To fully reap the rewards of business process management techniques, organisations must develop a process management strategy.
The stark reality is a failure to plan is a plan to fail.
So what can organisations do to develop an effective process management strategy?
Anthill have collected 7 key tips you can follow to get the most out of your critical business processes…
Identify Your Ideal Framework
Before considering how to enact your best practice process, you first need to identify precisely what it might consist of. From this informed position, you can establish a framework for its implementation.
In order to do this, there needs to be an end goal in mind.
“If you want to reach a goal, you must see the reaching in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.”
Zig Ziglar
No matter what the aim is, without knowing what you’re working towards, or what outcome you’re looking to more easily achieve, discovering areas for improvement is nigh on impossible.
Secure Company Buy In
To fully implement a new strategy, there must be a desire to align and adhere to it.
If your vision isn’t shared across the entire business, it’ll struggle to get off the ground. As such, aligning your teams with your ideal process is essential.
“Getting a wide variety of views on the business process can help you develop a comprehensive and innovative game plan for streamlining it.”
Slack
Generating engagement from every affected party not only helps ensure everyone is bought into the process. It also creates the opportunity to fully do your homework.
Ask your team illuminating questions… how does the current process work in practice? Where does it fail internally? Where does it fail for our customers?
This helps involve them in defining the future work patterns and provides you with frontline insight into process in practice.
Map Your User Journey
By mapping user journeys, you can begin to spot the pitfalls, or pain points, that a new approach should avoid.
Similarly, does your journey factor in your organisation’s unique characteristics?
Rather than introducing processes from a textbook or competitor, your workflow must be created by you, for you.
“Customer journey mapping helps you plot a path to resolution, offering customers the valuable information they need, exactly when they’re looking for it.“
GWI
Consider how different people, stores or regions carry out your processes. Miniscule variations can have significant impacts upon outcomes.
As a business you need to be able to discover precisely how processes are driven in different situations to identify those which operate most effectively.
Once you have completed the mapping, filter your findings back into your framework to facilitate a smooth transition.
Invest In Implementation
Having invested significant resource into researching and building your process framework, the next stage is implementation.
For larger organisations, the consensus dictates trialling any new approaches on smaller sample sizes.
“Implementing a structure will provide your company with the framework to make reactionary movements with speed and impact to stay ahead of the competitor curve.”
This allows you to iron out any roadblocks which emerge once the practice is introduced beyond the drawing board.
Failure to do so will only raise the risk of well-intentioned changes having a negative impact. Both on the lives of staff and customers alike.
Harness Process Software
Manual implementation may work in the short term, but for sustainable success there’s needs to be a robust technology in place. This will ensure adherence to your newly defined workflow.
“Exceptional process design can cut operations costs, promote productivity, and maintain consistency.”
Creatio
Change isn’t always easy to embrace, even when the positive consequences of doing so have been clearly laid out.
Employing technology to guide your team through the newly defined stages of the process ensures greater accountability and compliance with each new aspect, eliminating risk of missed steps.
The added structure, likewise, reinforces new learnings that soon make your new best practice process second nature to all involved in its delivery.
Speak To Your Staff
The early stages of implementation also allow for further user input.
Whilst your team are adapting to the new framework, listen to their lived experience of it.
Doing so not only better informs your operational decisions moving forward, but encourages their cooperation by creating an open forum for their contributions to be recognised.
“Part of building the most efficient business processes is fostering an environment in which your team feels empowered to deliver honest feedback.”
Effective Change Management
Arguably, the most critical aspect of this is ensuring alignment across the entire operation.
If you are unable to bridge gaps between teams, locations, functions, or stores, developing a process management strategy can become a major challenge.
Manage Your Process
Managing process ultimately means managing performance.
A lack of management means, more often than not, there is no guarantee process will be followed.
“The first step to improving your business processes is understanding them”.
Nintex
The stark, frankly worrying, consequence of absentee adherence is that two customers’ requiring the same product will receive a different service and experience depending on who or how they engage with your team.
Process management is, therefore, non-negotiable for any ambitious business.
In order to ascertain success, consider what key metrics you need to be tracking to gauge your actions.
By measuring these on both an individual and organisational level, you generate enhanced accountability.
Likewise, management facilitates a true insight into the actions of your team and the impact they have upon your customers.
Ready to explore how Anthill can help you develop a process management strategy? Schedule a demo today.
Intrigued to learn more? Check out our Insights Hub to keep your business at the cutting edge.
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- December 9th, 2021