If your organisation has business processes that are inefficient or need a radical overhaul in order that new innovations in your business can be implemented, I could help to design them in a manner that reduces costs and improves client satisfaction, whilst maintaining staff morale.
Although I have a yellow-belt qualification in Lean Six Sigma, a well known business process improvement (BPI) methodology, I take a highly pragmatic approach to BPI. I fundamentally believe that no one from outside an organisation can swoop down and tell people the best way for them to work.
My preferred way of working is to work with a working group drawn from representatives from each part of the process. My usual method is to convene a series of workshops during I would act as facilitator, challenging where necessary any entrenched views of how the process must work.
The first session(s) would identify and document the current process (the As Is process in the jargon). Subsequent sessions would be aimed at identifying how the current process should be changed in order that the new process (the To Be process) can deliver the benefits required. During the redesign session(s) particular emphasis is placed upon identifying steps or sub-processes that do not add value to the client. Such steps often creep into a process over time for internal record keeping or authorisation purposes. One of the major functions BPI is to identify such potentially redundant steps and to challenge their necessity, perhaps identifying what the real risks would be in removing them, or whether information or authorisation can be gained as a by-product of a step in the process that does add value to the client.
Both the As Is and the To Be sessions are based on self-documenting, interactive ‘brown-paper exercises’ that allow all members of the working group to build up a map of the process flow using Post-it notes on which key steps in the process flow and any significant problems or issue are noted, before being stuck in position on a roll of brown paper. I then take responsibility for producing the consolidated documentation and agreeing with the working party the recommended changes to the process that should be presented to mangement for their comment and approval.
A well-designed business process can still fail if those implementing it fail to recognise the human element. Change can be challenging and stressful for the staff responsible for the operation of the process. I would see my role to work with management in order to seek as wide a ‘buy-in’ from the staff as possible, probably by providing open walk-through sessions with those staff who were not members of the working group. During these sessions staff would be encouraged to give their feedback and to have their concerns formally documented. I also would work with management to identify where there is likely to be significant resistance to change, so that managers can be proactive in dealing with such problems, rather than subsequently having to deal with a new process that is failing, not because it is inherently badly designed, but because staff resistance has doomed it to failure.
Business process improvement and change management can use similar tools and I would also seek to establish if both change processes can go hand-in-hand.
If you believe that my services in this area might be of value to your organisation please contact me for an initial discussion.
Ken Lingley 