Why Drama Drains Your Business
From the Phoenix Business Journal by Meredith Munger, Thursday May 17
Many business owners and managers don’t realize employees are their biggest asset.

Think about it: You may have the greatest product in the world, but employees are your first line of marketing, quality, customer service and more. Poor processes and too much turnover require intensive training, downtime, an unstable culture and lots of drama. That drives away customers who say, “It’s not worth it!”

Enter Barbara Heggarty of iProcess Consultants, who has been a process consultant for 25 years in Europe, Canada and the United States. When clients see their businesses aren’t doing so well, or they feel it should be doing better, Barbara conducts a “wellness check,” also known in the corporate world as a “gap analysis.” The gap refers to the missing links in your business processes. Barbara has about 50 questions for a business, and that tells her what’s going on behind the curtain. I asked her about the most common issues she saw.

First, in small businesses the owner or manager (usually the same person) has to wear many hats. That often leads to micromanagement or the view that “it won’t get done unless I do it.” This mind-set immediately limits the business.

One client works from 8 a.m. to 9:30 at night every day while also acting as the main service provider. Barbara helped her redirect her action from spending time at Costco buying candy to empowering employees to take over that responsibility and then being accountable for results.

“My goal is for the owner to have total control over your own business by increasing employee accountability,” explains Barbara.

In 99 percent of Barbara’s clients, customer service needs help. That’s a problem because bad customer services decreases customer retention and reduces referrals (or worse). Barbara starts ferreting out this issue with questions such as “When was the last time you were a customer in your own business?” By acting as your own customer, you can immediately see gaps in the process. For example, how long did it take for someone to answer the phone? How were you greeted? Did that person solve your problem, and how quickly?

Third, Barbara explains that small business is a breeding ground for what goes on in everyone’s personal life. So she helps vet drama and human limitations with many interesting questions, such as:

“Why did you choose your business partner?”
“What part of your business should you stay away from?”
“What part of the business are you best at?”
“Do you know how much time you spend weekly on drama?”
The last one is most striking. “Take away the amount of time we spend on drama in the workplace, and imagine how much time extra time we have to work,” Barbara says.

Improved employee relations and clear, effective processes help improve employee stability and customer service.

“If you’re lucky enough to have money coming in, you won’t notice the drain for a while, but it will come,” says Barbara. “You can afford to pay for the drama, but why would you want to do that?”

Meredith Munger is a principal at Munger & Co. Marketing.
Many business owners and managers don’t realize employees are their biggest asset.

Think about it: You may have the greatest product in the world, but employees are your first line of marketing, quality, customer service and more. Poor processes and too much turnover require intensive training, downtime, an unstable culture and lots of drama. That drives away customers who say, “It’s not worth it!”

Enter Barbara Heggarty of iProcess Consultants, who has been a process consultant for 25 years in Europe, Canada and the United States. When clients see their businesses aren’t doing so well, or they feel it should be doing better, Barbara conducts a “wellness check,” also known in the corporate world as a “gap analysis.” The gap refers to the missing links in your business processes. Barbara has about 50 questions for a business, and that tells her what’s going on behind the curtain. I asked her about the most common issues she saw.

First, in small businesses the owner or manager (usually the same person) has to wear many hats. That often leads to micromanagement or the view that “it won’t get done unless I do it.” This mind-set immediately limits the business.

One client works from 8 a.m. to 9:30 at night every day while also acting as the main service provider. Barbara helped her redirect her action from spending time at Costco buying candy to empowering employees to take over that responsibility and then being accountable for results.

“My goal is for the owner to have total control over your own business by increasing employee accountability,” explains Barbara.

In 99 percent of Barbara’s clients, customer service needs help. That’s a problem because bad customer services decreases customer retention and reduces referrals (or worse). Barbara starts ferreting out this issue with questions such as “When was the last time you were a customer in your own business?” By acting as your own customer, you can immediately see gaps in the process. For example, how long did it take for someone to answer the phone? How were you greeted? Did that person solve your problem, and how quickly?

Third, Barbara explains that small business is a breeding ground for what goes on in everyone’s personal life. So she helps vet drama and human limitations with many interesting questions, such as:

“Why did you choose your business partner?”
“What part of your business should you stay away from?”
“What part of the business are you best at?”
“Do you know how much time you spend weekly on drama?”
The last one is most striking. “Take away the amount of time we spend on drama in the workplace, and imagine how much time extra time we have to work,” Barbara says.

Improved employee relations and clear, effective processes help improve employee stability and customer service.

“If you’re lucky enough to have money coming in, you won’t notice the drain for a while, but it will come,” says Barbara. “You can afford to pay for the drama, but why would you want to do that?”

Meredith Munger is a principal at Munger & Co. Marketing.