Tag Archive: process improvement methodology

Process Mapping? I’d rather be Napping.

June 17, 2016Blogbusiness process improvement, business processes, consistency, consultant, consulting, continuous improvement, culture shift, data, efficiency, employee engagement, goals, process, Process Improvement, process improvement methodology, process map, process mapping, process mapping tools, swimlane diagrams, training, whiteboard consultingNicole North

So I’ve heard a lot of people say they are so fascinated by what I do in the process improvement world, and how great they think it is , but how “it’s not for them”. Using my coaching skills, I usually say something like, “Oh yeah? Tell me about why it isn’t for you”.

Here are some of the responses I get:

“Snore. Processes are super boring. My company is really intuitive, and we just know exactly what to do and we fix it.” – my super annoying friend

“Processes, who needs it? I already know my team is garbage and as soon as I can replace them, things will turn around”. – a client who later realized her team was great because process mapping revealed a culture issue

“Ugh. Sounds bureaucratic. I’m an entrepreneur. There is nothing corporate about he way I run my business, and to be honest we don’t need it.” – my sister-in-law

3 Signs You Need Process Mapping STAT!

Something is wrong and you “think” know exactly how to fix it. How do you know what’s wrong? What leads you to believe that? What is the expected outcome if you make the change? You might be right. Intuition is super important. Why not validate those gut feelings with some evidence in a process map? It’s a great way to get buy in from your stakeholders and employees!
You “think” your employees are the problem. They suck. While this is the first place many people look for solutions, it’s usually something else. Why do you think they suck? What tells you that? What could be inhibiting them? Have you asked them? Research shows that if you take great people and put them in a bad process, the process will win every time. Process mapping sometimes uncovers secrets that are hiding within a bad process.
You “think” process is too rigorous. Well, it can be, but it doesn’t have to be. The right people, the right style, and the right moment can take you from being a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants entrepreneur to a being a strategic one. Why not set the stage so you can pass the tasks that aren’t worth your time (or you aren’t great at) to someone who can actually add value (so you can go and be amazing). Process mapping identifies those tasks and lets you properly divide them up.

If you’re not a “process person,” or even if you are but don’t have a lot of time, we can help you. We are expert at coming in, talking with you and your team, and uncovering the hidden opportunities to improve your business.

Even better – why not build process improvement and process mapping capacity on your team? We offer public workshops that are fun, interactive, and relevant. Check them out by clicking here, and contact us if you want to know more.

#whiteboardworskhops #theyredifferent

Until Next Time,

Nicole

Whiteboard Workshop: Introduction to Process Mapping

June 10, 2016Blogbusiness process improvement, business processes, continuous improvement, customer satisfaction, decision making, efficiency, process, Process Improvement, process improvement methodology, process map, process mapping, process mapping tools, training, whiteboard consultingRuth Henderson

Process Mapping is awesome and fun and helpful and easy and so amazing, right?

No? If you disagree, you’re not alone. We did a quick Twitter poll and asked people what their thoughts are about Process Mapping. Here are some of the replies:

Process mapping? More like process napping! (Click to Tweet!)
Process mapping is critical, in that if you don’t do it, you can save the rain forest, your time, and your sanity.
Who needs sleeping pills when you could participate in a process mapping session?
Process mapping is the paleo of the workplace. (Click to Tweet!)
AT FIRST GLANCE THEY ARE SO INTIMIDATING AND COMPLICATED (this one was complete with caps)

So yeah. We get it. There are a LOT of people who don’t like process maps.

At least they think they don’t – they just haven’t met us yet.

But I “Need” to Do Process Mapping

Despite how people may feel about process mapping, they still need to use them. Either they have to design them on their own, or read some that have been designed by someone else. Some people know the “why” behind process mapping but still haven’t quite mastered it, and others have no idea what they are doing or why, only that “they have to do this for audit purposes.”

The truth is that process maps are necessary and critical in so many situations:

Training new people,
Documenting processes for audits,
Understanding the flow of information in an organization,
Having a picture of how customers are impacted by business processes,
Identifying areas to improve,
Identifying areas that are excelling (and should be modelled), and
Imagining a future state organizational structure.

So if you, or someone you know needs to do any of these things (or is responsible for others who are), then our latest workshop is for you. Read on.

Whiteboard Workshop: Introduction to Process Mapping

If you have been reading our blogs for a while, then you know we love to make processes better, and we loathe things that are over-complicated. It follows then, that we don’t do process mapping (or training, for that matter), like most organizations do.

