Developing a Process

A process can be developed for pretty much anything, but it is especially helpful when you're trying to get everyone on your team to do a certain thing in a certain way that produces the same results each time. How do you think that Big Mac you ordered at McDonald's for lunch today tastes the same as the first Big Mac you've ever ordered? Because they began with a process and implement it at every McDonald's.

A process can be written, visual or audible. No matter how you decide it's best to communicate, here are some steps to ensure your process is implemented successfully.

• Identify your goal first: if you do this before creating the process, then you can ensure that your process is created to achieve your goal.
• Go through the process as your creating it: you'll be less likely to miss a step if you go through the motions yourself.
• Have two people review the process: sometimes we can be so entrenched in something that we need a fresh set of eyes for a different perspective.
• Implement appropriately: think about the psychographics of your process audience. Implement your process and communicate it in a way that your audience will be most receptive.
  
• Follow-up: make sure that your process is working properly and that the people using it aren't having any issues or have questions.
• Update as appropriate: Check your process for accuracy as often as necessary. Sometimes that might be once per year, other times it could be quarterly - it just depends on the sensitivity of the information.

These are just some considerations to think about when creating a process to make things more efficient and streamlined.