Are systems and process holding up your organization’s effectiveness?

In our Employee Opinion Surveys, one question we see low more often these days has to do with the systems and processes in the organization supporting employee’s ability to do their job effectively. When we find this question low, some of the complaints we hear from employees are that there are multiple systems and they overlap; having to input the same information in multiple systems. Or that there is not a formal process for doing some tasks, so each area does it differently, making it hard to find things, or know how to do things. These are just a few.

When system and processes are not working right, it can be frustrating for employees and takes them longer to do their job. When this is left unaddressed, we then see the scores around teamwork and staffing decrease as well. There is a trickle-down effect. When it takes longer to do your job, you have less time to help other people and less time to do your job. This results in a false belief that we need more staff. Which may or may not be true, but you won’t know for sure until you are able to address the systems and processes that are keeping employees from being effective.

In a recent study by TINYpulse, they reported employee’s top 10 pain points. In this list, technical issues with software or other tools was rated #1; and disorganized and time-wasting systems and processes was #4. This is not a surprise to us and pmirrors our benchmark findings as well. In the last 18 months, a large portion of our survey clients have seen scores drops an average of 6 points regarding systems and processes supporting employee’s ability to do their job. Likewise, our clients have seen similar drops regarding employee’s belief that the company makes timely improvements to systems. The end result, when systems and processes interfere with an employee’s ability to do their job, it decreases productivity, teamwork and engagement.

These are really the bureaucracies of an organization. Systems and processes are usually created with good intentions to either fix an issue or help unify a process. When they are done in isolation and without sight across the organization, it can wreak havoc on an employee’s daily work. Processes are usually put in place to help employees make decisions, but in reality, they usually keep them from making decisions as the decision-making process is sometimes replaced with a long process to follow. So now what.  

Below are some tips to help your organization stay on top of the bureaucratic of systems and processes and bring back productivity, teamwork and engagement to your organization.

1. Issues Vary from Team to Team – When you tackle systems and processes in an organization, there is one important factor to remember.  What employees see as the issue, will be different from area to area and team to team. It may be a copier in one department, policy for handling orders in another, and yet something completely different in another area. This is why it will be important for each area of the organization to tackle this one individually.  Each area needs to create an action plan of what will help them. What would success look like for their area?
2. Re-visit Regularly – Are your systems archaic? Do your processes and procedures support the accomplishment of timely work or do they slow down productivity? Ask team members for input. After all, they work most closely with your processes and have the best ideas about how to create efficiency.  One leader we know ran a contest with her team to see which employee could come up with the best idea to improve efficiency. In the process, they turned out many timesaving ideas. The team voted on the best idea and a prize was awarded to the team member that generated the best timesaving idea.  It goes without saying, everyone was a winner in this contest!
3. Check for Effectiveness – Does your equipment support accurate and efficient work? Does everyone on your team have the equipment and resources they need to meet their goals in a timely manner? Would a new computer program speed up work? Is your equipment up and running more than it is in the repair shop? If you can’t answer yes to these questions, it might be time for a capital investment before you lose your human capital.
4. Share Information Between Departments – It is critical that teams establish open and regular lines of communication within your department and between other departments. Nothing undermines employee productivity like not having the information needed to perform their jobs.  Lack of communication can cause errors and constant reworking of completed tasks; and this spells time and frustration. If your organization has a culture of sharing information with each other in a timely manner, it will greatly improve the teamwork and reduce the number of issues each team will have to deal with.
5. Address Problems Early – Problems that are allowed to linger chew up valuable time and result in frustration and reduced motivation. Lean into conflict and set an example that everyone is part of the solution. Be open to concerns brought to you by your team members, take action to resolve issues and hold everyone accountable to the selected solution.  
6. Delegate and Empower Employees – In bureaucratic organizations, there is a belief that people might make a bad decision and assume that it’s better to take the decision-making power away from front line employees and channel the decision up the ladder for some true expertise. Tech support is a classic example of this. If you have every call tech support and had to wait until the tech has gone through their check list by reading a script and checking the boxes, this is a lack of empowerment. An empowered tech support team would be able to problem solve in real time and save everyone frustration. But this requires them to be empowered to make decisions. There is also an upside for leaders that delegate and empower their employees, you will have more time in your day to take on more strategic, higher valued responsibilities. You will also demonstrate to your team that you believe in them and build trust.
7. Education and Provide Resources – By educating your people, they can have the knowledge to make decisions and achieve positive outcomes. If they have the resources as well, they have the tools to provide extraordinary service to customers.
8. Accountability: If you are going to provide your team members with education, resources and the ability to make decisions and take action, then you need to hold team members accountable for the results achieved.

Research has clearly shown that an engaged and satisfied workforce is a more productive workforce. By tackling the systems and processing issues on your team it will result a decrease in frustration and increase in productivity. And possibly less pressure on the need for more staff. Creating workplace excellence takes a sincere commitment on the part of every member of your leadership team, but the results are a win-win for everyone involved.