Throughout my career I've always thought of effective Human Resources management as being a partner in operational decision-making.  Sometimes it's the case that there are real operational issues involved where a skilled Human Resources professional can lend a hand...

In a recent case I was called in when there was an apparent problem with personalities and work stress.  After interviewing the staff involved I was able to identify that there was a problem in communication and direction to be resolved with the introduction of new software to aid is tracking contact with customers and suppliers.  We also did some re-tasking and introduced new processes to reduce the number of 'touches' on a particular file or task -- a common problem I encounter.

This latter piece is what I jokingly refer to as 'weed whacking' a process -- over time, processes become so overgrown and convoluted that the staff gets bogged down in the paperwork.  It's so much part of the environment that the operational managers can't see the problem for the weeds. 

Signs that it's time for a 'weed whacking' session:

1. Lots of spreadsheets -- as much as I like spreadsheets they often become a crutch for storing, manipulating, and processing information that should be done by other systems.  For many of my clients, the cost of developing, maintaining, and reconciling their contents becomes a 'mini-industry' within their organizations.  It's a hidden cost of administration that should be challenged regularly.
2. Too many 'touches' -- I frequently find that processes evolve in a way that results in too many people handling and re-handling a file or document or decision.  Every time a document gets handled the costs, and the chances for error increased.   Simplify, simplify, simplify.  Give authority to staff to act within guidelines - things will move faster and error potential is reduced if this is done appropriately.  I often refer to these processes as 'paper churns' -- a whole lot of activity with very little production at the end of the day.
   
   As I was writing this I received an article that illustrates the point:  "Robert Waterman Jr. wrote about Chiyoshi Misawa, founder and president of Misawa Homes -- the largest homebuilder in Japan. At least once every decade he "dies" to arrest the momentum of out-of-date assumptions and policies. He sends a memo to his company that formally announces "the death of your president."   This is his way of forcing the whole company to rethink everything. When employees resist change because they are used to the old way of doing things, Misawa declares: "That was the way things were done under Mr. Misawa. He is now dead. Now, how shall we proceed?"
3. Excessive Email / Convoluted decision-making -- I am often called to the table regarding 'performance issues'.  In many of those cases, the 'real' problem was a perceived failure to communicate.  The work and the decision are just fine -- it's just some manager along the way that was annoyed that they weren't consulted or informed to their satisfaction.  I like good communicators, I respect the need to communicate, but sometimes it is just overkill -- not everyone needs to know everything.  Every decision does not require everyone's agreement --  Employees should be empowered to make decisions within the limits of their authority and those limits should be well-known to all.  Excessive internal email conversations are a sign that decision-making processes are out of control.

If you recognize these signs in your organization it may be time for a 'weed whacking' session!

If you have any questions or examples from your own experience please feel free to post a comment.

I can be reached at msimon@simon-hr.com

Matthew.