Halloween has come and gone and if you’re like most of us, you are now left with a large bowlful of candy with no trick or treaters to take it away.
So what do you do with it?
Does it sit in your pantry taking up space until Easter?
Do you take it to the office hoping someone else will take it off your hands?
Or do you try to ignore it as it calls your name, begging you to partake of its chewy sugary goodness?
You know you don’t need it, but It feels wasteful to just throw it away.
Unless you’re a hardcore minimalist, we all tend to accumulate stuff long after it’s served its initial purpose. Just a quick browse at a community garage sale proves this to be true. It’s just what naturally happens while we go about juggling the demands of daily life.
But accumulating unneeded things takes up physical and psychological space. Some would say it keeps us shackled to the past and blocks the energy of transformation and the ability to maximize the power of the present moment. This is true in our personal lives but it is also true for businesses.
Businesses may accumulate tangible things such as
Old office equipment or machinery that has been replaced by newer models
Outdated inventory
Furniture that is damaged or doesn’t fit with the current office design
Old marketing materials that no longer reflect the brand’s current message or products
But it’s not just tangible items that create company clutter. There are some intangible entities that are no longer useful but continue to stick around and drag companies down. This includes
Business models that haven’t adapted to a changing world
Processes or workflows that are no longer cost-effective
Outdated understandings of customer desires and expectations
Onboarding practices and training methods that don’t resonate with newer generations of workers
When outdated approaches like these accumulate, it can weigh companies down, hinder efficient operations, depress employee morale, and decrease profit margins.
Next week, we will give you a guide for decluttering your company of outmoded processes and practices.
Until then, consider doing a company-wide assessment to identify areas that may be holding on to practices of the past that are no longer useful. There are numerous ways to do this, including:
Audit existing workflows and processes
Track KPIs and compare to industry standards
Gather and analyze customer feedback and behavior
Analyze project delays and missed deadlines
Examine rising operational costs or unexplained budget overruns
Track employee turnover and dissatisfaction
By being proactive about culling things the organization no longer needs, company leaders can make changes before they become significant obstacles to growth and efficiency. This clears up psychological space that can be used to respond to the demands of the present moment.
Getty Images from Unsplash+
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