Elevating Essential Work in Your Organization
In the dynamic world of business, efficiency reigns supreme. Organizations constantly seek ways to optimize processes, reduce costs, and enhance customer experiences. But how do we sift through the noise—the tasks that matter from those that merely clutter our days? Let’s look at the ways to determine what makes a task valuable.
The Tasks That Matter:
These are the workhorses—the tasks that directly contribute to customer satisfaction.
Value-added tasks transform raw materials, information, or people into something better.
Customers willingly pay for these tasks because they see the value they bring.
Examples: Assembling a product, personalized customer support, or designing a new feature.
Tasks That Don’t Bring Value:
These are the impostors—the tasks that masquerade as important but don’t move the needle.
These tasks include unnecessary steps, redundancies, and delays.
If it doesn’t transform something, isn’t done right the first time, or isn’t desired by the customer, it’s a task that doesn’t bring value.
Examples: Excessive paperwork, redundant approvals, or meetings with no clear agenda.
The Guide for Highlighting These Tasks
1. Map It Out:
Go into any workflow tool (i.e., Mural, Lucid Chart, Miro) and map your workflow.
Trace the steps, interactions, detours, and decision points.
Highlight areas that make you raise an eyebrow—those suspicious tasks.
2. Get Stakeholder Input:
Listen to what your internal and external stakeholders think.
What do they genuinely want and need?
Their insights reveal hidden gems and expose the tasks that are meaningful to them.
3. Determining Value:
For each task, ask:
Does it transform something (people, info, materials)?
Is it done right the first time?
Do customers like it when they receive it or if they know about it?
If it’s a triple “yes,” it’s a keeper. If not, it probably doesn’t bring value.
4. Do You Remove or Automate?
For the tasks that don’t bring value, consider two paths:
Removal: Streamline approvals, cut unnecessary documentation, and declutter. Many activities are band-aids for problems that could be cut outright.
Automation: Automate repetitive tasks using tools like Microsoft Power Automate or Zapier. Let the machines do the tasks that humans find repetitive and boring.
The goal? Free humans from tasks that we all know are not needed and do not bring value to our customers or the organization. Employees want to work on the things that matter most and feel like they are accomplishing a goal. Fortunately, today we have the capabilities and the technology to refocus employees on the work that allows them the time to innovate, build relationships, and solve the most challenging problems.
For help in making your organization create more value reach out directly to learn more!
