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Take the 7-Day Streamline Challenge
There’s a lot to be said for effective time management to help us get the most out of our days. Some recommend setting daily goals and assessing how much was achieved at the end of each day. However, we don’t always think about the role of streamlining processes in time management and cost savings.
I can remember when I worked as a financial analyst for the Chief Financial Officer at Mount Sinai Hospital here in Chicago. He was tasked with working with the Chief Operating Officer to take the entire Mount Sinai Health System through a total quality management process (TQM) to streamline processes and eliminate redundancies. They asked all the line managers to work with their employees to map out their processes to identify bottlenecks and opportunities for efficiencies in the process and cost savings. They used a number of methods, including flow charting, observation, interviews and financial analysis to realize significant savings in money and time. Time and resources saved on redundant processes were re-directed to processes that generated income or were deemed higher priority.
Streamlining processes doesn’t have to be “rocket science”. Tara McMullin, the Founder of the What Works Network, has demystified the practice of documenting processes for our personal lives and businesses. She wrote, “If I asked you to write down your process for making coffee…