Our latest workshop, Introduction to Process Mapping, was first delivered on May 26th, and was a great success. Some testimonials:

I have done process mapping in the past, but it has been a long time since I’ve been able to utilize those skills. I was so happy to attend and receive a great refresher. Thank you!
There was a wide variety of different folks with different backgrounds, and you did great to keep all levels engaged and interested.
This course came at the perfect time! Something I really liked was the actual process mapping we did as individuals – it helped me demonstrate what I learned from the course.
I loved your banter – so funny and yet still professional. (This was our favourite, because we think we are very funny.)

We have two more dates set this fall. Both are Thursdays, and both will be in downtown Toronto (location TBD based on the group).

People who attend this course will be able to

Understand the basics of process mapping theory and activities,
Articulate the value of process consistency and when it can be “too much” (too rigorous),
Demonstrate the ability to facilitate and develop a process map, and use appropriate levels, tools, and concepts (incl basics of Visio), and
Analyze process maps to identify improvement opportunities.

You should come. You really should. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. And if you have any questions, shoot us a note or Tweet us @whiteboardcons #ILOVEPM.

See you soon,

Ruth.

How To Solve The Biggest Problems With Process Mapping

September 19, 2014Blogbusiness process improvement, business processes, Change Management, engagement, process analysis, process documentation, process improvement methodology, process map, process mapping tools, process summary analysis, process validation, Six Sigma, swimlane diagrams, value added stepsNicole North

Post-Process Mapping

A few weeks back Ruth blogged about how to do a basic process map (click here to check it out) and it included a free process template for you to use as well. You’re welcome. Process mapping is a huge part of our business. We know process mapping creates engagement and buy-in for process change (when done in a workshop setting) , is a great visual tool, and can improve effectiveness and efficiency.

Ruth talked about the key steps in documenting a process; the steps include:

Determine the swimlanes
Determine the trigger point
Consider the end point
Put a circle shape in the swimlane for the person/group that starts things off. Write the word “START” in it.
Put a square shape next to the circle and label it #1, and write the step.
Proceed with each consecutive step.
Add the arrows last (you almost always have to change them as you go).
When you reach the end point, put a circle with the word “END” in it.

AND, I can’t believe Ruth forgot this. I am going to gloat since she is a stickler for this one.

9. NUMBER your steps (post-production comment from Ruth – I am mortified! I can NOT BELIEVE I forgot that… and is such a public way! I will never live it down. Sigh.)

We received a lot of really good feedback on this blog, and people loved the template. The big question was:

What do I do next, after the Process Map?

Great question. The next 2 steps are to validate your process map and look at value added steps.

Validation

So if you’ve done your process map in a workshop style setting, you likely had many of the stakeholders (the swimlanes) of the process in the room. So validation in this case is finalizing that process map and sending it back out to those participants to see if what you’ve documented is accurate.

If you’ve worked on a process map by yourself, validation becomes even more important. You are verifying that all the steps are accurate and represented properly. In fact, this is an opportune time to re-group and re-engage to validate the map, or engage for the first time. A few things to keep in mind:

Talk to the people in the process and follow the product or service through the service to make sure steps and swimlanes have been captured accurately.
Make sure to capture easily seen or invisible steps (i.e. where the product or service is waiting, or being moved to another area)
Ensure that you haven’t mapped the best case scenario, or worst case scenario. The map should be representative of how the process normally works.

Now for the meaty stuff….

Next we are going to analyze the process! First let’s determine whether a step adds value or not? Ask these 3 questions:

Does the customer consider this step important?
Has the product or service had a physical change?
Was it done right the first time?

Here you can identify the type of non-value added activities. Non-value added activities include:

Moves: Steps in the process where the product or service is in transit from one place to another. How many times and to how many people in your organization does this touch?
Delays: Steps in the process where the product of service is waiting for the next step in the process (a great example of this is approvals or sign-offs). This is your classic bottleneck.
Set-up: Steps in the process that prepare the product or services for a future step
Internal Failures: Steps that have to be re-done (i.e. iterations of something before it reaches final approval) that are detected internally
External Failures: Steps that have to be re-done that are detected by the customer (i.e. damaged product at shipping….)
Control/inspection: Steps where the product or services is reviewed to ensure customer satisfaction (i.e. Quality Control)
Value Enabling: Steps that don’t add value but are necessary for the functioning of the organization

How do you do this? Well by filling out the super easy Process Summary Analysis Template of course!

Process Summary Analysis Template Instructions

Step 1: Put in the number of process Steps

Step 2: Enter the amount of time it takes to complete this step in minutes (don’t know exactly? Time it a few times or guesstimate for now), sum that row in minutes, and its % is 100% because we are summing the whole process.

Step 3: Identify which process steps are value added and not value added. Sum the number of minutes for all the boxes that you’ve identified (in this case we have an x in step 1 and step 6 at 1 minute and 5 minutes respectively, so we have 6 minutes of value added work and 75 minutes of non-value added work).

