Are you high maintenance…..?
So after every significant project or initiative you handover into Business As Usual, and move onto the next big thing. For instance, you’ve managed to achieve some impressive reductions and minimised your reliance on paper…….
– with onsite paper volumes reduced by 70%
– savings of 50% on storage and printing costs
…..(all very possible) and your “Paper-Lite” initiative is deemed a resounding success. But that is only the start.
Unless you put a maintenance plan in place, you will be back to where you started in a very short space of time, and all of the time, effort and resource you have put into the initiative will be wasted. You may even find yourself facing having to re-run the entire exercise a second time and the likelihood of achieving the same results second time around are far less as the message is no longer a new one.
Continuous Improvement
So the key to success means you also need a maintenance plan to continue the new practices you have put in place and to ensure the technology used in a consistent manner.
– Refresh your e-filing Standard on a regular basis – a static document that never changes as your new working practices evolve will quickly become out of date and irrelevant.
– Allocate responsibility to someone within each team/group to maintain your paper volume standards – make it an objective in their appraisal to take responsibility for ensuring standards are maintained and onsite paper does not mount up.
– Continue your regular monthly “Tidy Fridays” or “de-clutter” days allowing staff to dress down or provide an incentive of some sort to encourage and motivate people to take part. These regular days allow everyone to plan for them too, making them much more effective as commitments can be scheduled around them.
– Encourage teams/groups to create their own bespoke maintenance plan that works for them, the way they work and which will address the areas they find particularly hard to maintain.
– Continue to explore different and new technologies to replicate the use of physical paper and the ease by which information is retrieved. Pilot this to keep teams engaged and build it into their day to day working practices
– Continuous review and feedback will ensure that the teams are constantly building on the best practice they have created. Continuous improvement or processes and working practices will ensure that the paper reduction moves in a downward rather than upward direction.
For more information, assistance and/or support with your Paper-Lite initiative, call or email Adrienne