Your company is not running by you. It is running by processes that you have designed. If this is the case in your business then it opens many innovation opportunities and improvements possibilities.
Yes, there are many opportunities, but do you use them in order to make your company better?
Innovation Opportunities Everywhere In Your Processes
One of the many mistakes I have noted from many entrepreneurs is focusing on the result of their processes. It is not the wrong, but it leaves too many possibilities outside your thinking and acting. That’s many invisible innovation opportunities.
The outcome is important because it is something that goes into the hands of external or internal customers. But, the outcome is the result of the other two elements – inputs and process elements that transform the inputs into the outputs.
By focusing only on the outcomes from your processes, as an entrepreneur you will lose big potential from other invisible things for your customers and other stakeholders, They may not have a direct effect on the outcome, but still to be important for your process.
For example, your processes contain different subprocesses, steps, operations, and movements. If they are designed properly, all of them will bring value to the final outcome of the process. In such a way, you can improve the outcome of the process only if you change the steps, or inputs in the process.
Innovation Opportunities From the Customers Perspective
Many times I have a response from entrepreneurs in the form that “We always do things in such a way!” But, is this way the best possible way from the customer’s perspective? He doesn’t see the steps, he sees only the end results, the outcome from the process.
For example, let’s take your sales process. If you look at all the steps your sales team will need to do, you can probably find some totally unimportant steps in the final value to the outcome. So, it doesn’t add value to the outcome, but at the same time, it spends time on the process and efforts of your sales team. Do you really need this step? This is the right question for you.
Additionally, you can find a step that requires an extra paperwork or the excessive number of approvals. Again, your process will lose time and efforts for something that doesn’t effect on the value of the final outcome. What you want more: the shortest possible sales process with the optimal costs, or longest sales process?
So, by focusing on the invisible elements of your process, you can identify interesting issues that could be part of improvements. In such a way, you will continuously improve your processes and your business as overall because your processes make your company.
