When was the last time you audited your business baggage? As a company grows, numerous processes, rules, priorities, rituals, beliefs, and perceptions develop, but many of these lose their utility over time. These extra add-ons can weigh your business down and detract from your overall efficiency. Let’s discuss how to eliminate valueless processes in your business.

Why Simplification Is Important in Business

When trying to improve a business, our first instinct tends toward addition. As the business expands, we add new processes to overcome obstacles, new rules as we hire more employees, and new tasks to our to-do lists. But unfortunately, in doing so, we often overlook the power of subtraction.

Think of a PowerPoint presentation. Including too many bullet points can overwhelm the audience and cause them to tune out. Focusing on the most relevant topics, on the other hand, lets everyone concentrate on what’s important. It’s the same with every area of your business. Getting bogged down can divert attention away from what matters.

As you might imagine, I became a big fan of this topic in 2007. So I named my business coaching LLC “Business Simplified.” I believe in the importance of business simplification: integrating a streamlined workflow
 and eliminating the things that no longer work for you.

How to Streamline Your Business Processes

1. Audit your processes. Are any of them outdated holdovers from a different era of your business? Are there rules, policies, or best practices that aren’t working for you anymore? Too many hoops to jump through can stifle innovation and make it more difficult for your employees to perform their jobs effectively.  Strongly consider substituting complex processes with simplified alternatives that are more fluid and easier to understand.
2. Get clear on your priorities. Are you dedicating time and resources as an organization to things that don’t matter much in the long run? Determine what’s essential and reevaluate the things that aren’t. This can range from eliminating inefficient software to discontinuing a product that isn’t selling well.
3. Scrutinize and reduce.  Remove components, process steps, rules, sign-offs, and redundant handoffs that have low value.
4. Combine complex processes.  Integrate and combine complex legacy processes into more streamlined workflows.
5. Eliminate extraneous signoffs. How often must a document be reviewed before progressing to the next step? Do you require the approval of multiple individuals before proceeding with a project or initiative? Hire employees who do their jobs well and cut down on the rounds of review and support that their work undergoes.
6. Assess your regular meetings. Nothing irritates people more than being stuck in a meeting that could have been handled via email. Cancel the meetings that you don’t need. Try moving weekly meetings to every other week and see if you miss them. When a meeting is necessary, make it a standing appointment to keep things short and sweet.
7. Champion simplicity.  Celebrate openly the brave souls who fearlessly challenge complexity with new ideas.  For those few who are illogically resistant to process simplification, temporarily suspend old systems (as a test) to build confidence that change is possible.
8. Get an outside perspective. Sometimes we can’t see opportunities for simplification because we’re too involved. Explain your processes to a trusted friend or business mentor. Can they identify areas of needless complication? You may also ask your employees for suggestions on where to make cuts. They can offer a fresh perspective.

Business simplification takes time upfront, but saves time in the long run. By eliminating unnecessary baggage, you can free up time and resources for the things that truly matter.

Not sure where to start with your business simplification? A business coach can help. Fill out my contact form, and we’ll develop a customized toolset to simplify your business processes.

Coach Dave