Manager's Memo 2: Your best consultants are on your staff

Unless your organization is in start-up mode, you have processes that can be streamlined, improved or eliminated. It is time to enlist your best consultants: your staff.

Every employee has opinions about how his own job should be organized, and, if asked correctly, he will share his thoughts on how the entire organization ought to function. Managers who are reluctant to engage staff at all levels are wasting precious resources. For example,

• The person who has answered the phone for 20 years knows more about the business and the customers than most managers.
• The warehouse and delivery staff can almost always make suggestions for efficiencies.
• Secretaries and administrative assistants share ideas among themselves that they would never share with their supervisors.
• Everyone who performs a task that has been unchanged for 10 years probably has ideas about streamlining the process.
• Tech-savvy staff will be delighted to suggest ways to integrate technology to save both time and money.

Ignoring "why do we do this?" or "why can't we do this?" or "why can't we sell that?" leaves good ideas (and money) on the table.

While there may be good reasons to spend thousands of dollars on outside consultants, you may miss the time and money-saving ideas that your staff could contribute for the cost of a few pizzas and your genuine interest in their opinions.

Pass the Baton works with managers to teach techniques that capture mission-critical information which can be shared with employees in ways that enhance productivity and performance.

This is part of a series of PTB Managers' Memos.