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Process Before (almost) Everything Else: Transforming Leadership with Samuel Drauschak
48 Plays4 months ago
I recently sat down with Samuel Drauschak to explore what process-driven leadership really means – and how you actually build empathy and connection if you get it right.
Listen out for the question he suggests you ask your people if you want to get more of the RIGHT things done.
Highlights:
- What is Process Leadership? Learn the key differences between process-driven and data-driven leadership (and why you should care about either).
- Real-Life Transformations: Hear about how it worked on the ground.
- Practical Tips: Get actionable advice on where to start with process mapping and who to involve.
- Empathy and Efficiency: Understand how connecting with your team is the key to better processes and better business.
- Beyond Business: Find out how process principles can be applied to your personal life – because we’re all trying to improve aren’t we?!
Connect with Sam here:
- Website: Truvel.com
- LinkedIn: Sam Drauschak
Got a question for me? I’m just a message away on LinkedIn.
Subscribe and Review: Subscribe now and leave a review to help me bring more brilliant people into conversations that help leaders just like you.
Click here to get your free copy of my Leader's Guide to Increasing Your Impact, Influence & Free Time
Got a question for me? I’m just a message away on LinkedIn.
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Transcript
The Core of Leadership: Understanding Processes
00:00:00
Speaker
Leaders, in my opinion, should understand processes very deeply and use that as the center of how they lead their teams and how they lead their organization. Process can elevate you. It helps people stay organized. It helps people get structure. It helps you measure the right things. How many people are doing it right? Not many at all.
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome to the show. I'm Corinne Hines and this is the Visible Leader Podcast.
00:00:30
Speaker
I take a practical approach to leadership, unpacking the art and science of leading effectively. And together with my guests, I explore topics like how to unlock meeting gridlock. Is it even possible? And how to get great performance without the need for dreaded appraisals.
Human-Centric Process Mapping
00:00:58
Speaker
This week, I chatted with Sam Droschak, who brought process mapping to life in a way I'd not really seen before. He made it deeply human. So if you're thinking that you've got too much on your plate to consider process mapping, then have a listen. Obviously, like most things in life, it starts with your people. So listen out for this showstopper question to ask. people that maybe you don't interact with in the business that frequently. If you ask this one, I think you'll get some really interesting replies which could help you get significant improvements in efficiency. I look forward to hearing what you think.
Process-Driven Leadership Explained
00:01:40
Speaker
a
00:01:43
Speaker
Welcome Sam Droschak to my podcast. It's nice to have you here. Thank you for having me. First question really is what is process driven leadership and how is it different from everything else? So process driven leadership, or I just call it process leadership, it's different in the sense that leaders, in my opinion, should understand processes very deeply and use that as the center of how they interact with their people and how they lead their teams and how they lead their organization. And you could say.
00:02:17
Speaker
It's a little bit different than data-driven leadership, even in the sense that knowing your process gives you context and a very specific context. So I'll just start with that, but it's very much like having the know so you can be in the know of what your people are doing on a day-to-day basis and lead from that position. Okay.
Data-Driven vs. Process-Driven Leadership
00:02:35
Speaker
You said there's a distinction between data and process. What would a data-driven leader look like that's different from a process-driven one? So if if you think about even, and I'll just compare it, an emotionally driven leader may not be looking at numbers or metrics ah to manage their operation. A data-driven leader, which people would would often say is a step up from that, is they're actually looking at the numbers coming into their desk. So let's say sales numbers, something basic like production numbers, and if those numbers are going up or down, they're data-driven. They lead based on those decisions.
00:03:07
Speaker
But that still if you could be a few steps removed from understanding how those numbers are being generated, understanding the work that the people are doing to actually create that data. So process data is a type of data, but it's a specific thing to know as a leader, which is to say, these are the actual people and systems and inputs and costs. And this is how this data is actually being generated that tells me signs about my business. So one could say it's a level deeper than just data driven because that could be very high level.
The Consequences of Process Ignorance
00:03:39
Speaker
Can you give me an example where you've worked with somebody that has not been very process led, the results of what that looked like in their business and what they did differently and what it looked like afterwards? Yeah, I'd say. I have a bias because pretty much everyone I've worked with is that scenario because they've reached out to me because they realize we need a little bit more process knowledge so we can be better equipped to run our business or manage our teams. But most of the time when a business doesn't have that process knowledge, it's leading by guesswork, by instinct. You can even have a small team. I had a client recently with a team of 100 people or the whole company was about 100 people and they were the the leader of it.
