I was watching my son's basketball game.
They've gone up to Div A. It's been challenging.
Zero wins from 3 games.
It's faster, more aggressive, more physical... and they are growing fast in response.
I was sitting next to one of the other parents.
She is a change consultant.
Helps businesses struggling to run their teams.
"How's work?" I asked.
"Just got a new gig, helping out a business."
"Oh, sweet. What's happening?" I said.
"No processes. It's a junket."
Oh, I smiled, "Never heard that before. How many people?"
"80," she said.
"80 and no processes? How's that working out?" I asked, both curious and concerned.
"Oh, it's not. No one knows what's happening.
It is a chaotic mess. Going to take me a while to try to get it fixed."
"No kidding," I said with a slight raise of my eyebrows.
I went back to watching the game, but my thoughts continued...
80 people and no systems.
No processes.
And clearly problems...
Or they would not need a consultant to come in and fix it.
Still, I wondered...
How had they grown to 80 people with nothing documented?
A couple of options stood out...
They could learn how to do the work and then execute the same steps over and over.
Or...
They could be working out how to do it each time.
Or...
Perhaps they just exist in a state of heightened anxiety, having to check and double check everything constantly to make sure that everything gets done!
Sure, these methods have risks....
If people are sick or quit, the process goes with them.
But this does not happen very often.
For a business without systems, they will just use one of the above methods to get the next hire or stumble through.
Working it out each time is slower and can lead to steps being missed or done in the wrong order.
Still, these can be fixed by doing the work again.
So why was there even a problem to call a consultant in?
My thoughts? The people in the business are working blind.
Without processes, they can't track their work, and the rest of their teams can't see what they are working on.
If the project outcomes are not documented or tracked, everybody in the business is blind to where the work is up to.
And yes, using chat, email, and phones might work in a five person business...
But its hard to believe its effective with 80.
Yes, there are benefits to documenting your processes and project results...
But the real benefits are when you track the status of both...
And everybody in the business can see what's going on.
