Are you efficient and powerful…?
I’m sure you would like to say ‘Yes, of course we are….’
But are you?
Really?
You want to optimise ways of working for a maximum ROI so you can focus your energy and talents on delivering your vision and purpose.
You want to spend more time with potential clients and your people, with the operational day-to-day taking care of itself.
Ways of working evolve with people, experience, years of tenure, change, customers. The list is endless as to ‘why ‘we operate the way we do, ‘how’ we have got where we are. The methods used to evolve are not always systematic and often any review is during a time of crisis.
We rarely take time to think about where we are, where we aspire to get to and how we are going to get there, eradicating barriers to growth along the way. How many times do you challenge whether something that is part of every day is necessary? Or fit for the future?
For many businesses, the focus is on delivering to key stakeholders and shareholder requirements, meeting customer demands and delivering on the financials. Today, this week, this month, this quarter.
People are busy.
But are people ‘busy’ and ‘efficient’?
Are your ways of working liberating or restricting powerful performance?
Is there more ‘power’ to unlock?
My guess is ABSOLUTELY.
You have a whole business full of unique, experienced, knowledgeable people but have you taken any time to really think about whether you are getting the absolute best out of your business?
Are your processes, ways of working, resources, capabilities synced with the right people in the right place at the right time to deliver the quality you require at the pace you need to grow your business?
Are processes, roles, structures working? Not working? Can they be improved to offer you more value, efficiency and power?
Yes, they can.
Is your business fit for future?
Here are a few tips to consider when you want to pressure test whether you are efficient and as powerful as you can be.
- Review core processes – when was the last time you took a moment to review your core processes? Inputs, Outputs, impact? Taking time to review these with the experts that ‘own’ the processes is invaluable. Mapping out today and where improvements could be made to support today, and the future is paramount. Where are the gaps and how are you filling those? This is one place where your hidden power is.
- Review roles and responsibilities – in accordance with the activity mapping are roles and responsibilities clear? Are they in the right place? Do you need to make changes to accommodate any current or forecasted change? Are there any redundant roles? Are there new roles? Making sure you take a moment to understand what you have, what you need and when, is critical to your resource planning.
- Assess capability – do you have the right skills and experience you need today? What are the gaps? Do you have a plan to address the gaps? What skills do you need in the future? How are you talent planning today to ensure you are fit for the future? Understanding the full 360 view of the talent you have not only from the role they are fulfilling today but their background, experience, aspirations and potential. This is another place that your hidden power is.
- Test and learn – are there radical new ideas or new ways of doing things? Can you test some new ways to see the input, output, impact? Starting in a small test area enables a ‘safe’ place to challenge your thinking and practice. Pressure testing ideas enables you to refine, get people on board and evolve the thought more broadly once you have seen positive impact. This is where change seeds can be planted to grow.
- Annual pressure test – make this activity part of your annual business cycle. It doesn’t have to be a BIG deal but encouraging process owners to challenge their thinking and evolving with best practice, the competition, thought leaders keeps things fresh and enables you to hold the mirror on whether you are efficient and making the most of your resources.
Make sure you are not suffocating innovation, diversity and possibilities with inefficient ways of working and maintaining the status quo. Challenge yourself to be confident that you know where you can unlock your people-power.
If you need some help to start exploring how efficient you are today and what the possibilities are for improving your performance, let’s have a virtual cuppa to see how I can help you unlock the power of your people.
