There’s an old story about a young girl watching her mother prepare a ham for a family reunion dinner. The mother cuts off a part of each end of the ham. When the girl sees this she asks her mother why she cut the ends of the ham. The mother replies that this is the way grandma taught her to cook ham. The little girl is very curious by nature. So she then asks her grandma why she cut off the ends of the ham. Grandma says that’s the way her momma taught her to cook ham. Fortunately, great grandma is still alive and able to attend the family reunion. So the little girl asks her great grandma why she cut off the ends of a ham. A big smile comes to great grandma face as if enjoying a happy memory. She then simply replies that she cut off the ends of the ham because she didn’t have a pan big enough to hold the whole ham.
I suspect a lot of the same goes on in business. During the past couple of years staffs have been reduced, money is tight and there’s just not a lot of time. So the staff goes through the motions performing tasks as their predecessors or fellow staff members told them to do so. There’s not much critical evaluation of how things are done. This can lead to inefficiencies, unnecessary work and frustration. And that leads to turnover – even in difficult economic times.
It’s good to periodically evaluate what have become standard operating procedures. The processes and procedures may be working but can they be improved upon to work better? And who might know best? Ask the people who follow those processes and procedures. Ask the front line. They may offer an insight that’s not readily available from other positions in the company.
One of the best times to evaluate standard operating procedures is when a major business tool such as an ATS system is implemented. That’s one of the best times to retool the business and users, to change old ways of doing things and old attitudes.
When a Bond product such as StaffSuite is implemented, there is an opportunity for key personnel to participate in what is called a management planning session. The goal of the management planning session is to determine how to best incorporate the software into existing business processes and what processes can be modified or eliminated due to the new software. These sessions are usually lead by the consultant overseeing the StaffSuite implementation project.
Even after several years of usage it’s a good idea to go through a management planning session again to revaluate processes and procedures in light of the ever changing business environment as well as software changes and enhancements released since the initial StaffSuite implementation. Bond consultants are available to guide you through the process.
