There has GOT to be a better way....

Have you ever started at a new job and when you are being shown the ropes you watch what the trainer is doing and wondered.......what?????  Why would you do it this way?  There has GOT to be a better way to do this.

So how many of you said, "Yes.  I have" and then actually did something about it?  We are such creatures of habit.  We get so comfortable in how we do things that we just don't think about changing the process to make it better.

For instance.....I always clean my house by starting in the farthest bedroom and work my way to the other bedroom, the spare bathroom, then the living room, dining room, kitchen, and then finally, the master bedroom.  But the problem is, by the time I get to the master bedroom, I'm pooped!!  So that room either just gets skipped or is only half done.  The first bedroom I clean.....no one lives in there so why am I cleaning it first?  That means it gets cleaned thoroughly each time I clean house, but the master bedroom is only half done or even skipped and that's probably the most used room in the house.  So why am I not starting in the master bedroom?  Habit.  That is my only excuse.  It is a habit.

So I say to myself....there has GOT to be a better way.....duh....start in the master bedroom and work my way around the house.

The same thing goes when working in Accounts Payable. 

• Do you have a vendor that cannot get the invoices to you on time in order for you to take your discount?  There has GOT to be a better way to get those invoices sooner (ERS, email, portal, talk to the owner, etc). 
• Are you doing multiple emergency check runs?  There has GOT to be a better way to reduce the amount of rush checks that are being produced (send out and email to the staff notifying them weekly of when the next check run is and the deadline in order to make it). 
• Do you have duplicate payments being made?  There has GOT to be a better way to stop them from occurring in the first place (formalize an invoice number process for invoice without invoice numbers, review check batch prior to printing the checks, verify there in only one vendor code per vendor, etc).

So, no matter if you are cleaning your house or trying to improve things at work, when you have a process you haven't  changed in the last 6-8 months, it may be time to ask yourself......Is there a better way????

Until next time...