Thursday, November 20, 2008

A Good Time for Process Improvement

A lot of people are focused on the economy and how things aren't looking so good. Companies like Sun are reporting layoffs. There isn't a lot of growth going on right now, but this can be a good thing.

When companies are in growth mode, a lot of energy goes into recruiting, onboarding etc. I was at Sprint PCS when they were in this mode, and it can be pretty crazy. However, when this growth slows down, there's a real opportunity here. Companies can use that time that would have been spent reviewing resumes, conducting interviews, or bringing new people on board to focus on other things; specifically, process improvement.

Taking the time now to improve efficiencies can help a company increase profits because they're increasing revenue without adding more resources. As a starting point, look at all the processes that already exist. Figure out which ones most closely align with the company strategy, figure out ROI of the improvement projects, and then go in deep to identify improvements to specific processes. Later, when you're ready to start growing again, you'll be in a much better position to support it.

1 comment:

Mariposa said...

Can you tell this to my company please?! Because if I say, who is for process improvement...I only see my hand raising! LOL

Seriously...this is true, and this is what most company should do.