Freedom Through Systems™

We’ve been talking about getting your team to follow procedures. Let’s look at a couple of ways to have immediate impact.

The first is called a Tasks Checklist – or what I also like to call an Accountability Checklist.

The Tasks Checklist is a list of all the non-reactive tasks for which someone is responsible. These are the things that have no external trigger to prompt someone to do them. Someone has to remember.

The Tasks Checklist lists those tasks and includes a sign-off space where the responsible team member initials to indicate that they’ve completed each task. That’s accountability.

When you combine the Tasks Checklist with documented procedures for each task, you’re starting to create an integrated system of documentation and accountability.

If you utilize a good Intranet for your documentation – as discussed last time – you can directly link the Tasks Checklist to each procedure.

In this way, your team member knows not only what’s supposed to be done, but the documented procedures are but a click away.

The second impactful item is the Process Checklist. While the Tasks Checklist is a list of many tasks, the Process Checklist details the steps of a single process.

And like the Tasks Checklist, the Process Checklist is an interactive tool … not just reference material, like a procedure.

Use a Process Checklist when you want to ensure important steps of a process don’t get missed, and to make sure everyone performs a process in the same manner.

Process Checklists also create accountability for performing a process the way it was designed – for maximum client experience and efficiency.

Plus, Process Checklists are an excellent way to separate the duties of a complex process and pass responsibility for a process from one person to another.

You can set up your Process Checklist not only as a true checklist, but also to capture key information needed by the next team member in the work flow.

If you’d like examples of these checklists, send me an email. Use them to make your procedures a real part of everyday life in your agency. Your team will follow them.

© Copyright, 2010 by Sweet Spot Marketing, Inc. and Joseph J. Hagan, Jr. All rights reserved.

We continue our journey to get your team to actually follow procedures.

And easily accessible documentation is another critical piece of the puzzle.

If your team can’t get to your procedures, process summaries, etc easily, they’ll quickly lose interest in trying to find them.

What’s the solution?

Think web-browser based. Think Intranet – a website that only allows your team to access it.

A browser-based solution has many advantages.

• Set the Intranet as your browsers’ home page and force your team to see it every time they open their browser … constant reinforcement.
• Create links to agency approved websites and centralize this information.
• Cross-referencing related documents is a snap with hyperlinks – which, when it’s designed well, makes it very easy for your team to find what they need.
• And virtually everybody understands the basic skills of clicking around on a website, so user training is minimal.

There are lots of ways to set up an Intranet, and lots of people who will sell you a pre-fab solution. Here are some things to consider when evaluating.

• The layout and user interface must be easy to learn.
• Make sure it includes a good search engine to speed finding information.
• And it must be EASY to update … to add new procedures and correct existing ones. Otherwise, you won’t keep it up to date.

If you’re interested in low-cost – as in f*r*e*e – check out Google Sites.

Google Sites is not an Intranet per se. It’s an online application that allows you to create a basic website with no coding skills at all.

You can restrict access to your users only.

I’ve created a half-dozen Intranets for my coaching clients using Google Sites, including documentation templates, checklist templates and documentation of the basic skills necessary to use it well.

Email me if you’re interested in setting one up. mailto:JoeH@FreedomThroughSystems.com

Talk to you soon,

© Copyright, 2010 by Sweet Spot Marketing, Inc. and Joseph J. Hagan, Jr. All rights reserved.

We’re talking about getting our team to actually follow procedures, and here’s another piece of the puzzle.

So far, we’ve identified always explaining “the why” of your processes and being consistent in your reasoning to generate team buy-in. Plus …

Test your processes thoroughly before implementation, because frequently flawed processes cause loss of faith in everything you’re doing.

And now … take the time to fully train your team on a new process. Seems simple enough, but sometimes gets skipped and causes problems.

First, after involving some staff in the codesign and testing phases, training time is your next opportunity to get feedback from others.

No matter how well you’ve tested, when you train others – and invite their questions and feedback – you may identify changes needed immediately.

Use that feedback to tweak your process, update your documentation and do some quick training again. Roll it out when you have a good process.

Second, quality training time also increases team buy-in. It gives them the opportunity to put their seal of approval on a process. And when that happens …

… they are less likely to forget or ignore the procedure later.

Third, face-to-face time gives you the opportunity to continually remind your team of the importance of your systems mindset and business approach … and build your systems culture.

Plus a little training time allows you to be confident they actually “get it”. It’s frustrating to find that people aren’t following a procedure…

… because don’t understand it. Eliminate that excuse with training and feedback.

A final word … you don’t have to get crazy with training time. Some processes are really simple and can be done on the fly in a few quick minutes.

Other, more complex, workflows should be given the time necessary for successful implementation of the process.

Regardless of complexity, take the time to train your team to make sure your procedures are actually followed.

© Copyright, 2010 by Sweet Spot Marketing, Inc. and Joseph J. Hagan, Jr. All rights reserved.