Many organizations face a lack of insight into their processes. All too often, responsibilities for process management are placed inindividual departmentsor business units, preventing people from different departments involved in the process to seecorrelationsandinterdependencies.
This ‘Insight Deficit’, as we call it at CFO Services, very often makes people and organizations reluctant to change. With no-one overseeing the process, initiating change might cause disturbances in parts of the organization nobody ever thought would be affected by (modifying) the process. That’s why transformation projects are held off and goals aren’t achieved when change projects actually are initiated.
A strong focus onprocess managementsolves the Insight Deficit, butmaking process information availableto the entire organization unlocks even more benefits, facilitating change, not preventing it. Here are seven benefits.
1. Less time spent on searching information
In general, people spend 38% of their time at work searching for information. Think of thetemplatesthat are mandatory to file a request or the action to take in case of sick leave. Who to call? Where to find that template? In most organizations, information is available from several sources and platforms like intranet, shared drives, email and… people’s heads.Centralizingthat information and creating one central place to access it reduces the time for people find the documents needed.
2. One single source of truth
Centralizing all information about a process in one place creates a ‘single source of truth’ for internal and external customers alike. It gives stakeholders the opportunity to look at the process from thesame perspective. Not only the end product is worth the effort, but also the journey towards that end product. During workshops, interviews and subsequent process improvement phases a lot of information, documentation and knowledge from previous phases of the project are stored in onecentral place. Employees looking for information all have access to the same location.
3. Clearly designated process ownership and responsibilities
All in all, it is important to assign process ownership to designateresponsibilities. Should a project not deliver on time, blow the budget or lack the quality desired, there is only one person to address. To installgovernance, theRACI frameworkis used. This framework createsa matrix of roles and responsibilities, providing a clear overview by assigning and clarifying roles. The main responsibility roles in the RACI framework are ‘Responsible’, ‘Accountable’, ‘Consulted’ and ‘Informed’. Using this framework, it is not possible to point fingers at another business unit or employee. If the RACI mentions your function/role, you have to take action.
4. Enhanced collaboration
By gathering and communicating the information via a platform accessible to all employees the process is fully transparent to all employees and stakeholders. A platform likeMavimmakes visible to all employees where their work hasimpactand whom it has impact on. This insight is valuable to enhancecollaborationsince co-workers can now see overlap in activities or a gap between activities. With the common ground of process information, co-workers are enabled to collaborate on solutions to fill gaps in a process.
5. Standardized output
If your organization struggles with delivering the same product over-and-over again, processes which are built in close cooperation with the operational level standardize the output. By following thesame sequence of activities, the predictability of the outcome increases and by continuously improving that process the quality of that outcome improves as well.
6. A clear customer focus
Fast service, multi-channel approach, inexpensive products and services and high quality: customers are demanding and expectations are high. On the other hand, bymanaging expectations, customers remain satisfied even though the outcome might not benefit them. If a process is clear to the customer, their expectations are already partly managed. For example, if an application for a loan takes 2 workdays to assess, customers know they have to wait for 2 days. Process management can make sure the organization can deliver within 2 days. Transparency gives customers insight into the lead times for certain activities.
7. Higher employee commitment, involvement and satisfaction
By providing employees insight into processes, you give them the ability toassesshow their work influences others, and how the work of others influences them. Organizing workshops and interviews with all process stakeholders (especially employees from an operational level) is a great start to gather and challenge information.Process insight gives employees a clear view on how their activities contribute to the bigger picture. It also brings purpose to their jobs, triggering them to start thinking what improvements will benefit the outcome of a process. Employees who are committed to their work report a higher job satisfaction.
