TR_Mar-Apr_2023-LR

OPERATIONS

PROCESS DOCUMENTATION

Process Map Your Way to Success DOCUMENTING YOUR PROCESSES ALLOWS YOU TO RUN AN EFFICIENT, PROFITABLE BUSINESS.

your business running. Properly developed, your process maps are a visual representation of what the company does on a regular basis. They allow you to take a bird’s-eye view and make the changes necessary for the health of the organization. Maps pave the way for consistent procedures and open the doors to competent projections. Process maps are the foundation for efficiency in your business. WHAT PROCESSES SHOULD BE DOCUMENTED? The first order of business is to determine the company’s core processes. To do that, review the SIPOC, or customer’s journey. Once you’ve identified and documented your core processes, you will discover subprocesses that stem from your core processes. Next, you can document internal processes, such as onboarding new team members. HOW DO YOU BEGIN? To begin process mapping, fight the urge to learn and implement all the shapes and tools available in your chosen software. Keep it simple; use only around four standard shapes the first time around: terminators, process boxes, decision diamonds, and subprocess boxes. Implementing processes can be complicated enough. There’s no need to add to that by using additional shapes that require a college course (only half joking) to learn. The flow of your process maps should be linear from left to right; you are not creating a mind map that explodes over the page. As you move across the screen, organize your processes in swim lanes that clearly define what role or position is responsible for each step.

by Gary Harper

any real estate investors can grow their companies to a point, but then no matter how hard they grind, the desired success doesn’t follow. What’s keeping these companies from achieving their full potential? If this scenario sounds familiar, what your company is likely missing M

is an established process. The best way to give your team the structure needed to reach the next level of growth is to document your processes using process maps. So, what is process mapping? Process mapping is the documentation of what you do to deliver value and to keep

40 | think realty magazine :: march – april 2023

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