Tag Archive: information

Our New Blog Site!

 

Hi there, and thanks for checking out our website!

We wanted to let you know that we have a brand new location for our blog – it’s now over on the Medium platform (Click HERE), and you can find all the latest articles from us (and other writers who we’ve approved) there.

At The Whiteboard continues to be the place to find information that will help you “Crush It At Work.” This page, on our website, contains all our archived blogs back to the very beginning (June 2012!!!). If you’re looking for our latest and greatest work, however, you need to click HERE.

  • Are you a front-line employee trying to figure out how to make improvements in what you do every day, how to be an amazing team member, how to move up in an organization, or how to build amazing relationships at work?
  • Maybe you’re a manager, trying to be amazing at your job. You’d like to improve business processes, learn how to engage your team, inspire them, coach them (ugh, what does THAT even mean?), talk to them even when it’s tough, make changes that stick, or just be “that manager” that people remember (in a good way) forever.
  • Are you a Senior Leader who wishes their team would “think more strategically” but don’t know how to explain that to them? Do you have communication issues, culture issues, and change management issues? If I asked you to explain change management to me in 25 words or less, could you? Are you trying to improve efficiency, save money, or make your customers happier? Why? How do you know there’s a problem?

If so, then our publication is for you. Search this page for our oldies-but-goodies, or click HERE to see the latest and greatest.

Thanks for reading!

The 3 habits of “Process People”

Ruth and I can see them instantly in a room full of people. A little like an oasis in the middle of a desert. The way they talk about problems. The way they describe a process. The way they doodle in their meeting notebook trying to talk about their pain point at work.  I’m pretty certain there is even a special twinkle in their eye. It is thrilling and exciting.  Total #MCM (Man Crush Monday) or #WCW (Woman Crush Wednesday) when I meet someone with process aptitude.

Want to be our #MCM or #WCW?

Learn and use the 3 habits of “Process People”

#MCM for process

#MCM for process people

1. Be a doodler:

Process people get the concept of visually representing a process. People process visual information much faster, and processes can be complex and difficult to explain with words. Getting to the root of an issue by quickly doodling that part of the process is a great way to start articulating the problem. It doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t even have to use the right shapes, just get your view of the process out on paper while you are chatting with someone. Process people’s meeting notebooks are filled with diagrams and scribbles – all a way to distill information to someone else who might not be as close to the process as they are.

2. Talk Data:

Process people understand the importance of data to baseline the performance of an existing process so that you can compare it o the new process. Make sure that you understand the impacts and details of the current process problem, and can you set targets for your future state.  What are you trying to improve, reduce, or eliminate? Improve turnaround time? Reduce change requests? Eliminate errors? Where do you want to get to?  By when?

3. Know the Players:

Process people understand that people have a huge impact on a process.  Understand all the touch points, people, positions, roles, or departments touch a process.  Then you can use our free process mapping template to take your doodles and take them one step further by using the swimlanes.

Just bringing these habits into your every day life can make you someone with “process aptitude” and that’s a great thing!

Tell us about your process #MCM’s and #WCW’s on Twitter @whiteboardcons.

Until next time,

Nicole