From a small retail store to an international conglomerate, having efficient business processes is important for any organization. Those processes may look very different in practice, but the goals of business operations are often the same. You want to streamline the work, make things as easy as possible on your employees, and ultimately create a great end product. 

If you have not taken a hard look at your organization’s processes lately, it may be a good time to check in on them. While they may have worked when you first implemented them, there is usually room for improvement. After all, one of the most dangerous phrases in the English language is “well, we’ve always done it this way.”

Not only is it important to assess your operations for effectiveness, you also want to look at them from the standpoint of diversity and inclusion. There are a few ways you can start making your methods more inclusive for all of your employees.

Document Your Processes

Verbally relaying procedures leaves too much room for interpretation, which can lead to errors. All employees, including those with diversabilities (diverse abilities), excel when processes are clear, concise, and easy to understand. 

When you start documenting your processes, it helps to do so using a variety of mediums, including:

  • Written
  • Graphic
  • Auditory

Offering more than one method for learning these operations is a great way to make people with different learning styles and abilities comfortable. It also sets them up for success within your company from the beginning. 

In addition, you should take the time to teach these processes and allow for questions. For people who are deaf or hard of hearing, you may also consider CART services (communication access real time translation) for this type of training.

Have Employees Test Your Documented Processes

One place where management can miss the mark when it comes to processes is in testing. There is a tendency to believe that if the procedure works for one individual, it should work for everyone. This is rarely the case.

Having a variety of people test your processes can help you find holes that you may not have considered. You should choose people who work differently, or even who work on different teams, to test these processes. This will give you a wide spectrum of feedback that can help you to improve documentation.

Streamline With Your Culture

You want your message to come through loud and clear in everything you do, from your marketing down to your processes. Your employees will see and interact with these on a daily basis. If your company policy includes diversity and inclusion, you want to make sure that your business procedures do too.

Applied Development can help you tailor your both your internal and external messaging through our strategic communications service. Our team has experience in a variety of industries and we do not believe in a cookie-cutter strategy. Your team, operations, and messaging are all unique, which means your communications should be custom, too. 

If you have questions about ways to align your company processes with diversity and inclusion initiatives, give us a call at 410.571.4016 or drop us a line here. 

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