Of all the great ideas you never properly implemented in your business, a robust task and workflow system would have to be one of the most important.
A good start
You read the article, you heard the speech, you could visualise Nirvana. A fully-functioning workflow system for your business. You got the software, put together the lists of tasks and invested a fortune!
It would take your business to the next level. Existing staff would become more productive, new staff would ‘get up to speed’ much faster and critical compliance events would be part of the regular flow.
A poor follow-through
What happened? It sounded so good! You could probably point the finger in a few directions and it is likely a combination of issues. However, the most important one is that you and your team never got into the habit of using the workflow system.
Habits are the key. Now that we have the key, we need to find the lock. It could be that you didn’t really believe in the value of business processes. If you don’t believe in what you are doing, it is difficult to fake the passion required to make it work. The myriad benefits of following a process are an easy sell, so I doubt that is what held you back. It is more likely that the system you were using was just too complex, with too many convoluted functions that crowded out the things you needed to see. So you never used it past the first couple of weeks and you’ve failed to achieve the efficiency gains you desired.
Forming the right habits
Ease of use is the critical aspect of forming a habit here. If the software is intuitive and user-friendly and there is a sense of achievement experienced when completing a task, you form the habit of using tasks and workflows. Your business will live and breathe these processes.
A lot of applications boast workflow features but using them requires remembering little tricks and several mouse clicks at each stage. It is ideal to cut through all of this. Turn five click procedures into single clicks. Increase the prominence of often-used features and ensure the less critical features are accessible but not obstructive. What if tasks can be created from any email application? How about if your most-used task reports are only ever a single click away from any part of your software? Setting up workflows can be child’s play. Training for this should take just 10 minutes. No half-day course should be required to get value out of it.
You should try again
If your software is easy to use, you’ll form good habits quickly. If you use your software for task and workflow management, you’re far more likely to also use other features, reinforcing the processes and the value to your business.
We know you are not really failing now, but wouldn’t it be great if you were winning a little more?
Daniel has been involved in the financial services industry since 1999. His main passions are helping financial advisers improve their businesses through increased efficiency and improved sales opportunities.
