Process Ensure all the processes which effect performance are responsibly developed and designed , using methods which aid collective involvement and disciplined thinking. Companies that have established effective and efficient process to drive their organisation forward tend to establish a strong focus in a number of the following areas: Understand the Business They recognise the business as a tapestry of processes and responsibly develop it through these using appropriate tools and techniques Instrument the Business They ensure all the key business processes are mapped, and that the process performance is monitored and controlled Develop through Process They actively develop the performance of all processes through a planned strategy of improvement Provide Clear Roles They focus on systematically understanding and serving internal customers Build Responsibility They build a real responsibility for considering all opportunities to improve process performance Ensure Long-Term Health They build new processes which focus on developing the health and future performance of the business To understand these in more detail please click on the relevant image above, or scan through the explanations below Understand the Business Recognise the business as a tapestry of processes and responsibly develop it through these using appropriate tools and techniques What are the essential features of how your business adds value? How well is the business designed in terms of those processes which add value? Do you really understand how your business works? Principle All businesses can be seen as a tapestry of interwoven processes, each doing their part to ensure customers are served, now and in the future. Your business competes on the basis of the efficiency and effectiveness of those processes. Some organisations have become very good at realising this, at understanding the processes and continually improving their performance through them. To continue to compete with them their competitors will have to start doing the same. Benefits The main benefit of clearly understanding the business, in terms of the processes which make it up, is to enable the business to clearly focus on those areas that are most critical to its future success. Through understanding the processes it can do this in a way that is more systematic, and explicable to its staff and junior managers, and it can enlist more of its resources in making improvements. And when the processes are designed properly, management will lose a lot less of its time in fighting fires. Approach There is no ‘one correct way’ to divide your company up in terms of processes. Understanding the business is a matter of developing a logical model of how the business works - grouping patterns of activities together in order to make sense of them. The basis on which you group your patterns may change from year to year, and this can provide new insights into the business when the opportunities to improve through your old patterns begins to dry up. Probably the key tool for this work is the process map. This is the manager's equivalent of the surgeon’s skeleton and the engineer’s schematic, and just as crucial to the quality of his work. [Return] Instrument the Business Ensure all the key business processes are mapped, and that the process performance is monitored and controlled How efficiently and effectively does your business do its work? How does the performance of your key processes compare with the competition, and how is it changing over time? Principle In a design sense we can do much to automate process routine. This helps the organisation assimilate learning and efficiency, and gives our people the breathing space to focus their intelligence and creative energy at the points where it matters most. Our people’s intelligence is important to the business and we need processes which conserve it and focus it where it is of most benefit - not least in fine tuning and improving the processes themselves. To harness this intelligent effort efficiently in process improvement and fine tuning we need to ensure that it is fed with relevant and timely information on process performance. In short we need to instrument our processes to enable them to be driven and maintained properly. Benefits What gets measured gets done. It is quite amazing to see how measuring and graphing the performance of a business activity naturally results in its improvement - even without any formal intervention. However further improvement does need intervention, and instrumenting processes enables your people to see when such intervention becomes necessary, and to manage it through to a successful conclusion. The instrumentation has a positive impact on your people also. The direct feedback on the quality of their efforts helps them to find ways to improve their own personal performance. Approach Process measurement is now a very common activity and a number of tools have been developed to support its application: - Identifying critical success factors (eg through an Ishikawa diagram) can help the team to focus their instrumentation in areas where it will be of most value in ensuring performance - Statistical Process Control (SPC) is a well established trending technique that ensures intervention at the points when it is most valuable - Process computers, especially management information systems, can provide performance data almost automatically. [Return] Develop through Process Actively develop the performance of all processes through a planned strategy of improvement How long do new ideas and improvements remain in place in your processes? How much of the learning that your company has won moves on with the people? Principle The ‘process’ is the only practical stable repository of organisational learning. Storing it in other inanimate entities means it either doesn’t get used or becomes bureaucratic. Storing it in people means it moves on when the people do. Developing through processes requires that all work is effected through the process, and all activities that deviate from the process should be discouraged even if they are successful. The process is paramount. This may on the surface seem draconian and counter productive, but in practice it is the only way to ensure the process is actively developed to accommodate the ideas and learning. Benefits Force people to follow a path and the path will improve. Allow them to detour and the path will deteriorate. Developing the business through process ensures that the learning is done once for all, and that is then available to others. It also drives the improvement to be more systematic and thought through regarding its implications - and as such it avoids improvements in one area that are problems for the next. Finally it provides a tangible record of improvement that can be learned from and built upon. The alternative in practice is to try and build upon shifting sand. Approach The approach to developing through process is essentially five fold: - Firstly there needs to be established a clear record of what the current process is, and