Since starting on the journey of workflow improvements, we've covered many areas that you can focus on to make things better. This includes the processes themselves as well as the potential for hardware and software to assist. But one avenue we haven't covered is the people aspect of things. Leveraging your team and employees are often one of the best ways of finding and implementing workflow improvements.
Of course one of the first things you can do is to get your team members involved in the process. Often the folks on the frontline, know the most about the various intricacies of your workflows and processes. Bring your team in early into the process to help ferret out the most beneficial things to work on while striving towards improvement. Let them help you to brainstorm and implement solutions and truly listen to their feedback along the way. The more their involved in the process the more they'll be invested in helping to drive towards success.
Sometimes though the improvements are less about the processes themselves but instead about how well or even quickly someone can perform a specific task. Maybe there's a particularly challenging part of one of your workflows that seems to take forever to get done, but one of your employees is able to get it done in a fraction of the time. Leverage this employee to train the other team members on how to perform the task. Maybe there's some tricks or ways that they perform the task that isn't readily apparent, that help them get the task done faster. Use specific training sessions or even a topic in a staff meeting for this kind of knowledge sharing and to level up your entire team.
Another thing you can consider for process improvements is how you reward your team. In many cases team members might get paid the same amount regardless of how a workflow or process is performed. If the process is tied to getting product out the door for your customers, then the quality and quantity might matter quite a bit to your business. You could potentially invoke a reward system for those who excel. For example in the screen printing business, you could provide a salary bonus if X number of shirts are printed above a particular baseline in a day, week or even month. These rewards can be tied to individual team members or the team as a whole. And the rewards don't always have to be tied to one's paycheck. They can be paid time off, gift cards to stores and restaurants or even for big accomplishments within a quarter or year, a paid vacation package to somewhere special. Figure out what your team would appreciate and what things you can do to motivate them to improve their performance.
At the end of the day, your improvements won't always come from a single change you make. It's important to utilize all the avenues for improvements with your team likely being at the center of anything you do. Don't overlook the people aspect of your business but instead leverage them to turbocharge your workflows.