00:04:21
Speaker
And they had access to all the data that the company provided, but without context, without that level of process knowledge of where's this data being generated and how, it still was very much, I think you need to do more of this or I think you need to do more of that. And the leader just has to fall on his gut because there's no connectivity between outcomes and process. And in that, it's the sense of disorientation and the results are mixed. So you ask, what's the result of that? Well, it's how a lot of businesses are run today. It's probably the most common way businesses are run, which is leaders make calls. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. There's not a consistency or an accuracy about what they do or precision, let's say. And that leads to sometimes good and sometimes bad. And that can be sort of, you're the leader of the day based on what that outcome is.
00:05:11
Speaker
So people come to you, what's going on for them where they might reach for
Indicators of Process Improvement Needs
00:05:15
Speaker
you? Cause I'm thinking there might be a number of things going on for them. They are overwhelmed. They feel like the customer is very demanding. Nobody has got any time in the day. The strategy might be something that is. a little confusing or very much lives at the board level. So there's all sorts of things going on. what What would make someone go, okay, this is a process thing that we need to look at? Most of the time, it's when the situation you said where people are now working 110%, that there's no more capacity. Everyone's slowly over the years, the business is growing, everyone says is they're successful, but they've suddenly gone from working 40 to 50 to 60 to 70 hours a week.
00:06:01
Speaker
And there's nothing left. And what happens is the organization ends up becoming under distress. And what most people at a certain point in their evolution realize is, I can't keep buying more headcount. I can't keep hiring more people that are just absorbing all these extra hours that are just exploding out of control. And when they reach out into the market to to figure out what's going on, or they reach out to their mentor, or they sit down and think about it, most people then tell them, you have to automate. You have to focus on cutting costs. And that conversation usually leads people eventually to the idea that, I don't know how to do this effectively. I don't understand how to automate processes. I don't know how to manage my processes. There's various levels of realization, but it's typically that situation that you mentioned where people are overworking. There's this looming sense of burnout and they have to do something and it usually leads them down this process path. So let me give you an example, the manufacturer.
00:06:54
Speaker
They're maxed out. There isn't much capacity. They're trying to work out what to start with first. And if they think about it from a process place, what could they do themselves? Where could they make some progress just working on this themselves? Most of the time, if you just start writing down your processes, your common sense kicks on and you start to have a lot of ideas of how you can improve.
Documenting Processes for Improvement
00:07:21
Speaker
A lot of times the problems that come to your desk as a leader when your processes are starting to fail are symptoms of a bad process. And it's very easy to lose yourself just chasing around symptoms and trying to put out fires without understanding why those fires are starting. So the easiest thing you can do for yourself is in whatever way is most comfortable for you is start writing down your processes so that you can actually see them.
00:07:43
Speaker
When you can look at them external to yourself, when you can see them outside of your own head or your own conception of what they are, all of a sudden, common sense, wisdom comes to you. And it's one of those things that that can help a lot of people make real decisions and not just, I'm going to just put this fire out, but how can I actually systemically fix some of the aspects of my business that I might have missed? So so writing it down is the first step always. Where? Not where to write it down, but Like realistic, they've got an MD, he's got a management team. What process to start with? Who does he involve? And I'm saying he, and I feel sad, but quite a few of my clients are he, so that's why and up um I'm thinking of a particular client, so that's why it's a he. He probably knows who he is, as I'm saying this, but yeah, so be be really specific. that they Set aside some time for this.
00:08:39
Speaker
Right. So it's always, it's a great question. First of all, it's like what processes to write down because that could be anything. How do I just start writing stuff down? The strategy that you want to think about at a high level is where is most of your revenue being generated? you know follow the 80-20 rule, right? What are the single processes that are generating the most revenue from my business from end to end? That could be from whenever the customer demands something to whenever you make it and then you fulfill it. And that could be service, that could be a product company. So in most companies, you want to think about your core revenue operating processes first, because if you fix those, it's going to give your business the biggest lift.
