Give your systems a fresh start too

There’s a particular feeling to the start of a program year.

The building sounds different. The chatter is back. Families you haven’t seen since May walk in and pick up right where they left off. Someone’s learning twelve new names at once and someone else is already looking for a form.

A lot of excitement and a little craziness, usually in the same week and often, the same day!

What starts over and what doesn’t

You have new children, new families and new routines.

Your systems are the part that just keeps going.

That spreadsheet somebody built last October? Still the spreadsheet that’s being used. The workaround that was supposed to be temporary is still how that step works. The form everyone asks about is still the form everyone asks about.

That’s not a problem. That’s what happens when you’re running a program all year and just trying to keep it going.

But it does mean your systems don’t get the reset everything else gets. Not unless you give them one.

Now is easier than later

The start of the year is the easiest time to change something. Not because you have time. Nobody has time in September or really ever.

It’s because everyone’s already learning.

New staff are figuring out how things work for the first time. Everybody else is shaking off the summer. Nobody’s settled into this year’s habits yet, because this year’s habits don’t exist just yet.

Change something in December and you’re asking people to give up a routine they just got comfortable with. Change it now and it isn’t really a change. It’s just how we’re doing it this year.

Start with what people keep asking

If you’re wondering where to start, start with whatever people keep asking about.

Not a big, overwhelming project. The small stuff. Which form. Which step. Who to ask when something looks off. Whether that date means the day it was scheduled or the day it actually happened.

Every program has a few of these. They almost never get written down, because the person who knows is sitting right there and it’s faster to just ask her.

Which works great until she’s out, or moves to a different role or leaves the program. Fifteen percent of Head Start staff turned over in one program year. That’s a lot of knowledge walking around in people’s heads.

You have policies and procedures. But how about the answers to the questions every new person asks in their first two weeks, written down somewhere they can find them? It would be helpful for everyone to know exactly where to go. And it would be helpful for you to know where the gaps are or what overlaps with another team.

A few things worth doing this month

Notice the question you’ve already answered more than once, and write down the answer.

Pick one date or status that gets entered in two places, and make sure everybody entering it means the same thing.

Ask your newest person what confused them in week one. They’re the only ones who can see your systems  with fresh eyes, and they lose that view fast.

Get rid of one step nobody can explain anymore.

You don’t have to do all of it. One step is plenty.

Where Early Edge comes in

This is the part I love. Not replacing what you already have, and not creating a big project. Just helping the pieces line up so your program runs the way you meant it to.

If you’re starting a new year and want a clearer look at how the parts fit together, this is a good month to talk. Or check out the Early Edge Workspace.

Maybe this time next year, some of those questions won’t need to be asked at all.