In his paper, Principles of Scientific Management, published in 1911, Frederick W. Taylor stated: “In the past the man has been first; in the future the system must be first.” Taylor noted, just a few years prior to Ford’s successful launch of the moving assembly line, that art and craft had to be replaced by process for companies and employees to thrive.
“Process is about doing the most important things the right and best way every time,” says Mike Paton, author and EOS Implementer at EOS Worldwide. Yet entrepreneurs often resists process with one or more of these reasons: 1) I’m not a process person, 2) creating processes takes too much time, or 3) process kills creativity. These are all myths.
First, we are all process people. Just consider what you do each and every morning – you follow a process for getting up, eating, and getting ready for the day. And the entrepreneur is great at process. They 1) deliver for a customer, 2) evaluate what worked and didn’t work, and then 3) repeat what worked and refine what didn’t – following an improved process for the next customer.
John Wooden said, “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” Consider which takes less time and costs less money: writing a process for your people to consistently follow, or re-doing everyone’s work over and over.
Finally, knowing and following a process actually opens up the door for creativity within the bounds of the process. This marries creativity and freedom with consistency and efficiency. As Jim Collins puts it, “Magic occurs when you blend a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship.”
Process improves efficiency, quality, and consistency, and makes your business easier to manage, more profitable, and more valuable. Next month we’ll address the steps to creating the right processes for your business.
Contact me for the new Process! book from EOS: brent.stromwall@
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