My management team, sales force and I had an interesting collaboration today that began with a brief overview of the phases of progress and the process of refinement. It occurred to me that no matter what your present position may be at the moment, you are likely always concerned with progress. Whether you are a department head or a new hire in an entry level position, a company owner or hired hand, you – if you are the type of person who reads blogs and other literature such as mine – are looking for ways to improve your performance and move onward and upward.
Like most companies, mine is constantly looking for ways to make it easier for our clients to do business with us. This is one of our central mantras, one that reigns us in when we over-complicate matters (of course with good intentions), and one that pushes us to do a little better each time around. I’ve found it quite useful to vet new ideas against this standard, and most of the time it proves to be a valuable perspective. After all, our clients are the reason why we continue to be in business from day to day.
The way things are done in a company tends to have a predictable life cycle. A new idea for a system, say for training new clients, is hatched and eventually becomes the standard, the “way we do it around here.” Every once in a while, the need changes and so too must the solution if the company is to sustain itself over the long haul.
Enter refinement and progress.
“The way we’ve done it until now” is put under the microscope and is reviewed, typically by means of a series of steps, in order to determine “the way we’d like to do it moving forward.” Using my company as an example again, we tend to go through the following phases:
- Brainstorming (new ways to solve the new problem, no holds barred)
- Review (the options)
- Consideration (of the top options)
- Decision (pick one and back it!)
- Elaboration (flesh out the details)
- Implementation (put it in play)
- Auditing (check to see how it is working)
- Tweaking (make adjustments as necessary)
And the new standard is born! Time marches on and the way we used to do things fades into the shadows of the past while the new way we do things gains momentum and familiarity. The entire process might take minutes in some cases and years in others, but the flow of the steps rarely changes. When there are breaks or disruptions in the flow, the outcome is usually suboptimal.
We then paused for a moment to consider how this process might be thwarted. Here are the top pitfalls we came up with:
- Jumping to conclusions (don’t panic when brainstorming happens, the sky isn’t falling)
- Jumbling the steps (the evening after a decision has been reached is not time to start brainstorming again)
- Rushing through the steps (expediency versus integrity always brings failure)
- Sticking rigidly to the status quo (everything changes, so can you)
- Avoiding discipline or structure at any cost (everyone needs parameters)
Progress and refinement are always possible, no matter how restricted, long-standing or well-entrenched the starting points may be. Consider areas of your life in which what you are doing doesn’t line up too well with what’s going on in this light and you are sure to initiate an encouraging process of ongoing refinement. Fail to do so and life becomes stagnant, you become disconnected and your options quickly become limited.
It’s your call!
Gregory Hake 
This process of progress and refinement is something wonderful to experience. It does take that which is stagnant and allows a new and amazing force to be regenerated, in our privates lives or in business. I look forward to ongoing experiences of progress in the future, great promise lies ahead under these circumstances. Thank you for sharing such wonderful guidelines for others to implement.
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These are such great points – so helpful for anyone, whether in the corporate office or any other field!
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Your business process is inspiring, thank you. It’s sparked some ideas for my own.
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These steps are a very well thought out way to implement a new change, whether in business or in personal life. Yes, we should even be making these changes in our personal life! It wouldn’t hurt to run through a rough outline of these steps even by yourself, and in a partnership like a marriage they would be invaluable.
It is important to be honest when doing this kind of review. Don’t be the one who doesn’t want to look at the mistakes that have been made in the past, and don’t obfuscate the process by reviewing something that may have importance but is not the top priority and everyone knows it.
In both business and life, change needs to be a constant. If we become used to this idea, we will always be flexible enough to make the revisions in a timely manner so that we do not fall by the wayside.
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It’s true that you have got to keep on your toes to the ever changing landscape of where your business and work are nestled in. For after all, you are here ultimately to serve people’s true needs. Some businesses form to create a perceived need in the population, where the need is not all that real, and that’s a bit different. In any case, we look to fill needs and we have to be sensitive to the many factors that form the backdrop of commerce. Political, social, cultural and economic shifts color the expectation of the client and they all can create quite a dramatic difference in your business. For example, my work takes me to two different parts of the country, and client expectation – with all their understanding and desire for what my expertise in healthcare offers – is strikingly different between the two. I’ve had to adapt the way I work and am still learning how best to function in both areas! I think you can bring alot of instinct into the picture, but I agree with what you say, that we all can use a good bit of structure and organized planning to provide parameters in order to have some degree of checks and balances before the big flop! tells us we’ve deviated too far and options at this point are scarce to make the necessary corrections to continue progress.
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I love to buy from companies that make it easy for me. Amazon is the gold standard. They have continually improved their ordering.,1 click! They reward their good clients, no cost shipping, if you pay a flat fee, (the numbers work). Their return procedure is the easiest I’ve ever come across.(not liberal but EASY) and best of all the ability to communicate with them is the hallmark of why I love to buy from them. It’s easy and I receive answers quickly.
When I see other companies in the same arena as them I wonder why they haven’t at least adopted their methods. It pays to see what it is like to be your client and the client of your competition.
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Great points. Thanks for sharing your experience.
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Useful advice, thanks!
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I’ve never written out the steps of how we create policy, it has been rather organic but this is helpful to analyze where the confusion can occur. I think your mantra is perfect. When policy creates a road block or even a detour for the client that’s when I ask for who’s benefit is this policy?
Great post and yes I’m always on the hunt for new ideas. Your blog has been a gold mine for me, thank you.
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