This week on the Digital Velocity Podcast, Chris Gwinn of Great Lake Advisory joins Erik and Tim to discuss the benefits of employee training and business process optimization.
It may not be necessary to have business processes completely streamlined to reach a certain level of success. However, if an organization desires continued growth, optimizing business processes becomes critical. Chris explains,
“Can you get to like a million dollars without processes? Sure. Lots of organizations do. It’s not like a necessary prerequisite. But, I think, ultimately, the major pitfall is that you are going to come to a certain crossroads where you’ll hit a plateau. There’s going to come a point in time where you will not be able to really reach a level of consistency and scalability in your organization to ultimately grow because you need to have some level of standardization when it comes to either fulfilling your service or producing a product or selling your service, or maybe it’s just some of the communication that takes place with your customers. And if you can’t do that consistently, you’re going to have a ton of chaos and you’re going to be just constantly firefighting all that.”
When employee training and business processes are improved, the positive impacts are felt company-wide. Chris explains,
“Simply put, I want them to feel freedom. I want them to feel more smooth operations that comes in the form of greater consistency, accountability, and really streamlining all of your operations and making it easier for you to get new hires up to speed and for them to actually follow all of your processes…For leaders, being able to focus on your unique abilities. For employees, feeling more empowered. For business owners, being able to feel comfortable with that level of scale. Because it can be a little bit overwhelming that it’s like, Oh crap, we’ve got all this demand, we can’t service it, and I can’t hire fast enough, and I can’t get these employees up to speed. And that’s a little bit uneasing for some folks. So, being able to scale confidently is certainly something that we’re targeting and helping businesses achieve.”
Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about employee training and business process improvement.
About the Guest:
Chris is the founder and CEO of Great Lakes Advisory.
Chris built his company around standardizing operating procedures, leadership development, documenting processes, instructional design, training, and getting everyone aligned. He has successfully implemented a 100% remote team, increased productivity, and promoted autonomy with his employees.
Great Lakes Advisory makes businesses easier to manage by documenting their processes, clearly defining their standard operating procedures, and having world-class training experiences to get everyone aligned, so the company runs on repeatable processes.
Chris shares a passion for operations, processes, finance, investments, and working with people. Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Marquette University. He has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) designation.
Outside of work, Chris loves spending time with his wonderful wife, Courtney, Australian Shepherd, Igor, and their families and friends. He is an avid golfer and enjoys running, cycling, and CrossFit.