Before Steph, Digital Improvement Lead at Todd Energy, automated their staff and contractor...

Making Process Improvement a Priority
Making Process Improvement a Priority
The best process improvement initiative is the one that gets done.
It’s simple. The best type of process improvement initiative at your company is the one that gets done.
Not the major project that you keep talking about but never action. Not the “current-state” process mapping exercise that ticks a box but has no follow-up actions.
No.
The BEST type is the one that you action.
Where you ship improvements.
For process improvement to have a true impact, your employees need to be able to touch and feel it. They need to feel the impact of those improvements in their everyday working life, no matter how big or small.
Process improvement is affected by momentum. By regularly shipping improvements – even the smallest improvements – you begin to build a culture of change.
We see this with our own clients. It’s why Flowingly often starts off being used by a single department and within 2 years is used company-wide. Because the Operations team starts automating some processes, then the HR team takes a peek, then Sales, Finance and so on.
When they ask how the other team did it, the answer is simple. “We started.”
This applies to both methodologies and platforms.
Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, Agile. They all work.
No-code, low-code, mapping, mining, RPA. They all work too.
Each of these methodologies and platform types will have an impact when done well.
The question you need to ask is “which one can we action?”

Process improvement is affected by momentum. By regularly shipping improvements – even the smallest improvements – you begin to build a culture of change.
Bonus for making it this far…
Here are some tips for creating effective process improvement initiatives in your organization.
1. Be honest about your constraints
Got a decent sized team of developers? Great. All of the platform types listed above are options to you.
If not, cross off low-code, RPA and process mining.
Genuine support and vision for process improvement from the exec team? Business-wide process mapping is a great option.
If not, don’t even try.
Be very honest with yourself about your constraints. Without acknowledging them, you will end up with false starts and inaction.
2. Focus on consistency
What can the business continuously maintain over the coming years?
What can you consistently deploy?
You want to choose a tool that works for you today AND in 2 years’ time.
You might have a couple of weeks in January to dedicate to building that highly-integrated, uber-automated workflow. But will you then be swamped with BAU for the rest of the year?
Consistent effort is key to process improvement.
3. Get started
Action creates momentum.
Many of the successful process initiatives that I have seen are business-driven. Often, they are started by one or two people who are fed up with the status quo.
Every business needs doers.
You hear commentators mention it on the sports field all the time. “She really leads by example”. What they are saying is that she is doing the right things, and the others are inspired to follow.
The same goes in the workplace.
4. And once you’ve done this…keep improving
No process is perfect. No way.
Focus on shipping improvements – not aiming for perfection.
Maybe it’s making a process slightly more streamlined by removing an unnecessary step. Maybe it’s automating an approval that takes your team 10 minutes every day.
By continuously shipping improvements you will begin to build a culture of continuous improvement within yourself and the people around you.
Book a demo and see Flowingly process mapping and workflow automation for yourself. 👇
Blog
Find articles covering all your workflow needs. From creating better processes to change management.
How Process Automation Reduces Admin Work
Process Optimisation: The Case For Automation First vs. Mapping First
The question of process mapping vs process automation comes up all the time when figuring out how...
Making Process Improvement a Priority
The best process improvement initiative is the one that gets done. It’s simple. The best type of...
5 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting with Workflow Automation
1. Don’t attack your biggest process first (even if it’s your most broken) You’re hosting a dinner...
Celebrating Flowingly’s $4.5m Fundraise!
A letter from the CEO Last week we announced that Flowingly had secured an incredible $4.5m in...
Overview – 2022 R1
We’ve levelled up our public forms. For our first release of 2022 we wanted to focus on improving...
Process Mapping and Automation – Better Together
A lot of businesses approach us with a single platform requirement. Maybe they’re looking for...
Overview – 2021 R5
Just when we thought our developers were done for the year, they pulled a last release out of the...
How to Build Successful Workflows
You’ve heard that automating your workflows will give you all sorts of productivity and visibility...
Overview – 2021 R4
The Only-Relevant-Stuff release For every 200 work emails you receive in the day, 144 of them are...
Favorite Recipes – 2021 R2
With Flowingly integrations giving you access to endless options in your tech stack, we asked our...
Release Notes – 2021 R2
Introducing Flowingly Integrations When it comes to reducing time spent on work-about-work,...
The quickest wins of process improvement
Nothing replaces a robust process review and improvement process but unfortunately, we don’t...
The best processes come from within
Empowering your team to own their processes.Business processes are core to competitive advantage....
35 processes you should be automating now!
Bogged down with manual tasks? There’s a fix for you. Each of these processes can be automated in...
Release Notes – 2021 R1
With our latest release, Flowingly becomes the ideal solution for organizations looking to get...
The Best Features from 2020
Last year Flowingly focused on a rapid release of new features which had been requested by our...
Control Hazards & Risk in the Workplace
Worksafe New Zealand recommends organizations continuously review workplace health and safety by...
Release Notes – 2020 R4
Earlier this year, Flowingly saw us release a raft of Process Mapping upgrades. Well, that wasn’t...
Assign a New Contractor
When we talk with companies across the construction, engineering and manufacturing industries, the...
Release Notes – 2020 R2
Our most recent release of Flowingly signifies a huge upgrade to the Process Mapping capabilities...
Process an Invoice
Processing invoices is possibly the most frequent and essential accounts payable process....
Expense Claim
In most organizations, particularly those that require staff to travel, it’s common for employees...