00:09:14
Speaker
So focus on from the customer perspective, what's the first step and write it through all the way to when that customer gets what he needs. That should be your first process. Because again, it's more just, that's going to be your biggest lift if you start improving there. And then once you build the muscle, then you can start looking at all your processes, your shared services, your lesser revenue generating processes, but kind of start where the money's at, so to speak.
Inclusive Process Involvement
00:09:35
Speaker
No, nice. I can just see people going, okay, I get that. And then who should you involve? everyone who's actually making that process happen. So in in lean, and this is in the Japanese methodology, there's this really great concept called Genba, which roughly translates to the actual place.
00:09:56
Speaker
And the actual place, when you do a Gemba walk-in lane, it's when you're talking about who should be involved in telling you the process, you want to talk to the people who are in the actual place where the value creation is happening as much as possible. And that could be virtually too, but you've got to talk to the people who have their hands on it. So if I'm going to walk through and look at What is my my largest revenue generating process from end to end? Whose hand touches that process in making the product or service from end to end and talk to all the people who are involved in one instance of it. Those are the people that you want to be involved in understanding what they're doing. And that's where I'd start and have real conversations with them and write down what they tell you. Okay. So you're actually getting out there. You're not just sat on your own in a boardroom.
00:10:38
Speaker
Yes. And that's sort of the whole process leadership mentality, you know, where we started, which is if you want to be that real leader, it's not that outlandish, even in very large companies to know, to know how your number one product, let's say, is actually created. It's just a few hours and a few conversations sometimes to actually get that knowledge and know how it's done. So you're not in the ivory tower and you're not making decisions from the boardroom. And I think That's so critical and people underestimate how simple that process is to actually capture and understand.
Empathy in Process Mapping
00:11:09
Speaker
When we first spoke and I was thinking process mapping, I felt, this is going to be a bit dry.
00:11:17
Speaker
And maybe it's the opposite of what I'm interested in, because I'm interested in people and relationships and empathy and being emergent and and all of those things. And I thought, oh God, process mapping, that sounds like boring piece of paper that gets shoved into a folder and we don't look at it again. Oh, you are changing my mind, Sam. But when I say all those words, you know, all the all those different types of leadership styles. They seem like polar opposites, but i I'm getting the impression that they're not really, but convince me. First of all, i' say I'm glad i'm I'm starting to shift your opinion a little bit because I will say in this line of work, what I've learned is it's engendered more empathy and more authentic sympathy in me than anything else. When you're talking to the people who are doing the things and you understand what it feels like to work an 80-hour week,
00:12:11
Speaker
Because leaders work an 80-hour week. Leaders can work 100-hour a week, but it's different from somebody on your factory floor or on the frontline selling working an 80-hour week and the pressure that they feel and understanding that they're working that much because of convoluted system choices that I as a leader have made for them or because I'm not resourcing them properly or I'm not enabling them to be successful. It's one thing when you're spinning your wheels and you don't know what you're doing, it's another thing to watch people who just want to come to work and do a good job on behalf of the company And they don't understand enough to help themselves do better and that's your job as a leader and i would say doing process work you're having those conversations. Anything more than anything it makes you feel more connected to your people to the people who are actually doing the work for you.
00:12:57
Speaker
And I spend a lot of my time doing this work on for my own companies and for my clients where I want people to have good work-life balance. And a lot of that is a matter of not just saying it and throwing it into the air and feeling like you should balance your work and your life, but giving them the tools, giving them better processes, creating more adaptability. That's something that I have to do. And I think it a lot of it is teaching you to to take accountability for that. Yeah, nice. I love that connection with the shop floor, and you're going to listen. As such a big part of what I'm doing when I'm working with leaders, it's helping them listen more and tune in. So this comes from a from a place that feels quite familiar. The thing is, when I try to equate what you're talking about to some of the examples that I've encountered over the years, I feel they're completely different. So let me let me give you one example.
