Process Building Tips

Building processes came as a need for me to do what I can to improve daily life for myself as well as the people involved in the company I was a part of.

I had a more human or maybe “printer” centric motivation for this.

In the end this walks hand in hand with a business that is healthy.

At first process building seemed tedious but it doesn’t have to be.

Especially in the screen printing industry.

There are multiple process building methodologies out there that I found can be used independently or in unison in different aspects of your business. No matter the size.

One hump to get over I feel for everyone is the business jargon and how sometimes it can be confusing and everyone just ends up saying…”sure but can you just tell me how to do it?”

When I first started with processes I went ahead without knowing which methodology I was using. Once I was able to identify which methodologies I was gravitating towards it was easier to follow them automatically to form new processes.

That also allowed me to gain the confidence that some processes are better than others depending on the department as well as the personalities of the people within those.

Through making a lot of my own mistakes I found that it’s important to point out a couple

Things that are crucial to anyone trying to get into process building no matter what the methodology.

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The Leader

A very important aspect or process building is to find the right person to be doing this.

They must have leadership skills, care about detail and be militant about following up

and collecting data.

Who might this be?

A manager?

A right hand person?

The owner themselves?

This must be decided beforehand so confusion does not arise.

Having an open mind and willing to see different opinions and perspectives as opportunities is also very beneficial.

Don’t overthink and Don’t overanalyze

Trying to perfect a process before it is implemented is a brutal mistake.

It will delay implementation and you might miss some things along the way that you haven’t thought of.

Reasoning

Communicate in a transparent manner with team members about the goal and also how this might have a positive affect on them as well…not only the company.

They need to understand and be part of the process as much as possible. After all they are the ones that will be following these new processes and proving or disproving their use

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Measuring

Understand what the issue is and make it measurable.

Is it time?

Quality Control?

If the problem is measurable then results will be definitive and helpful.

Just define what you are measuring.

The accuracy needed depends on what you are measuring.

Sometimes the changes that processes create are very apparent without any data collected!

Listen

Allow your people to be part of the process and do some of the heavy lifting for you.

Their ideas will allow you to see different perspectives and adapt any changes to the process you might had in mind.

If they are invested in your goals you will have better results since any newfound motivation stems from the fact that they can participate in their own fate in the company and have some control over how well their daily lives at work can become.

Just Start! “The perfectionist is the biggest procrastinator”.

If implementing a new process will not completely derail production or order/quote processing then start it immediately and start documenting it’s effectiveness or lack thereof.

If you think it might negatively influence production then find the right time to implement it to work within a timeline.

Sometimes implementing a new process may require patience and time to perfect so it might require some “limping” through.

However, based on the rule that “a limping process is better than no process” it can only get better from here on out.

Do not let the process fade away.

We are all creatures of habit and our brains love to chose the “easy” way out of any task.

Following up and making sure each step of the process is followed correctly is crucial.

It’s not micromanaging.

It is more so about reminding everyone involved about the process and its importance.

Doing a task “because we are looking to achieve x or y results” instead of “just because" is definitely a healthier perspective.

Also the more everyone slips away from the process, the less precise any documentation will be.

In this case, positive results will not be acknowledged and this is what builds distrust and disregard of new ideas or processes within the team.