We throw the word workflow around a lot. It sounds like a word that describes something we’ve given a lot of thought to and really analyzed. I find this isn’t always the case. The word workflow to me means the order of operations to complete some business process. These steps are definitely “in the weeds”—e.g., name the file correctly, put the file into the right folder, put the packing slip in the box, etc. These steps take place on the desktop computers of your staff. They happen on the shipping stations near your loading dock. They are done on the desks of your accounting offices.

Workflow is how the work “flows,” or in many cases how it starts and stops, pauses, and slowly crawls its way through your operations. The work “flows” based on a combination of people and tools that are available to them. There is something important about workflows that I missed for many years. Most people don’t think about workflows. Most people on your team simply do what’s necessary to “get the job done” every day. They are NOT stepping back and looking at how the work is flowing. This is important. I have found that this is the case NOT because your team isn’t smart or doesn’t know how the business runs. They are smart and they do have the most context over the business. They just don’t have the time, space, specific skills, or perspective to reengineer workflows.

Their daily job is to deliver their part of the business process and not be a bottleneck. Staffing typically requires their full attention on this every single day. In fact, in most cases they are barely keeping their heads above water. So, under these circumstances, they are ONLY thinking about moving that job along the business process and then picking up the next one. There must be another set of eyes on workflow and that set of eyes usually comes into the picture when new software is introduced. We typically don’t simply state, “we should rethink our workflows”, we get sold on a software solution that promises to reengineer our workflows for us.