Posted: February 11, 2011

You may be asking yourself how to reach your business goals for 2011. As the business owner or senior executive, you must communicate the vision and goals of the business to all levels of the organization. When was the last time you or someone in your company analyzed "What are we doing right? What should we keep doing? What should we stop doing?"

Strategic planning is needed to ensure the long-term growth and success of the company itself. Warning signs of problems may include lost productivity, poor communication, decreased profitability and frustration.

Ideally, you want to create and foster a culture of "owner mentality" and "what can I do to provide solutions." As a business analyst, I find that when companies look at all of the operations of their businesses, they achieve significant changes and improvements to the bottom line.

Even if you think your processes meet the business needs, there are a myriad of reasons for prioritizing your systems for your company this year:

• Impact of the economy on your industry and revenue.
• Improving methods reduces costs and improves production.
• Streamlining tasks to maximize productivity.
• Implementing new technology to stay competitive.
• Providing employee training and improving morale.

  Process analysis must become a priority in order to stay competitive and successful. Although there are many considerations in conducting process analysis, we recommend a few essentials:

• Be selective - Select the appropriate people to lead the analysis. Who within your organization knows the process? Who is an outstanding leader or a manager that would be a logical choice? Who would know what questions to ask others, how to keep the project moving along and identify the scope of the analysis?
• Set your standards - Establish standards of analysis. Businesses that use multiple processes will almost always lead to mixed or negative results. In my opinion, root cause analysis, if used properly, is an excellent method to uncover problems.
• Prepare for solutions - Be sure to have methods in place for handling changes in your processes. Teams often collect good ideas but if they have no structure for incorporating them into the current processes, they may get lost in the shuffle. Keep in mind that you may have to plan for employee engagement with the new processes.
• Consult a specialist - An outside consultant may be the right solution, especially when the processes you presently have in place do not address the audit/critique findings previously noted.
• Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize - Address the areas that are creating the largest cost or impact first. Then prioritize the strategy for addressing and resolving the issues and reaching the goals.

   

  Richard Jeffries, president of Absolute Business Consultants LLC, has 30 years of experience in business development, management consulting and systems analysis. He can be reached at 739-1988 or e-mail rjeffries@absolutebusiness.us.com.
  
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