If you are a business owner, the number of decisions you have to make on any given day can be overwhelming. With that in mind, it’s best to make decisions quickly — right? Well, not so fast!

Whether you are involved in your day-to-day operations or your role is at a higher level of leadership where you trust your team to make important decisions regarding your company, I invite you to take a pause and consider getting the answers to these six questions before making a decision on operational changes, regardless of how large or small they are.

1. What is the goal of this change, and does it get you closer to it?

Are you looking to get more leads? Offer new services? Get more revenue? Retain more customers? It’s easy to get excited about a new idea or opportunity, but before deciding to move forward with the change make sure it’s aligned and trackable.

2. How will this impact my customers?

Don’t just think about the customer journey; identify and document what your current process is and how the proposed change would benefit or negatively impact your customer experience. 

3. How will this impact my revenue?

Will it be a temporary jump in revenue without long-term benefits? Will it be a little messy at the initial change, but then increase consistently and more predictably over time? Will the time saved outweigh the initial upfront costs of the change, translating to more revenue, more time to do more work, and even fewer hires? 

4. How will this impact my team in the office and in the field?

Sometimes it’s as easy as being able to say this will make their jobs easier, or this might make their jobs tougher, but in most cases, there will be pros and cons to weigh. If switching to more manual processes, does that open you up to more room for error? If switching to automation, are there any new procedures that need to be put into place to align with the new change?

5. How will this impact my daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting?

Do reporting procedures need to be adjusted to account for the new change? And just as importantly, how will you track and measure the success of the change?

6. How will this impact my onboarding and retention of new employees?

Will it be easier to hire and train new employees? Will you be able to get people up to speed faster and empower them to do their jobs better? Or will it cause roadblocks and frustrations leading to churn and time wasted on training?

BONUS: Do you have the data to back up the decision and to clearly identify why this decision is a good one to make for your business? Sometimes it’s easy to get excited about change, but it’s crucial to ensure there is clear evidence that the change is necessary and that the pros outweigh any cons.

Need help talking through specific scenarios in your company with a trusted subject matter and industry expert? Our WorkWave Professional Services team is here to help. Learn more about their services here, where you can request a complimentary discovery meeting.

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