Over the past few years, I have realized the importance of process. If there is no process for doing something, then I invent one. For example, writing this article involves having a template. Once I have decided on the subject I’m going to write about I start to create the blog with a lead. Then I move to the anecdote, make the point, provide the rationale and then close, sometimes with a question. I then create the title and select an image. It’s a process.
Why do I do this? Well, I realized that if I do something regularly it makes sense to follow the same repeatable steps so that I am not constantly re-creating or re-inventing. That takes away from the time I want to spend in the creative area rather than administration. I can become more efficient and spend time being innovative about the task rather than worrying about how to do it each time.
A process allows me to ensure I stay the course, to always have the final destination in mind and be creative within a framework.
So I now have templates that allow me to follow simple steps towards the desired outcome. I also have a process for packing, for my daily journal, for my weekly review, for setting my annual goals and for my business plan.
I also have a process I introduce to clients for relationship building with their major clients. It’s a process that helps maintain and improve their stellar client relationships.
Why is this so important? Back in the 1990’s British anthropologist Robin Dunbar came up with what is know as Dunbar’s number which is a suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom we can maintain stable social relationships. The relationships were defined as those where an individual knows who each person is and how each person relates to every other person.
Dunbar found a correlation between a primate brain size and average social group size. By using the average human size brain and extrapolating from the results of primates he arrived at a number of 150.
What does this mean for us? We need to be efficient and effective in the engagement of our relationships and ensure we are focused and prioritizing. We need a process.
So what is the process? It has six simple steps and is a process within a process that helps anyone managing key customers to identify, evaluate and measure their relationships and progress against specific relationships targets. I’ll explain it in some detail in my next article and provide information on why, where and how it can be used. But if you can’t wait, then please feel free to go to click here and more will be explained.
Peter M. Beaumont is a Management Consultant, Founder of ConnXN and is a Consultant for Pivotal Advisors. He is the author of “The Relationship Roadmap” and works with senior managers of B2B companies to increase profits quicker by managing Strategic Accounts differently. See more at www.ConnXN.net
