Business Processes are much more than SOP’s
We all have a binder on a dusty shelf that reads Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), but when it comes to digital marketing and recruiting, home health care agencies and nonmedical home care companies need to recognize the power of processes in their business.
The First Mantra:
“Vary the process, vary the outcome”
Al Weber, Management Consultant
My first boss when I began my career as a marketing consultant had this mantra. It had two meanings.
The first is fairly obvious, if you don’t follow the process you won’t get the outcome that you expect. Processes are put in place for a specific goal, and failing to follow those processes will invariably mean that you miss your target.
The second message was more subtle. Changing a process, purposely creating a variation, can lead to improvements that exceed your original goal. The key is that you have to be able to measure the amount of change and the results. When companies are following processes consistently, that’s when they are empowered to make these strategic changes.
The Second Mantra
“What gets measured gets managed. What gets rewarded gets repeated.”
Stephen Tweed, Home Care CEO Coach
Later in my career I teamed up with my father to create Leading Home Care, what would become one of the most well respected consulting firms for nonmedical home care companies.
Stephen would constantly tell his clients, “What gets measured gets managed. What gets rewarded gets repeated.”
This mantra encouraged CEOs to create data points to analyze virtually every level of the organization. This data is the first step in a well-run organization, the second step is making decisions that influence the data in the future.
Additionally he’d focus on recruitment and retention of both office and management staff as well as caregivers in the field. The best way to influence behavior is to reward people for positive action. Over the long term it creates a culture of excellence that permeates the entire company, and the result is that great people want to work with your company and want to continue working there.
Operational management as well as recruitment and retention are all the result of well defined processes. Combining the mantras of Tweed and Weber have influenced both my business, and my approach to working with clients.