00:13:50
Speaker
One c client I know has standard operating procedures and they sound like a really good idea. They're a really complex manufacturing business, very high tech, and I've not actually ever looked at them. I've just heard them be talked about in meetings and they sound like the bane of everyone's life. They're always out of date. That is harsh. They're not always out of date. they are they're you know They're pretty on it, but it feels like, oh my God, if only we could do this without those bloody procedures, and I'm wondering what your thoughts are about that. Well, my first thought is I'm sure the SOPs are out of date. It's impossible to keep SOPs in tape for the most part. yeah So there's two ways you can look at process, right? And and this is where we we could spend the rest of the episode just talking about what is process. It's such a broad term, and it means so many things to different people. To a lot of people, ah SOP means process. It means structure. It means constraint. It means stifling. It means bureaucracy.
00:14:49
Speaker
It's not necessarily the case. A lot of times documentation should be looked at and SOP should be looked at to train people to refer to, to maybe pass an audit. There's some functions to it, but it shouldn't just be the thing because it needs to be the thing. A lot of times when it's the bane of somebody's existence is because they've got an 80 hour job and then on top of it, somebody says, you need to go update this SOP. That's not helping anyone and it doesn't serve any point. And that becomes very depressing, disappointing. But process doesn't have to be that way. A lot of times, if you talk about building an s SOP in my world, it's because you've just changed a process to make it better and you need an s SOP so you can train or so you can actually have as a reference for new employees. And you should have another process in place on top of the SOP so that it doesn't become such a bear to update. The point I guess I'm trying to make is
00:15:38
Speaker
Process should always be helping you save time and become more efficient. If process is ever associated in your mind with something that's drudgerous or wasting your time, then you're not doing it right. It's kind of this idea that we got the wrong impression. So we say, well, I'm not going to do this whole process thing because it's just annoying and it's a time suck. I don't see the value in it. So then you just turn around and you just do chaos and you just go about your day and just do whatever you want. And that's not helping anyone either.
Benefits and Challenges of Efficient Processes
00:16:04
Speaker
you have to first change that narrative that process is a constraint process can elevate you it helps people stay organized it helps people get structure it helps you measure the right things um so that in a nutshell is kind of what i'm talking about how many people are doing it right not many at all it's one of those things where it's made my career very
00:16:25
Speaker
ah fun because there's a lot of opportunity, but it's also challenging because a lot of people have this toxic narrative. And ah we are coming from a few decades where the only people who knew process were assembly line people who said like, I put a process in place so that now your job is just screwing this nut in all day for eight hours a day. And nobody likes that. Everyone's afraid of that. They associate that with cubicle culture and lack of creativity. um So it's sort of a new process renaissance in a way because of all this massive digitization we're going through and now people need it. But in a way, it's brand new. Not a lot of people know anything about it. And a lot of people need help.
Human-Driven Processes and Natural Systems
00:17:01
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think you're right. I think the thing that people have in their head isn't what you're talking about.
00:17:09
Speaker
a hello I'm just pulling you away from this episode because I want to share with you how you can get a copy of the free guide that I've created in which I share with you several of the techniques that I use with my coaching clients today and that you can use too, which will help you create more of an impact as a leader, have more influence and the holy grail, have more time away from the doing.
00:17:41
Speaker
You can use this time for key things like focusing on strategic thinking or go for a bike ride. If you want to grab the free guide, check out the show notes and click on the link.
00:17:59
Speaker
You've written a book and you've got a theory about process which really kind of took me somewhere. I was like, okay, that's not what I was expecting. Yeah, I think to put it simply, and maybe this will help kind of this conversation we're having about changing people's minds about it. My book is called Becoming a Conscious Business. And really what it's referring to is becoming in a more advanced collection of human driven processes. And I'm really drawing on a lot of the theories of natural processes, nature itself, to kind of govern how we can be more efficient and more productive and and thrive as people, but also as businesses because businesses are just nothing more than a collection of people, right?
00:18:37
Speaker
And to make it simple, the analogy I'll use as a garden, if you have a really healthy self-sustaining garden, it's because it's got a lot of diversity in it. It's very complex, but that's not chaos. That's a very complex process. The human instinct is to mechanize and to make concrete and make dualistic. So if we're growing a garden, sometimes we put everything in neat rows and we label them and we keep all the weeds and all the other things out of it because we like to have things clean and that's what we think of this process, right? This is a very good process because we've made everything very linear and we just spend all our time fighting bugs and pests and we have to use fertilizers because we don't have the right biodiversity.
