4 Ways to Streamline Friction: Make Grind Mode Pay Off

Several years ago, my manager tasked me with building a contract intake tool. I thought, This is a snap—I know exactly why we need it.

Sure enough, I met with a developer and rattled through the long, painful background that brought us there. Jumping into building made me feel like a boss. But after listening to my 15-minute monologue, he rolled his eyes and said, “Don’t automate a broken process.” Ouch!

In the October series, Survive Grind Mode with People Skills, we’re discussing how people skills can help you power through tough sprints. I can’t gloss over it—the developer’s blunt feedback was a blow to my ego, making me face how I had gotten ahead of myself.

Sheer enthusiasm was a positive start, but passion alone doesn’t guarantee a great solution. The reality was that I wasn’t connecting the dots. The problem wasn’t the lack of an online tool; it was the frustration and friction of a broken process.

That’s when I learned that grind mode can pay off, but it hinges on doing the right work. Let’s meet someone who is using grind mode to streamline friction.

Backstop EQ with Quantifiable Actions

New Starbucks CEO Brian Niccols is on a mission. But the mission isn’t fueled by glossy magical thinking. Instead, Niccols is remaking Starbucks by getting back to basics.

The rebooted “green apron service” model is built on what he calls “five key moments,” which are the touchpoints of each customer visit. Those moments range from a barista greeting customers to ensuring predictable espresso quality, turning casual visitors into regulars.

What’s the catch? The fight to build customer trust. Friction points, such as order turnaround, are improving. However, rebuilding their customer base requires landing the five key moments with every customer, every time. By comparison, when asked about the effectiveness of their prior plan, “Triple Shot Reinvention with Two Pumps,” Niccols says plainly, “I don’t know what that means.”

Use Grind Mode to Build Your People Skills

At first glance, the case study seems to suggest that Starbucks has a dollars-and-cents problem. However, here’s another lens: Their financial problems are a symptom. The root issue is seeing and smoothing out customer pain points.

However, here’s the tricky part: Insights about obstacles and roadblocks don’t mean much without vital people skills such as vision and collaboration. The trick is to backstop emotional intelligence with quantifiable actions—that’s how to get to the heart of the matter.

So, if you’re facing an important project, make sure to put make this million-dollar question front and center: What pain points are we solving? w

Easing friction is always the right problem to solve, no matter how much effort it takes. Without the answer to this question, you’ll wind up grinding away on busy work.

Here are four Do’s and Don’ts to streamline a broken process. Make grind mode work for you instead of against you:

1. Give yourself credit for what’s going right. Don’t go down the rabbit hole of a complete overhaul. Do immediately give yourself credit for what’s working.
2. Pinpoint pain points + quick fixes. Don’t create an exhaustive list. Do make your first pass about everyday slowdowns, like vague swim lanes, duplicate meetings, or trying to remember steps vs. working from a checklist.
3. Stack rank the pain points. Don’t try to attack everything at once. Do spark momentum by counter-balancing long-term initiatives with a few quick wins.
4. Delete, delete, delete. Don’t get too attached to historical ways of working. Do either consolidate steps or even gracefully let go of what made sense at the time.

Updating workflows and processes can seem like a dry, thankless task. But consider this: Grind mode work is strengthening your professional profile. In the future, you’ll have practical ways to describe your problem-solving abilities, how you worked cross-group to resolve people’s concerns, and became an expert at smoothing conflicting priorities. When you complete tasks with this mindset, you’re sowing into your future.

And above all else, don’t automate a broken process.