The Definitive Guide on Administrative Process Improvement For Every Business

The Definitive Guide on Administrative Process Improvement For Every Business

Do you have admin tasks casting a cloud over your business? You know they need to get done but the motivation to start on these repetitive and bulky tasks is nowhere to be found. It’s a problem that’s plagued businesses since the first person decided to set up shop.

If your business is profitable enough you can hire an in-house team to work on these, freeing you to focus on bigger picture stuff. However, there is still bound to be wasted time and resources and it’s a good idea to review your processes to make sure they’re 100% efficient.

In this article, we’re going to give you the tools you need to take a good hard look at how administrative process improvement works. You’ll be able to identify inefficiencies and implement new ideas to help your team and business continue to thrive.

7 Benefits of Updating Your Admin Processes

Let’s take a look at the benefits of reviewing and updating your processes before we discuss admin improvement ideas. Every business should inspect how its operations are being run, no matter the size. There will always be areas of improvement and staying on top of things is key to consistent growth.

Staff may try and push back on changes, particularly if they perceive tasks to be more complex than the previous method. Help them to understand how these changes can improve productivity and help keep the business competitive.

Here are 7 benefits that the business gains from administrative process improvement:

1. Standardized process: As the business grows there will be a need to develop standardized processes which all staff can follow. A review of business operations can help business leaders to certify the correct way of doing things.
2. Automate where possible: As new technology emerges and employee skills grow, new automation options become available. If you can automate rudimentary tasks, this gives employees more time to work on business growth opportunities.
3. Eliminate waste: Waste can be anything from time, resources, or communication. Admin processes that aren’t refined are likely to include a lot of waste which can be removed with new processes implemented.
4. Up to date information: Take the opportunity to ensure that all the information in your business is up to date. If employees are working with outdated instructions this can be causing major interruptions to your operation.
5. Continuous improvement: Improving your administrative processes should form part of your business’s commitment to continuous improvement. Ensure your company remains ahead of the competition by always striving for better.
6. Frees up resources: Once you’ve identified inefficiencies in your processes, the resources being wasted can be redistributed in a way that benefits the business’s goals.
7. Review every year: As part of your commitment to continuous improvement, you should review the processes each year. This helps to uncover new inefficiencies and takes advantage of new technology.

Once you have established the baseline for all of your administrative processes, you can use this as a reference for the next time a review takes place. The job will never be completed because there will always be ways to implement new admin improvement ideas.

Admin Improvement Ideas That Work

Whether you are a solopreneur or in charge of a team at an enterprise business, cutting the fat out of the business processes has likely crossed your mind more than once. In order to make effective changes, you’ll need to implement ideas that are proven to work and can deliver the necessary results.

Change Management

The first thing that needs to happen is a way to monitor and implement change management. This is something that needs to work for managers and their employees.

Your processes may currently exist as undocumented generalized theories that everyone vaguely understands. We need to make sure that they are identified and documented in a way that is easy to follow. At this point, you should include all the information around a process including any waste or inefficiencies.

Document information regarding how long a task should take, how many people are involved, and the number of entry and exit points it has. If there are bottleneck areas, make note of these as this is something that will need to be addressed when developing new admin improvement ideas.

At this stage of change, the goal is to establish the current baseline for your processes. If you are unsure of the details personally, make sure to include your staff in drawing up the current process outline.

Process Mapping

Process mapping is a useful visualization tool that can be used for a wide range of industries. The benefit of using something like the Makigami Processes Map is that the data is very easy to read and it’s an easy way to get contributions from your staff.

You will log your processes from start to finish and gain a hard copy of how everything in your operation works. During the process mapping phase, you’ll start to uncover where the inefficiencies lie in your business. At this point, members of staff will be able to share their ideas for areas of improvement.

Although it won’t be time to implement changes, it is a great place to start collecting ideas from the people who will benefit from the changes the most. Communicate to your team the data that has been uncovered through process mapping. This helps to keep team members aware of how their activities affect business productivity.

Delegation

Unless you are a one-person operation, delegation is going to be your best friend. Who is going to be responsible for reviewing and updating each process? Depending on the task, it can be quite time-consuming and there may not be enough hours available for one person to take ownership of them all.

The key is to refine your administrative processes so that they save you time and money. Put your best person on the job, someone you can trust to consider different approaches to problem-solving.

There will also be an opportunity to crowdsource ideas at this point by giving your employees the chance to speak their thoughts. Those who have been doing the admin tasks will be able to pinpoint what causes them headaches and areas which should be improved.

New Technologies

New technologies are being released to the market all the time and some may be well worth the cost investment to improve your processes. If you want to automate some of the more repetitive tasks this may come at an additional expense to the bottom line. However, if it improves productivity and frees up resources elsewhere, the trade-off could be worth it.

Your tech stack (the hardware and software you use) is going to have a great effect on your administrative process improvement. Companies rely heavily on their technologies to stay modern and competitive. It’s worth looking at your current stack to make sure you’re using the best products available.

Teamly is an all-in-one tool for project management that can save your business time and money. It gives you all the tools you need to effectively manage your team remotely. This gives you greater flexibility and control over your projects and processes.

Outsource Certain Tasks

Consider whether you should outsource certain tasks that your company can’t handle as effectively as you would like. If you work by yourself or only have a small team at the moment, there may not be the people resources available to work on certain administrative tasks.

In these instances, it may be worth contacting an outside company or virtual assistant to help you. Outsourcing can be highly cost-effective and you’ll have access to skilled professionals without the need to hire internally or invest in additional training.