On Mother’s Day eve, I became a chicken mama. Our friends brought over two hens and three chicks and put them in my chicken coop.  
 
On Mother’s Day morning, we opened up the chicken coop door and out came five very scared chickens.  
 
By that evening, however, we had less than five chickens.
 
Here is the daily morning count of our chickens: 5, 4, 3, 4, 0, 5, 0, 0, 5, 0, 5, 5, 0, 5.  
 
Here is what we learned:

• Chickens can fly better than we thought
• Chickens can and will roost in a tree
• One of our hens has figured out where to lay her eggs in the coop, but I do believe we will need an egg hunt to locate the other hen’s eggs 
• I need to redesign my whole plan for having free-range chickens. 

So how does this relate to our current life? Our economy is slowly starting to move toward the next phase of the pandemic – learning how to re-open businesses while keeping people safe. This process will change the way we do business, both as we interact with our customers and how we do our work internally.

If you looked carefully at your current processes, you would probably agree that there are some inefficiencies that, if addressed, could lead to increases in productivity. In our pre-COVID-19 life, this may not have been a top priority, but now we are forced to make changes in order to protect the health and safety of our employees, customers and stakeholders. I believe we can leverage this as an opportunity for growth. 

Consider a few of these ideas: 

• Employ a Kanban scheduling system to reduce interactions between departments and employees. 
• Use process mapping to highlight non-value-added steps in your process. Then redesign your new layout or flow to eliminate or streamline those steps.
• Implement a visual workplace that outlines product flow, departmental goals, and performance metrics.

 
If you are feeling overwhelmed by the changes you need to implement in your business, let’s connect.  I have spent my entire career streamlining processes of all kinds, from tortilla chip manufacturing to metal casting to sales. My brain is hardwired to find the inherent opportunities in a process and leverage them to maximize productivity, reduce waste, and increase profitability. My clients have seen an average a five times ROI on the work we have done together. 
 
I welcome the opportunity assist you in maximizing the output of your business. And if you have some tips on how to be a better chicken mama, I’d welcome your input.