By Steve Moran

When you think about all the things you do in your organization, from the corporate office to your senior living community, most of what you do is because …

  • It was done that way before you got to the organization.
  • Somebody else was already doing it that way.
  • It was someone’s new idea … a long time ago.
  • Everyone does it that way.

These are the everyday things that you need to do, that you have systems for — that without systems and ways of doing things, the organizations and the communities could not function.

And because they work and everyone is used to doing things the way they are always done, you don’t really think about them at all.

Things like …

  • Food
  • Payroll
  • Accounting
  • Life enrichment
  • Staffing
  • Onboarding
  • Training
  • Employee recognition
  • Marketing
  • Social media

But Is It Possible

But is it possible that the way things have always been done is not the best way to do them? Is it even possible that doing them yourself — doing them internally rather than outsourcing them — is not the best use of time and resources?

Tweaking Vs. Overhauling

For most of these functions in most organizations, you are going to push back and tell me that you are constantly rethinking and improving, and I am sure that is true. I am also sure that tweaking does make them better than they would be otherwise.

But there are times when one really needs to start with a clean sheet of paper and ask: Is this really the best way to get this done?

Outsourcing

What got me to thinking about this is that we are currently working with two companies that provide outsourced services: Procare HR and QX Global (Foresight partners). One provides a comprehensive HR platform and the other accounting services.

As they are talking to operators, the single biggest challenge they face is that companies have always handled these tasks in-house, and outsourcing feels wrong or like giving up control, so the frequent reaction is, “Naw, I am going to keep doing it the way I have always done it.”

Your Unique Value Proposition

In much of the rest of the business world, outsourcing has become the norm for non-unique value proposition services. You might be shocked at how much of what your local medical center has outsourced. They are even outsourcing clinical functions — things that would seem to be core to a hospital’s operations.

They outsource because the outsourcing saves money, reduces problems, and provides higher quality services. By outsourcing they are able to focus on those things that make up their unique value proposition.

More Than Outsourcing

While it was the outsourcing conundrum that got me thinking about this, it goes beyond outsourcing. Perhaps once a year, every organization should take the time to take a look at one or two of the things they do and ask what would happen if they deconstructed it and created something new from scratch.

I would love to hear your thoughts.