00:19:17
Speaker
Where we're evolving to as a people is a true garden has all the species and all the natural ingredients and has a very robust and complex process ecosystem. We're trying to move the thinking more toward that because that's how we become more self-sustaining as a people, but how we also evolve to be more conscious and and to be more aware of all the different pieces and parts that make a process work. So that's what the book's about, but that's also a lot of what our work is about, which is that Process doesn't have to be mechanical. It actually causes you more work. Like that garden example should evoke that feeling of like, I have to muscle this process into place and fight all the external factors.
Adaptable Processes in Sports Teams
00:19:52
Speaker
But in reality, a true process master or knows that processes have to feed into each other and be very much integrated.
00:20:00
Speaker
It really reminds me of my episode with Carrie about meetings and about how the first thing people think of with meetings is just get a really strict agenda and work our way through it and not veer off. And on talking to her, it was really clear that the difference between a productive meeting that gets great outcomes and everybody comes away thinking this was a good use of our time, not needing to be this rigid thing that can't emerge and and evolve and you know people actually enjoy it and its connection and everything. So I can just see the parallels parallels with that. It's like a lot of things. I think it's just a changing narrative. I think of even sports teams, right?
00:20:43
Speaker
sports teams have processes, but it's not because you be here at this moment and you be here at this moment. The game is a very dynamic evolving thing, but a team is very organized. How do they do that? They've got strong processes that are adaptable and read one another so that they can reach an outcome and they can synchronize. There's a framework that allows that. It's a very well-known framework, but it allows them to be flexible. That's what we should be thinking about when we think about process. You have to have a foundation first. so that people can then express themselves and have the boundaries in which they can do their work. So just another example that that might be more evocative of what we're talking about. but So can you write this down, this this evolving, moving, systemic process, if you've got this MD and he's gone for where the money is and he's talking to people, like, what should he do next? I'm going to go she, it's going to be a different company. What should she do next?
00:21:36
Speaker
What she should do is, once you write it down, the writing down part is always the easier part because you're just writing down what is. It doesn't need any judgment. It doesn't need any
Removing Blockers in Processes
00:21:45
Speaker
redesign. There's no solutioning, no creativity. it's Just go ask your people what they're up to and just get it all on paper so you can look at it. If you have 100 people in your manufacturing facility, for instance, you can't absorb as a person, as a leader, what they're all doing at one time. So your goal is simply to condense it into, let's say, a visual or a Word doc, whatever works for you, so that you can absorb the whole process happening simultaneously. And from there, you should be looking at the first level to unblock it. Look at the things that are blocking it from working effectively and see how you can remove them. Don't think about redesigning the whole thing, like your question of, well, what do they do next? How do they do the magic? How do they make the thing this, make the thing that? What I always recommend for beginners is look for the things that are very clearly making it not work.
00:22:28
Speaker
and then try to remove those first, you don't need to tell them what to do. You just need to remove the things that are obviously blocking or making them less effective, and then they will organically create a process that will do the right thing. That's how it works a lot of the time. That's the magic part, right? There's so many times where oil is spilling on the floor and everyone's stepping over it, and it just takes somebody to look at it right and say, why is that happening? I just noticed this. Can we just fix that? And all of a sudden, the process works better it's not like they had to redesign the process. It's just fixing those things because somebody's paying attention to what's blocking what's creating an efficiency remove those and it will just happen. One of the things that i love talking to business about is the conversations they have with their people.
00:23:12
Speaker
wherever that is, could be one-to-ones, could just be anywhere. And that's a great question to have in there as a regular piece about what's blocking, what's stopping you, being as effective as you you could be at all levels. It shocks me all the time, like you just said, that leaders leaders sit in a room and they try to think of how they can make their business better. The people doing the work, they know. All you have to do, I'll give you the magic question, say, what would you have to do if you could go home two hours earlier every day?
Employee Input in Process Improvements
00:23:42
Speaker
I guarantee in whatever job you're in, you'll start to get really good ideas.
00:23:46
Speaker
if you just ask that question, right? Because they don't need to know your business in and out. They know what they're doing and they know what makes what they're doing difficult and pushes the time. If you ask them, how can you save more time to go home with your family? If I told you I was going to give you an hour longer break, how would you get all your work done? People know they have the knowledge, even if they've never even thought about it before, just asking the question. They're doing it day in and day out. It's in their bones. It's in their muscles. They know the answer. You just have to go ask. What a great question. Really get people thinking about it and creativity. So we're we're not talking dry process ah SOPs, we're talking about innovation and creative thinking and connection. That's the only way to do process in my opinion. When you work with clients and you you go in and you do your work, what resistance do you think that you typically see?
