Harold Strawbridge, Director of Innovation of Inglis talks about the keys to building the right kind of process map such as asking the right questions, finding the right people to do it, and keeping people engaged in process improvement. Harold will be a presenter at the 2014 APQC Process Improvement Conference October 16-17.
You can find Harold on Twitter @strawbridge3rd.
Why is it so important that process mapping be done by process owners and not for them?
Some processes are complex enough to warrant seasoned process experts as mappers. A larger organization might easily invest in process management staff to map a key production process and drive their improvements. For instance, retooling an assembly line will certainly require process maps by process mapping experts.
Every organization, regardless of size, is the sum of its processes. Here are three simple facts:
- An organization has more processes than there are skilled process mappers
- For many organizations a process professional is an unaffordable luxury.
- A process owner raises their value to the organization when they are able to make the process visible. Once visible, the people in the process can work together to identify and implement process improvements.
Process mapping is to effective process improvement as diagnostic images are to healing a physical ailment. Say you went to your doctor and complained that “It hurts when I do this.” The doctor says, “Sure I know what that is. I have time right now, you want let me operate?” Your next step would be towards the door. Look, you don’t have a tooth drilled without an x-ray. How can you make a change to a process without first making the process visible? For the many organizations, who better to make the process visible than the process owner.
What is the main reason that organizations expect process mapping to be done by process mapping experts?
Process size and complexity often indicate the need for mapping by process mapping experts. Organizations mistakenly think that the only people who can map a process are mapping experts. There are misconceptions about process mapping:
- Process mapping is difficult
- Process mapping must be done using software
- Process mapping takes a long time
- Process mapping done by the process owner will be a single or biased view of the process
- “We don’t need a map to tell us what needs to change. We know the process. All we need to do is _________.”
What are the best ways to engage people within an organization in the process so they want to contribute to the mapping effort?
Here are a few steps to engage people:
Pitch the value to the people who will help you map. The pitch might include these points:
- "We will work together to map the what, when, who of our process.”
- “Once mapped, we’ll walk through what we mapped and make sure we haven’t missed anything.”
- “Once we verify it, there’s no “my view” of the process only “our view” of the process.”
- “With “our view” we can effectively begin working together to improve the process.” Note that any change done without a clear and agreed upon understanding of the process is tampering or tinkering, not improvement.
Invite representatives of the roles in the process to map the process. Be sincere in the invitation that you need them to bring their knowledge of their role in the process so together you can get a clear picture of how it works today.
Commit to reviewing the process with the people who help map the process. Commit to no changes without first gaining agreement that the map is an accurate representation of the who, what, when and why of the process steps
When creating a process map what are simple things people can do to make sure they are asking essential process performance questions?
As you create a process map:
- Consider placing performance questions into a “parking lot”. Collect the questions when they come up but wait to answer them until you complete the map. You need to have the process map content verified by the people who play roles in the process.
- Note the places in the process where you collect metrics.
When you have a verified map of the current steps and their sequence you’re ready to process the “parking lot” of process performance questions. Be sensitive to the people in your organization and their understanding of process terminology. Avoid process “trash talk” (first pass yield, cycle time, rework, reject rate, lean processes, process decomposition, and process entitlement). Ask performance questions simply:
- How do we know the process is performing well?
- How do we know there are problems with the process?
- How long does each step in the process take?
- How long does it take to go from process start to finish?
- How fast would we ideally like it to take from start to finish?
What is the biggest challenge to validating process maps for a process owner building them for the first time?
The biggest challenge may be convincing people that you are sincere about wanting their participation in making improvements. If continuous improvement or collaborative improvement is not the norm in your organization, people may think that you’re playing a game of “guess the improvement that I’ve already determined I want to make”. You can only effectively improve a process when you have a map that the people in the process validate as accurate. You must decide how to let people know that effective process improvement is a group activity.