Can Small Business Solve Problems Better with Process Flow?

Is it ever a good day when your safety devices leak poisonous gas?

I had been working with a team for at least 4 years. Several different departments were adding their input for long-term changes. If we were successful, we would be exempt from new EPA regulations.

But every time we got together, one department would blame another for their woes. And they were the only ones who could solve this new problem.

How was I going to get everyone to play nicely with each other?

But first, context

Yes, it’s a bit disconcerting to work around poisonous gases every day. But just a little bit of water can keep it under control.

That is, with constant system pressure.

One production area made a recent change in their system. This caused pressure swings they couldn’t get under control.

And we couldn’t do away with the danger by the wave of a wand. The process made these gases as a by-product. But we could collect them and burn them rather than buy natural gas on the market. It was great for keeping costs down.

People who worked here were long timers. Often, their parents were in the industry before them. And there were only so many spaces to move up toward the top.

This led to a culture of people thinking they were stuck when they looked bad. So it might improve your chances to make someone look worse.

Avoiding habits

Fearing an hour of finger-pointing, I tried a new approach.

20 minutes before anyone else arrived, I went to the room and drew out the process on a whiteboard as I understood it. When the meeting started, I asked everyone if my understanding was correct.

The rest of the group fell in line.

Emergency services personnel knew where to station themselves and for how long to keep people out of the area.

The utility department knew how to maintain the seals so the process could stay stable.

And the production department adjusted their controls to keep pressure swings in check.

All without any finger-pointing. Everyone got back 40 minutes of their day.

Why Did it Work?

Knowing our group history, starting by figuring out who needs to do what would make everyone defensive.

People respond harshly to opposition or accountability in a stressful situation.

By drawing the process on the board, the whole group could attack that rather than each other.

I made an assertion and asked everyone else to correct my understanding. This humility diffused most of the conflict and got us to a solution in a fraction of the normal time.

So What for Small Businesses?

You may not have a team of 40+ year employees sniping each other. But even teams of gig workers must overcome strong personalities with strong interests.

It could come from a client who’s upset with how your product performed. It could come from conflicting interests between departments in your company.

Your team’s attention will go straight to what they can see. Don’t let that be the person sitting across the table when there’s a problem. Because you don’t have time to deal with this.

Rather than splitting the difference between personalities, scrutinize the process. Physically draw it on a whiteboard. It gets your team to attack the problem rather than each other.

Is your small business focusing too much on finger pointing inside your walls? Book a call with me today for help on reorienting your team to what matters.