As I start to build my team and create plans for the future, I am being reminded how important processes and procedures are to efficiency and communication.
I have been so anti-proceedure in the past, check lists yes to help me remember all the areas to consider, but step by step instructions? No way too constricting. And… I hear this from my clients as well.
Many of my clients are highly creative, go with the inspiration of the moment, my like me! The thought of being forced to follow a set of procedures will curb the flow of creativity. I was in the same boat.
However what I have found is that by having a step by step written proceedure for common tasks and projects are great benefits:
- No steps are forgotten or have to be repeated
- It is easy to delegate the task knowing it will be handled the way you would
- It is freeing and can actually help the creative process
Freedom? This may seem to be completely off-base but think about it. You have a brilliant idea pop into your head on how to improve or make changes to a project, breath new life into it. But the question comes up, how do you initiate the change.
You go back to the steps and procedures, this way you simply (okay sometimes not so simply) integrate the new changes into the steps. This way you have the freedom to take your brilliant ideas and actually use them, implement and tweak them in a much more efficient and effective way.
You will probably find that the ideas may start coming faster now that you have a way to take a project, add new ideas and make it happen so much quicker then you ever have before. You will have it done, finished, ready and have time to move on to the next one.
