What mapping 47 admin steps taught me

by: Jacqui Shemilt, 03 February 2026

This started as a “simple” admin task.

The kind everyone assumes should be quick.

Once we mapped it end-to-end, it told a very different story - especially for leadership who only saw the start and end.

👉 47 steps

👉 Multiple handovers

👉 Repeated checks

👉 Workarounds layered over time

The biggest issue wasn’t inefficiency.

It was invisibility.

No one had ever seen the whole process - so delays were blamed on people instead of the system they were working in.

Here’s what became clear:

• Extra steps existed to compensate for missing clarity

• Accountability changed depending on who was working

• Handoffs relied on conversations instead of defined outputs

This wasn’t a performance problem.

It was a process clarity problem.

💡 When work feels heavier than it should, the answer usually isn’t “work harder” - it’s for leaders to understand the current state.

Visibility always comes before improvement.

#ProcessMapping #OperationalClarity #SMBLeadership #BehindTheScenes