00:24:45
Speaker
I think the biggest resistance I see is that people, they resist the reality that when you when you hire somebody like me to go and tell them what's going on in their own business, they think they know, but they need some validation. And when it comes back and they're not validated, they resist the idea that there's a reality that's there in their business that they didn't know. That's the hardest part for leaders to absorb, I think, because they were already ready to just have one person sign off on their solution and run off in a direction. But in reality, it's not the solution, and they're not even looking at the right problem. And I think that's the biggest part, which is just to be self-aware that, oh, hey, I really miss something, and that this wasn't even on my radar. um That, I think, is the toughest part. But otherwise, talking to people, doing the work, a lot of times, I never have any resistance to people when I show up and say, hey, can you tell me what you're doing? People really find it cathartic, to be honest. Especially if they know that, at some point, your direction of travel is
00:25:43
Speaker
How can I make your jobs easier? How can I make your hours less intense?
Role of Technology and Automation
00:25:48
Speaker
And it's authentic and it's always the the goal, right? Everyone talks about, I want the new AI, I want new automation, I want this and that. Our businesses are driven by humans. At the end of the day, all those things should be in the service of making people's jobs more productive, making their days shorter, making their lives easier. That's truly what it is. If you want automation, if you want robots, if you want all these things, the outcome is that your people should be more whole. That's the process outcome of these things. And I think people lose sight of that narrative at times. Yeah, I suppose actually it might come at the, we need more productivity. We need to up your productivity, which must feel really hard if you're working long hours and there's this oil spill you're walking over, walking around.
00:26:32
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, you can always have a leader that would say, well, now that you're more efficient, you can work the same hours and you're just producing more. There's always that risk, but that's ah that's a different leadership conversation. yeah You don't work with clients like that. I try not to. Are there any cultures that are not going to respond as well to this type of work? I don't think so. I work with a lot of different kinds of companies in different verticals, different industries. And typically, like we've talked about here, having stronger processes it usually buys you back time, it increases quality, it creates more consistent outcomes. And there's really no business that doesn't benefit from those outcomes, certainly, because it's just basically what are you trying to do? And how can you do it better? How can you do it with less waste? And I think that's universally a positive thing, or at least it has been in my experience.
00:27:26
Speaker
And we all learn through times where things don't go well when we fail. So from where you've been doing, how long how long have you been doing this kind of work, Sam? I have been doing this kind of work for 15 years, solidly. So when you look back at those 15 years, have you got to a story of where it hasn't worked?
Learning from Initial Process Failures
00:27:45
Speaker
Oh yeah, tons of them. I'd say probably the first half of the that 15 years, it was just one failure after another. I think the biggest thing that I had to learn as a young process professional is some of the narrative around process, some of the way we talk about process that you hear me maybe speaking about easily now with you, it took me a lot of years to be able to understand that and articulate it because there was such a mass opinion about what this work should be, what it is, what the outcome should be,
00:28:14
Speaker
It really took a long time. I had to create a new narrative. I had to create this conversation that we're having. And without that without that ability, without that knowledge and confidence and mastery of this particular subject, it was very hard to consult clients. you know in a conversation I didn't quite feel comfortable with. So there was a lot of times where I knew what I was driving toward, but mostly it was change management failure, project failure, couldn't bring the leaders along. They were not getting what they expected. I mean, there's a lot of times where when you're trying to build a new process for thousands of people, you don't get over the finish line. You just don't make it. And then they revert or they stay where they're at. So a lot of this work has a,
00:28:55
Speaker
With a big process change, you either make it or you don't. And a lot of times I don't. I'm getting better over time, but it's not easy work and I'm not going to pretend that it's easy. Yeah. You're very dependent on your own other people. Yeah. The people on the ground have to want to make the change. The leaders have to be wanting to make it and sponsor the change. There's a lot of change management. That was the thing I had to really invest and and learn, especially over the last five or so years, which is how do you articulate what you're doing in a way that people are excited and they drive energy to make changes. Because process transformation is a tremendous amount of change for all parties involved, so you can't ignore that piece. Is there a question I haven't asked you, Sam? You've you've been interviewed loads of times. what What question have you been asked that I haven't asked, which you think would be great to bring in?
