Worth a Look: Process Development & Improvement

Many small business owners are much too busy running their businesses to look at how they're doing it. With all the clamoring for marketing and social media, you'd be surprised to learn how effective process development or process improvement can be instead. All you need is a little time to invest, a place to start, a little direction, and a reason to do it. (For a quick intro, view the presentation "Process Development for Small Business & Microbusiness")

1. The Reason. BPTrends has an excellent summary of why companies might look at their processes . . . “In good times, . . . to create new processes and expand organizational capabilities. In bad times, . . . . [to] focus on eliminating unnecessary activities and on saving money." (Wolf & Harmon, Volume 7. No. 2 of BPTrends' email newsletter)

2. The Starting Place. What keeps you awake at night? What's your company's biggest barrier to success? What's your customers' biggest complaint? What's the hardest thing for you to achieve right now? What do they have that you don't?

3. Time. Carve out time to explore the questions and choose one area of focus. Promise yourself that you will schedule time over the next month to resolve this issue.

4. Direction. Beginning with your question, ask what you do and why and continue to ask what and why until you determine (at each stage) whether you are doing something because it is: (a) required by law, (b) needed by management for the daily operation and oversight of the company, (c) needed for product quality and/or production, (d) needed by distribution channels and/or customers. Everything except (a) is negotiable so look for areas of elasticity and potential change that would result in streamlined processes or cost savings. Define desired outcomes. If you need more direction, call in reinforcements.


(NOTE: BPM is a huge field; this post only attempts to make certain aspects of it accessible to small business owners and microbusiness owners. Expert posts are welcome in order to achieve this goal.)

I Wish I Coined This Term: "Founder's Syndrome"

If you've read my previous posts, you know that I sometimes coin my own terms, such as "URL Sprawl" and "Frienomenon." A colleague used a term the other day that, as much as I wish I could claim responsibility for, I cannot. Surprisingly enough, I have seen plenty of "Founder's Syndrome," but thought I was alone.

Thank you Carter McNamara for your excellent site, The Free Management Library(SM), and discussion of this term: http://www.managementhelp.org/misc/founders.htm.

Carter's definition is as follows:
"This syndrome occurs when, rather than working toward its overall mission, the organization operates primarily according to the personality of a prominent person in the organization, for example, the founder, board chair/president, chief executive, etc. The syndrome is primarily an organizational problem -- not primarily a problem of the person in the prominent position."

My response: Although the term is not meant to peg the founder as the problem, in my mind, any leader is ultimately responsible for organizational culture and change, as they set the example and the pace and should therefore empower others to act in the interest of the company's mission vs. respond to his/her personal preferences and moods.