Anyone who has ever taken a photo only to later find it blurry knows the importance of keeping things in focus. Even a slight adjustment in the wrong direction can blur the scene to the point that things are no longer clear. To really enjoy and appreciate the picture it needs to be in focus so that you can clearly identify the parts that matter. The same is true for your small business. You’ve got to maintain focus on the parts of the big picture that matter most. If you let things get out of balance, you can lose sight of everything that’s important. On a related topic, it's important to keep things - like your small business inventory management needs - front brain. Try Stockpile for free today and get focused! Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
We’ve talked a lot about process improvement in several previous posts. Yes, process improvement is important and when done correctly it can have a positive impact on your business and your bottom line. In fact, process improvement can even improve your focus as you start to see some aspects of your business more clearly. The key is to not get so focused on the minutiae that you lose sight of the big picture.
This is one of the reasons why goal setting before you begin process mapping is so important. It’s easier to maintain focus on the end goal when it is an integral part of your process map. Unfortunately, as you start to identify the stumbling blocks that are hindering your success it’s all too easy to get caught up in trying to alleviate these issues and forget to keep other areas of your business moving forward as well. Always keep in mind that your customers are the lifeblood of your business. Yes, re-organizing your office to maximize efficiency can be a vital step in streamlining your business process but even the sleekest, most efficient space won’t stay in business without customers. Remember to schedule your improvement initiatives during times when they have little or no impact on your customers. If your activities will impact your customers, let them know what you are doing and why. Signage in your physical location or a message on your website that says that you are working to improve the customer experience will go a long to smoothing any hard feelings that may arise due to your split attention. It’s very likely that your customers will applaud your efforts to serve them better.
As you examine each step of the process you will reach a stopping point. That time when you are confident that you have taken all the corrective measures you can for that particular step. Take a moment to enjoy that success, however large or small it may be. Now take a step back to look at the big picture. Remember why you started down the process improvement path in the first place. Is the next step on your agenda still the logical next step? Often changing one part of your business process will impact others in ways that you didn’t originally imagine. If this is the case it may make more sense to work on a different area next. Be flexible. The point of process improvement is to make things easier. If something doesn’t seem to make sense at this point work on something else and come back to it later.
The more steps you take, the clearer the overall picture will become. It’s like switching your everyday lens for a wide-angle. Suddenly you will be able to see more and do more with less effort. Don’t lose sight of the fact that the end goal isn’t just business success, it’s having more time for the other parts of your life that are important as well. Focus on the people, activities, and causes that mean the most to you.
Focusing on inventory management issues? Try Stockpile. Our free, web based inventory management solution is so quick and easy to implement. We’ll bring your inventory into sharp focus in no time. Once you have a clear picture of your inventory (that you can access anytime, from anywhere) you’ll be able to turn your attention to other key parts of your business.
