Stop Solving Yesterday’s Problems

Last Monday I was in New York City, visiting my friend Greg in his office.

The receptionist seated me (on a nice, comfy couch, thank you very much!) and, while waiting, I noticed something that I’d never seen before. Instead of sitting behind her desk at the front door, the receptionist was walking around the office, doing a bunch of admin tasks like stocking shelves, making copies and delivering the mail.

My first thought was: “What if someone comes in the office? There’s nobody there to greet them.

What if the phone rings? Is she going to come running back to answer it?” (Not in those heels.)

Over lunch, Greg explained…

The first problem I imagined, someone showing up at the front door who needs attention, no longer exists. In 2013 NYC, nobody gains access to a building without first being cleared in the lobby. The doorman then calls up to the office to let them know that a visitor has arrived.

The second problem I foresaw, an inbound phone call, is solved with a wireless headset—something that (I hadn’t noticed) the receptionist wears as she moves around the office.

The good news? According to Greg, not only does this allow the receptionist to expand her responsibilities by a factor of three, she’s also happier since she’s no longer chained to a desk.

All of this got me thinking about the decisions we make (often by default) in our own businesses every day. Decisions that we no longer think about (if we ever did), simply because that’s the way it’s always been done.

Here are two examples of this that I often come across:

1. Unnecessary equipment. Technology changes quickly and, while you don’t need to be a leading adopter of the latest gadget, it’s good to take a look at your equipment from time to time.

For example, do you have a fax machine? If you bought it in the last two years, I bet it was more out of reflex than necessity. Thanks to easy scanning, ubiquitous e-mail and electronic send/receive options like eFax, most offices no longer need one. Lose your fax machine and you’ll save on the extra phone line, ink cartridges and wasted space.

2. Unnecessary processes. The key here is to notice what you’re doing every day and ask yourself why.

I was in my landlord’s office last week and I noticed that all the rent checks were being photocopied and filed. Really?! Somebody is still photocopying and filing checks? My guess is that, unless there’s a problem, they never look at these papers again. What if, instead of hard copies, they simply scanned the checks and filed them by year and month on their server? No added steps of filing, no extra expense for paper and file folders, no extra storage and more happy trees.

You get the idea.

In every business there’s a ton of equipment that needs to be purchased and two tons of processes that need to be put in place. But there’s also a lot that could easily be modified or simply avoided.

Rethink the norm and enjoy the benefits of reevaluating how and where you spend your time and money!