Business processes are directly correlated with employee engagement and workplace satisfaction. 

Think about it: you wake up on the right side of the bed, have a great morning, and are excited to get to work. You sit down at your desk, or open your inbox (the absolute WORST thing you could do to start your work day), and dive into your to do’s.

Shortly thereafter you find yourself frustrated, stagnated, and potentially overwhelmed.

What changed? 

This scenario is eerily similar to the arc of my early career as a consultant. 

I started out as a wellbeing consultant. Each week I’d work with leaders and teams on wellbeing initiatives, and each week I’d hear frontline staff talk about not being able to implement their wellbeing initiatives because of work-related issues. 

I can be pretty stubborn, but it didn’t take long to realize the reality of my circumstances: none of the wellbeing solutions I was offering would be sustained after I was gone. 

Not being one for quick fixes, I went back to the drawing board and asked what needed to be done. I quickly came to two conclusions:

1. Leadership and organizational strategy must support workplace wellbeing

2. Business process improvement can create space for wellbeing initiatives

Without the time, energy, or mental and emotional capacity to integrate wellbeing initiatives there’s little chance of them moving the needle, let alone sticking around. 

You’ve no doubt attended a workplace wellbeing professional development training and thought to yourself, “this is great, but there’s no way I can do this because:

• I already have too much on my plate

• These practices won’t address the core issues like our toxic work culture

• Leadership won’t support me in taking 10 minutes for my wellbeing, they want me to get more work done in less time. 

As we’ve covered in previous newsletters, workplace mindfulness-based practices are difficult to sustain without effective business processes. This is the same for all employee wellbeing initiatives.

It’s a complicated, sticky, interdependent process that impacts everyone (and your customers too). 

So, what should you do about it? 

The good news is the start of the solution isn’t as complicated as the nature of the problem itself. It’s something we teach nearly all our clients on Day 1. 

B.O.P. It

You know, that terribly-annoying-talking-plastic-handle-anxiety-inducing “game” for kids that reigned supreme in the 90’s?

Here’s what it stands for: 

• Brainstorm

• Organize

• Prioritize

First, brainstorm a list of the business processes (or areas of work in general) that are causing you trouble in a brief free writing session. It shouldn’t take you long as you are likely faced with them on a daily or weekly basis. Note: the thoughts won’t come out organized, but you’ll take care of that next. Just let them flow.

Second, organize those thoughts into categories. This could be by form (computer work, design work, meetings, etc.) or by function (marketing, sales, accounting, etc.)

Finally, prioritize your lists. And here you have to do it in two different ways: 

• Prioritize your lists within categories. List the items from most troublesome, to least. 

• Next: prioritize the categories themselves. Which categories are causing you the most trouble?

Finally, ask yourself, “If I could only solve ONE of these business processes, which one would alleviate the most pain?”

The answer to this last question is where you start. It’s the first problem you tackle because it’s the most highly leveraged.

A few more things to note: 

1. In order to make this process truly successful, and sustainable, you must look at the cultural roots of your organization. By that we mean, leadership must understand how to make wellbeing a focal point of the organization and be committed to sustaining it. Wellbeing is not “in addition to” it must be “a part of.”

2. Equally important, the organization must be filled with business processes that make wellbeing sustainable. Redundant, unnecessary, or ineffective business processes must be identified and redesigned. Your protocol here is: eliminate what it is unnecessary, automate whatever can’t be eliminated, delegate whatever must be done to the most important person. 

3. Don’t expect this process to be easy or fast. Ultimately, redesigning and optimizing business processes means behavior modification - a notoriously difficult thing for humans to do. How deeply entrenched your team(s) are in their current workflows will likely impact the amount of time it will take to right the ship. That’s why a clear and concise strategy for implementation will set you up for success. 

If you could use some help optimize business processes and improve your workplace culture here’s 3 ways we can help: 

• Subscribe to our newsletter to get more actionable content like this

• Book a complimentary consultation call and experience how we work, no strings attached. 

• Bring us in for a 60 minute seminar to teach your team the essential elements of workplace wellbeing and effectiveness