I attended the Cleveland Engineering Society‘s Design and Construction Conference yesterday as an exhibitor. In an effort to engage attendees we decided to have a survey at our display table. The survey questions was “What is your company’s issue with processes and procedures?” The four options were:
- Our processes and procedures are out of date.
- We don’t have issues.
- Our processes and procedures are not followed.
- What processes and procedures?
Having the survey made it easier for me to approach strangers and talk about what my company, Radcom, Inc., does. I’m not usually very good at networking but I found it easy to approach people and ask them if they would help with this survey. The survey started some great conversations on the specific problems people are seeing in their companies.
The question was simple, it touched everyone whether they are responsible for the procedures or not, and the options rang true while adding a touch of humor.
What I did not expect was the response from the attendees. Most people found the question interesting and relevant, and they were very happy to participate. They took their decision seriously and carefully considered their vote. A few people told me that procedures didn’t apply to their company (I took this as a polite why of avoiding a conversation with me). One person told me that he was trying to keep happy thoughts today and preferred not to participate.
We also had a few comments on the survey options. We were told that we should include a subscript on the “We don’t have issues,” option to included “We are in denial.” Several people thought we should include a fifth option that read “We have too many processes and procedures.” It was very interesting to hear different people making similar comments.
So here are the results of the survey:
38% Our processes and procedures are not followed.
31% Our processes and procedures are out of date.
23% We don’t have issues.
8% What processes and procedures?
What is your company’s issue with processes and procedures? Is anything being done to address the issue?