Nailed It! How to Create Process Recipes for Operational Success in 5 Easy Steps - Part 1 of 2

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“Nailed It!”

It’s a popular expression describing the feeling when you hit your target or your stride. It’s also the name of a popular Netflix® TV show.

On Nailed It! amateur bakers come together to re-create complex, detailed cakes and cookies with limited help. When the contestants don’t rise to the occasion, the results can be hilarious as shown in the example below where the dinosaur cake on the right is an attempted recreation of the cake on the left.

This sheds a humorous light on the importance of recipes.

What went wrong?

We’ve all heard people say, “The process is broken.” But what does that really mean? How do you know when a process is broken?

That's what we'll explore in this two-part article. Let’s pretend you run a fast-growing lemonade business. We’ll go behind the curtain of your operation so you’ll learn how to identify, document, and improve “broken” processes in 5 steps.

But first, let’s start with defining a process.

A Process is a Business Recipe

My definition of a business process is “The sequential order of steps necessary to achieve a desired result.” It represents the conversion of inputs into outputs.

Processes are like recipes for your organization's operations. Well-written recipes ensure consistent results. Producing lemonade according to your specifications requires inputs (lemons, water, some type of sweetener) and a detailed recipe (process) to create lemonade (output). Like recipes, processes that omit certain steps, tools, and people can yield disastrous results.

Step #1: Identify Processes Per Department

In a previous article, I described exercises for identifying tasks, writing them onto index cards, and later grouping them into departments.

Suppose you notice that certain tasks within your Accounting department when further grouped, form the foundation for a “Billing” or "Accounts Receivable" process. 

Step #2: Document the Process

Place this sub-grouping of tasks in sequential order.

Now it’s time to figure out the best way to document the actual process. There are many ways including a standard operating procedure, checklists, and video. In this example, we’re going to represent the process as a flowchart. You can use tools like MS Visio, Miro, and Lucidchart to achieve this.

Add a starting and ending point as well as arrows to your process to show the flow of information.

We're Just Getting Started

At this point, you have an initial draft of your process, but it doesn't tell you much. For example, you don't have an idea of where the process can go wrong, what the remediation steps are, or how long it takes to complete the process.

It's like having the ingredients and basic steps for making lemonade, but not the specific tools to use, the timing, or how to troubleshoot mistakes.

Stay tuned for part 2 where I'll share the remaining three steps. They include how to add more detail to a process to help you figure out where it can go wrong and how to improve your recipe for success so that it can be followed by anyone and yield the same, consistent result.

Subscribe to this newsletter to receive a notification when part 2 arrives. You can also connect with me here on LinkedIn.

*Elements of this article first appeared on Equilibria’s Blog.

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Alicia Butler Pierre is the Founder & CEO of Equilibria, Inc. – an operations management firm specializing in business infrastructure for fast-growing small businesses. She’s the author of the two-time Amazon bestseller Behind the Façade and host of the top 2% Business Infrastructure podcast. Alicia’s also an adjunct instructor of Lean Principles at Purdue University. A chemical engineer turned entrepreneur, she’s advised, designed, and optimized processes for companies including Shell Oil, Coca-Cola, and The Home Depot.