I was installing a new light fixture and of course, I consulted the instructions (the idea that a man would ignore the instructions is almost certainly a myth!). This fixture had some unique elements and it was important to put it together in the right order, otherwise you would not be able to make it work. I cruised through the first two steps, but when I got to the third, I realized it wasn’t there! It skipped right to the fourth step. There was no third step printed on the instructions. I looked at all of the other papers that came with the fixture and could not find any reference to Step 3.
After looking over the following steps, I couldn’t see anything that was “missing,” so I continued with Step 4 and the fixture was perfect! So what was the deal with the instructions? Was there a Step 3 for a similar fixture that was not relevant for this fixture? If so, why not mention that Step 3 was skipped on purpose? How could anyone, even someone with English as a second language, have proofread these instructions and not notice that there was a missing step?
Maybe, just maybe, there WAS a Step 3 and it turned out it wasn’t needed anymore. Rather than reformat the whole set of instructions, they possibly just blanked out that section. Still, this leads to confusion, and it makes me think that we rarely go back and look at our processes and procedures to see if there are unnecessary steps. Some of you reading this may be doing a Step 3 in a multi-step process that was figured out many years in the past. There was a reason for Step 3 at the time, but it is no longer needed. Yet, you are still faithfully doing Step 3, because it comes after 2 and before 4.
How many of these unnecessary steps are in your business? In your life? Conduct an inventory and root out unnecessary steps. Listen to new employees. If they question a step, don’t ignore them. Look at any steps that someone new thinks are unnecessary. If it turns out they are necessary, then clearly explain why those steps are important. If it’s extraneous, then jettison it and thank the new employee for asking good questions. You’ll get two wins: one less unnecessary process, and an employee who knows that they will be heard.
David is an international speaker, executive coach, serial entrepreneur, and shipwreck survivor. He is the bestselling author of Grounded (Little River, 2016) . If you’re interested in David’s expertise in the areas of leadership, finance, and public speaking, please get in touch here.