It’s the little things that people forget. A local accountant was having a problem with his burglar alarm. Part of the close procedure in his business was that the last person out was responsible for setting the alarm. Yet every day for a week, when he arrived at his office in the morning, the alarm was not set.
He questioned his staff and the “late leaver” confirmed that he was indeed setting the alarm every day. The accountant was to the point of frustration and was ready to call in the alarm company. Surely the darn thing was broken.
That day, he and his staff went to lunch together. As they left the office, the accountant closed the door and pressed the “arm” button on the alarm. His employee exclaimed, “Oh! Is that how you’re supposed to do it? I’ve been pressing “arm” and then closing the door.” Mystery solved.
If something is not going quite right in your business and an employee is performing the function, don’t assume they’re doing the task properly. You can question without accusing to determine if there is a process problem. Or, better yet, document the procedure on a checklist to ensure the steps are done correctly.
How do you keep track of your business processes? Please leave a comment.
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August 3rd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
We are currently working on writing up each of the systems in place – getting everyone to do things consistently in all areas is such a big job in itself. Systems, documented and then training everyone to follow those systems is our ideal – our goal.
Twitter: deniseoberry
Says:
August 3rd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
@wamcon — Yes, it’s a lot of work, but will pay off in the long run. One of the really good things about it is that you’re also documenting institutional memory which is priceless. Congratulations for making the effort to move toward your goal.
August 20th, 2008 at 1:20 am
Assumption have become a human habit now. People need to analyze before performing any task. However, Good thinking Denise!