Applying Process Improvement to Personal Life
00:29:44
Speaker
It's such a deep topic. i could the The question that you haven't asked me is, does is this applicable outside of business? Is this applicable in personal life? I talk about that in a lot of forums and I like to answer that question because the answer is absolutely yes. And I guess I'll just answer the question you didn't ask me yet, but just quickly, which is that this process stuff we're talking about, write down your personal processes too. Everything we've talked about in the business context, this will work for your family, your home life, Everything could be looked at as a process. So I'll just say I'm a nut right about this stuff. So just know that anything that you invest in the business and understanding how to work with processes, you can just also take to your personal life and improve your own productivity. It's really helped me and I hope it helps others. Will it work with my teenager? I think so for sure. You're making me a better mother. It's brilliant.
00:30:32
Speaker
I'm going to talk to you in a minute, Sam, about where people can find you and what your business does. If they decide, actually, this is something we want to bring somebody in to help us, let's talk to you about that. But if somebody's thinking, first of all, I'm going to try this myself. you've you've You've sold it to me, Sam. I love the idea. What are your top three tips for it? I know we've had some already, but what what would you you say? Yeah, top three tips. Number one is definitely, we've said it before, write it down. Write down what is happening today. Don't worry about what you're trying to solve. Don't worry about your problems. Just write down what is happening. Educate yourself. Take a breath. Educate yourself. It's one of the things that people like to skip right over. Number one tip. I would say number two is
00:31:16
Speaker
Three tips is a lot right off the top of my head. Let's see. The second tip is ask your people. Talk to your people. A lot of times the knowledge you need is is already there. So talk to your people. That's definitely number two. Engage them, ask them what they need, serve them, you know, serve your people. And number three, don't forget that the customer is always the customer. Everything should be customer centric if you want to do good in business. And when you think about writing stuff down, talking to people, never forget that what's happening inside is only relevant because if you're serving the outside. So don't forget where your market is, who your customer is, that should guide a lot of your perspective also when you do this type of thing. A great conversation, really nice, different perspective.
How to Connect with Sam Droschak
00:32:04
Speaker
It's when I first spoke to you, it was not what I expected that I was going to be a bit bored and I definitely wasn't.
00:32:11
Speaker
and Good. I always aim to please. So people listening to this and thinking, I need Sam to help me, where do they find you and what will they get if they reach out? So if you reach out, you're going to get a lot more of what you heard on this podcast. I'm going to just remind you of the same fundamentals and we're going to write down processes and we're going to look at them and we're going to do process work together. That's what you're going to get from me. um You also could find tools for me, like I'm now in the software business. So you can find tools to help yourself write down processes more effectively, um but it's all going to be in that realm. ah The best way to find me is Truval dot.com, T-R-U-V-L-E dot.com. That's where I'm doing all my process work these days, but I'm the only Sam Droschak online, basically. So if you also just punch my name in the LinkedIn or anywhere else, you're happy to reach out to me, however you can find me. I'd love to hear from you. Perfect. Well, everything will be in the show notes, including the spelling of your name. So people can find your LinkedIn, they can find your website. Really appreciate talking to you, Sam. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure.
00:33:12
Speaker
Sam inspired me to look at my own processes and being the driven person I can be on occasion, it felt a bit overwhelming. So I am starting with some small, safe to try experiments rather than giving all my processes a total revamp. Process number one, my podcasts, which I want to be shared far and wide so more leaders can get some of the benefits trapped inside. And that's where you can help me, lovely listeners. I want to get juicy guests to have great conversations with them. And the more ratings and reviews and sharing that I have, the better I can attract awesome guests and the more you will benefit. So please rate, review, share, and give me feedback. I love to hear from you. Thanks for now.
00:34:15
Speaker
Thanks for listening to the Visible Leader podcast. To stay up to date with the latest episode, hit the subscribe button. And I'd love to hear what you think, so please leave me a review. If you have any questions or comments, reach out to me. Corinne Hines on LinkedIn.