it needs to be in a form that is easy to understand and use. - Secondly there needs to be a clear analysis of how clearly defined the process should be - what would benefit from a tight definition and what benefits from a looser (goal focused) definition. - Thirdly there needs to be a mechanism for ensuring that people understand and follow the process to whatever degree of detail is necessary. - Fourthly there needs to be a simple system for amending the process as issues arise, and for doing so quickly. This may require two levels - one for a quick fix and the second for following up with a more thought out solution. - And fifthly there should be a clear strategy and cycle of ongoing improvement. [Return] Provide Clear Roles Focus on systematically understanding and serving internal customers How well do your people understand what is expected of them? To what extent are the definitions of your people’s roles clearly focussed on the objective, yet leaving them with the scope to adapt as the situation develops? Principle People do need to clearly understand what is expected of them , and this is especially true with regard to management roles. Role definition is a complex activity. If they are defined too tightly they are cause for task focus and a belief that when the task has been completed the job is done, irrespective of what the customer thinks. On the other hand if you define the role too loosely you run the risk of anarchy and confusion. Role definition also needs to accommodate individual growth and development, and to harness the benefits from that. Benefits Clearly defined roles are a basis for ensuring that the organisation functions efficiently and effectively. The role definition also provides the opportunity for explicitly reflecting all aspects of the company’s contract with the individual, as such it is an excellent device for the empowerment process. The clarity that the role definition provides should also do much to ensure that responsibility is clearly taken at the right level of the business. Approach It is key to all of the above that role definition is a living and not a static thing. Role definition should be a constantly developing contract that embraces the opportunities of customer growth, training, and planned improvement. Amongst other things, the role definition should clearly state: - who the incumbent is to serve and the nature of that service - the standards by which quality will be judged - the individuals responsibility for developing and improving the service - the conditions under which the incumbent has authority to act, and those under which he needs to seek guidance - the incumbents responsibility for managing the quality of the service and applying the techniques of systematic management [Return] Build Responsibility Build a real responsibility for considering all opportunities to improve process performance What do your people feel they have responsibility for? How do you develop the boundaries of their responsibility to encompass everything that they can effect or influence from their role? Principle Responsibility has been defined as the ‘ability to respond’. What is the extent of this ability? It is often far wider than people will allow for. Many of us have blind spots - we almost prefer to see our situation and our reactions as the result of events outside of our control, and that absolves us of the feeling that we are in some way responsible for doing something about them. Building responsibility is about shining lights on these blind spots and encouraging people to face up to the reality that while they do not have total control, they do have the ability (and thereby the responsibility) to influence. Benefits The key benefit that we are seeking through ‘building responsibility’ is the driving of improvement effort. For people to take responsibility for planning their actions/influence, for undertaking the work as planned, for checking the results against initial expectations, and finally for acting to improve the planning for the next cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act - The Deming Wheel). From this we can expect a continuous flow of small improvements resulting in a steady upward trend in performance. This ‘responsibility’ is a key feature in the effective operation of other principles on the above principles, especially ‘Develop through Process’ Approach A key tool to building responsibility is the top-box model. This simple model should be used to explore the scope of responsibility with people, and to extend their horizons on this. Other approaches include using why-how charting, or to list the factors that influence the quality of service and to explore the influence the incumbent can have on each. [Return] Ensure Long-Term Health Build new processes which focus on developing the health and future performance of the business What do you currently do to contribute to the future growth in performance of your business? How well do you manage the factors that will determine your future rates of performance improvement? Principle Performance is a function of your rate of performance improvement. This rate of performance improvement; the speed at which the business can flex and respond to changes and challenges can be likened to its ‘fitness’. But the level of ‘fitness’ can also be developed through other ‘health’ factors, such as improvements to the processes that bring about improvement. Examples of this would be improvements to the design, planning and management processes, all of which could make the rate of performance improvement faster. Ensuring long term health is about working on these processes to ensure that the rate of future performance improvement will always be on the increase. Benefits The benefits are about being able to compete with world class companies. To be able to improve your performance to a point where you represent a real competitive threat, and then to be able to adjust to meet all of the market challenges they throw at you, and ultimately to be able to out improve them and to win. Approach The approach is about identifying those processes that influence future performance improvement. And then refining those processes through a disciplined approach until they are routinely capable of flexing the organisation, on a short timescale, to meet and beat new challenges. The processes you might focus on are: - strategic planning and target setting - product, service and process design - people and team development - process improvement and problem solving But consider that the objectives of each of these processes may need to be widened if they are to be practically effective in developing fitness. [Return]   Home - Load frames - About us - Resources - Contact us © Tesseract Management Systems Ltd 2003

Fast Perspectives: (click below for an oversight) Case studies of success Managing by Design - a handbook of Systematic Mgt. (purchase on line) Transforming performance through QFD (insight) Testimonials on systematic management Navigation: (for Process) Overview Self-Evaluation Tools