Here’s a new year’s goal you can easily commit to in 2021: Increase the completion rates of your Activated Checklists in Way We Do. After all, as the phrase goes, “execution matters”, and getting stuff done (or GSD as we like to say in our team) is what will move the needle when it comes to meeting your objectives and obligations over the coming year. So what can you do to get the results you’re after?
Use your checklist data to make better decisions
More than SOP software, Way We Do gives you smart checklists that turn procedures into active workflows and processes. This means your business can capture data around what’s happening in your organization; data that will help you ask important management questions.
- Are we completing the activities we need to achieve our goals?
- Are we completing activities within the time frames we need to meet compliance obligations, and deliver the high standards our customers expect?
- Are there any steps in our processes that are creating bottlenecks? How can we fix and/or improve on them?
- What changes do we need to make to maintain our goals for continuous improvement?
As we learned in 2020, it’s important to embrace the power of change and be ready to adapt our activities and processes to survive and thrive in an ever-changing world. With Way We Do’s Activated Checklists, you’ve got the power to communicate with, train, and empower your employees within minutes to keep up with the demands of a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world.
Manage change with Map Make Connect
Creating your Activated Checklists is just the start when you’re gearing up to hit your new year’s goals. When you’re creating change, there’s a change management process you need to follow to make the transition as smooth (and successful) as possible for everyone involved. Way We Do’s Map Make Connect service gives you the support you need to implement processes in your Way We Do account and successfully manage change in your business.
There are seven stages in Way We Do’s Map Make Connect cycle.
- Identify – the required process to change or improve.
- Map – the steps in the process.
- Make – the Activated Checklist in Way We Do, along with any content for procedures.
- Connect – using repeatable schedules and automated processes through integrations with more than 2,000 web applications.
- Test – by walking through the process with all key stakeholders to make sure it works
- Train – your team and communicate the changes you’ve made clearly, along with why you made them. Your processes should align with your overall vision, mission and strategic goals.
- Adopt – changes by running checklist instances. Monitor their performance and address any issues with your team.
A comment on the Adopt stage
Simply documenting a process and handing it to your team to follow won’t guarantee you’ll get the results you want. For any change to be successful, you need to communicate and connect with your teams – the people who’ll be doing the work – to ensure they understand the intention behind the change, and the goals you’ll be working together to achieve. This communication includes talking with your staff throughout the earlier stages, including testing with relevant groups, and making sure everyone has the training they need to complete any new or revised steps.
Get in touch with Way We Do’s support team if you have any questions or want more information on our Map Make Connect service.
Identify and address underlying issues
One thing we’ve identified over the years is that lower checklist completion rates are often symptomatic of larger issues in a business. These are our observations of the more common causes. Which, if any, of these applies to you?
- Managers and supervisors are not checking to see if their teams are completing their work. If the manager doesn’t care, nor will the team. It could be that the manager or supervisor is struggling themselves, and needs help, or a different role.
- Critical activities like food safety checks or COVID safe plans aren’t completed, leading to massive risk in the business like fines and penalties, as well as potential harm to staff and customers. Directors of boards in some countries and states are now personally responsible for key activities being completed within their organization, and are held accountable for not upholding their duty of care.
- New employee on-boarding and training processes aren’t even started, let alone completed, directly impacting low productivity and staff turnover.
- Processes are out of date and team members aren’t using them as they don’t reflect the work they’re doing.
- Run-away checklist schedules have been set up that are no longer required. If this is the case, review and amend process automations.
All of these issues are comparatively easy to address. Here are some approaches you could take.
- Have managers and supervisors take responsibility for their team’s work and review it on a regular basis, without micro-managing.
- Conduct audits to verify which tasks are being completed and which aren’t. Prepare a gap analysis report to help identify and communicate solutions to get things back on track.
- Train your staff on each mission-critical process and share with them why it’s important. Open up discussion and let them ask questions to clarify any points and prevent misunderstandings. Ask them how the process might be improved.
- Update processes so they reflect the way your staff are working.
- Review all automated and scheduled processes to make sure they’re still required. Cancel or update them as needed.
Keep your new year’s goals on track
Transform your results in 2021 by keeping a close eye on workflows – new and existing alike – with these tips in mind. Your teams will be boosting their Activated Checklist completion rates in no time.
