In my current contracted role, I took on the huge process of bringing the building's cafe space in-house. Formerly on a concessionary licence to a private company, there was no connection to the charities ethos, no control over consistency, quality or cleanliness, not to mention a much needed income going elsewhere. I took a business plan to the Trustees, who agreed it, and the project began!
Having never been involved with the space before, all the processes and systems needed to be created from scratch, to enable the day-to-day running of the space, and almost one year into the project and they need to be fully evaluated and documented to ensure consistency when training new staff, but also to see where improvements can be made.
And so began my latest immersion into Process Flowcharts.
In a previous role, the whole department was thrown in at the deep end doing a GDPR and data security audit, using a process flowchart. There was no training and some complicated referral processes to map but we muddled through, teaching each other as we went. It was not the best introduction to flowcharts but never the less, they became a very valuable tool for working with small business' and organisations, helping identify changes and where efficiency and consistency could be improved.
Not only a great tool for documenting processes, but also a great way of visualising and understanding complicated processes and a way to analyse and evaluate if they are working well.
To ensure I don't become complacent and to be the best support possible to the clients I work with, I have recently completed two refresher courses in process flowcharts and once again have been reminder just what a valuable development tool they are.