Too much of a good thing.

Yes, there is such a thing as too much process.

Last week we gave you our secret sauce for process improvement and documentation. This week we are looking at what happens when you get a little too process happy…

Most companies come to us with none to very little process. Some companies come to us because they have over-processed themselves and are stuck in a tornado of SOPs.

Yes, process helps companies run better and faster, but the opposite becomes true when there is too much.

We are at the tail-end of a project with a company who came to us because their Director of Operations left and they were not quite sure what the next right step was. Hire a new Director of Operations? Revamp Operations? Hire someone else?

As we dug into their operations and processes, it turns out that they were extremely over-processed. There were spreadsheets on spreadsheets on spreadsheets. Software on software on software. Task on task on task. Updated on updates on… well you get it.

The outcome of this was an overworked team, a lot of time wasted on completing manual data entry, so many tasks to check off that it was a job in and of itself, and a leadership team who wasn’t sure what to do next.

So what is the right amount of process? These questions will help you get the right answer for your organization:

• Do you have a risk for a critical loss of knowledge anywhere in your organization?
• Are you in a highly regulated industry?
• What knowledge is particular to our organization and way of doing things, versus industry standards?
• What information does someone need to consume as a new employee, but can be paired back once on the job and fully trained?
• What is the most critical information for getting the job done right, while providing a stellar client experience?

There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. We all have something we have a hard time consuming in moderation, don’t let process be one of them.

PS. Did you sign up to join myself and Lizabeth Wesely-Casella on Tuesday, March 25th at 11am MT yet? It is sure to be a fantastic roundtable discussion!