can enjoy more productivity in the organization, it?s important to understand how the work is being done. It?s not just about documenting the tasks, it?s also important to document why that task is important.
For example, your organization may be great at documenting the steps to use specific computer software. Most forget to document the background and history of how and why the software was chosen. That knowledge can be valuable as you hire new employees and make decisions in the future.
Everyone in the organization should be documenting their procedures. That includes executives, managers, and supervisors. We often think that only the work of front-line employees needs to be documented. It?s easier to document a task than knowledge work. But if a task or knowledge is important, it should be documented.
Analyze and Make Improvements
Once you have your processes documented, only then can you conduct an analysis and make improvements. It?
s so easy to start tinkering with a process as you are documenting the current state. Make a note of the potential change, and wait until you have finished the current state documentation. You will have a better understanding of what a change in processes will mean to the entire organization.
As you analyze how the work is accomplished, you should begin to see where there are redundancies and bottlenecks. Some may come from work that was assigned when someone left the organization. Others are remnants of old procedures that are no longer necessary because of changes in technology.
Make incremental changes to your procedures and be sure to document the changes. This will improve the company?s stability.
Train Your Staff
The way many organizations conduct training is to have someone sit with the new person, and tell them what they need to do. Without documentation to follow, the new employee may be learning the bad habits of the trainer. If the new employee is replacing someone who left a while ago, then tasks may be missed altogether.
Having documentation available that provides the steps to follow, and the reasoning for each task, can go a long way in providing business continuity. You will also have the documentation you need if someone has to step into a role unexpectedly.
