The Process Builder
The Process Builder is a MATA Masters tool that provides a series of road maps for each part of your system. It lays out the specific steps needed to accomplish each result. This is an excellent way to organize events, systems, and virtually every aspect of your school. You could have a Process Builder for everything from balancing the cash register to cleaning the mirrors.
Too often, we discover our system at the end when we’ve already completed the project and we’re looking back to see what to do differently next time. The Process Builder is a tool you can use to plan the best way to produce a result, either as an individual or as a team.
The Process Builder works best when starting a new project. It is also useful when reviewing a successfully completed project to analyze what worked and what improvements are needed.
Fool Proof Your Processes
Most processes in a school happen without anyone thinking much about them, until something goes wrong. The Process Builder helps you identify where people are operating on different assumptions. You’ll instantly see where the bottlenecks are, where a step is missed, or not being done by the right person or at the right time.
It can also help simplify a process that has too many steps. For example, by reviewing your exam process, you may be able to eliminate some duplication.
Communication and Training Tool
Because many processes in a school happen naturally and have worked to some degree so far, trying to explain to someone else how they get done can be difficult. Creating your systems using the Process Builder format is a quick and efficient way to communicate to your existing team and new team members how things get done.
It acts as a checklist so that steps aren’t missed and as a reference tool so everyone involved knows the flow of activity in their responsibilities.
Matching Tasks to Strengths
The Process Builder works best when you have each team member contributing to the result from a position of their own strengths. As discussed in Module Two’s Backstage/Performance model, you want your singer singing and your lighting guy doing lighting. When people are performing in their areas of strength, the entire process flows faster and with higher-quality results.
Very few processes are oriented based on the strengths of the team members. Instead, most schools first decide on the job or function and then try to manage people to do those jobs. This is an exercise in frustration. Matching the tasks within a Process Builder with a person’s individual strengths eliminates frustration and makes the task a more enjoyable and successful process.
Easy System Creation
You will find the Process Builder to be the easiest way to create systems within your school. There is a master PDF for you to make copies of (lots of copies) and a sample with each step explained for you.
By implementing the Process Builder, you ensure a consistent and efficient approach to managing your school’s systems, leading to better performance and a more organized operation.