When it comes to business process standardization, I'm all for the 80/20 (or 90/10) rule.
If we can standardize 80% of what we do, that will leave us time for the 20% of 'exceptions.'
I have worked within a number of organizations that resisted standardized business processes because they felt that would be 'too confining.'
What they didn't see was how confined they actually were in transactional work. So when a customer needed extra attention, they didn't have the time to give them.
What did the standardization of business processes do for those organizations?
✅ It allowed them to grow by 25% without adding staff.
✅ It allowed more high touch services to customers that needed it the most.
✅ It allowed them more time to work with clients vs. on the client work.
✅ It allowed them to go remote in days vs weeks when it was necessary because work could be done through workflow vs. in person interactions.
✅ It allowed for a smooth transition when someone left or retired because that person didn't keep knowledge to themselves.
If you're looking to minimize risk to the organization and/or improve outcomes, look to your business processes first. Get back that capacity to focus on the right things (not all things).
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