Step 4: For those steps that are not-value added, identify what the type of non-value added activity it is.

Step 5: Assess the percentages, and start working on the biggest first. In this case 56% of the non-value added steps are due to External Failures.

That should keep you all busy for a little while!

Ruthie…I guess this means you have to give our readers some Cause-Effect Diagram templates next week. You’re welcome. 🙂

Also stay tuned for more info about our new “Leading Process Change” Course! Over the next few weeks you’ll see guest blogs from our speakers, more info on the course, and more templates I think!

What do you think of this template? Did you use it? Was it helpful? Let us know at info@whiteboardconsulting.ca/staging or Tweet us at @whiteboardcons! More questions for us? Use #DearRuthandNicole!

Until Next Time,

Nicole

Two Things I Learned This Week From Students

September 12, 2014BlogChange Management, culture shift, efficiency, employee engagement, leadership, management behavior, process, Process Improvement, process improvement methodology, trainingRuth Henderson

This week I taught a two-day course on behalf of the Centre for Leadership and Learning in the Ontario Public Service (OPS). It’s called “Management Essentials,” and is for non-managers who want to either learn more about how management is expected to perform within the values and objectives of the OPS, or to understand what it takes to become a manager – thus being able to assess their own skills gaps and build them up accordingly.

This is a great course, and I enjoy teaching it so much not only because the materials are current and relevant, but because the people who attend generally WANT to be there (vs. being “told” to take a course in presentation skills, or “how to write a briefing note”). Teachers reading this will agree that when people attend because they want to, they are generally much more engaged and the class has more energy.

This was true this week – a great class filled with 35 interesting people from many different areas of the OPS, with differing levels of experience and terrific stories to bring life to the material.

As I drove home I reflected on a couple of standout things that I learned from the class, and thought I’d share them with you in this week’s blog:

One: We need to remind people, over and over again, that THEY are responsible for their careers and their professional development.

Situational Leadership Model

One of the conversations we had (a couple of times) relates to the last blog post I wrote (Does Your Manager Like People). We had just finished discussion on the Situational Leadership model of applying directive vs. supportive leadership techniques. This tool is a BIG hit with people – while complex at first, it is extremely helpful for new managers when they need to accept and learn that their natural, or comfortable, style of learning may not be appropriate in all situations. It helps them assess, adapt, and communicate in a more effective way.

A student approached me at the break and said, “this is AMAZING. I think my manager missed this subject when she was promoted and attended manager training.”

“Ah, bless your heart,” I thought.

I made sure to share with the class that in most organizations, there is no training to become a manager. (As an aside, I may enjoy a little too much dropping those bombs and watching the reactions.) The conversation that followed was an important one, as people realized that it is up to them to learn how to be a good leader.

A great manager should be encouraging their teams to learn and grow, develop career goals and job shadow, take courses, or broaden their perspectives. In the absence of a great manager, many people flounder and future talent may be lost.

Two: There are employees out there who want to innovate, change, and improve, and we need to find and harness that energy more effectively.

After the “manager training is up to you” conversation, there was a slight shift in energy, with more questions aimed at the application of the course material in a practical way to help people apply for and win new jobs.

One question came from a young man who likes his job very much, has been with the OPS for about five or six years with no complaints, and who is starting to feel frustrated. “I’m naturally inquisitive and process-oriented. I see people do the same things over and over with the same results, but no one takes the time to stop and fix the process so that things improve. Where are all the process jobs???”

Not an easy question to answer. Of course there are process jobs out there, and within the Ontario Government there are specific areas that are more process-focused than others. The trick is in finding those job descriptions and being able to read between the lines and know that certain phrases indicate a culture of process improvement more than others.

The real key is meeting the right people. This student was taking control and doing the right things – taking courses, asking questions, discussing his goals and dream job criteria with people, and being open to new opportunities. By doing so, he was exposing himself to more people who might be able to point him in the right direction.

I’d love to see the process-focused culture shift happen more quickly – not only in the OPS but in other private-sector organizations as well. Imagine if more job descriptions included a requirement for some type of Innovation Thinking, or the ability to demonstrate a process-improvement focus as part of regular job functions.

I may be biased, but I think that a process focus culture is the next big thing required in business today. If we could find these naturally process-oriented people and maximize their energy, we could shift our thinking from “process improvement or day job” to “day job through process improvement.” (Click to Tweet)

I teach again in a couple of weeks… can’t wait to see what my students teach me then!!

Until next time,

Ruth.

(Process) Rules Are Made to Be Broken

August 15, 2014Blogconsultant, consulting, employee engagement, Lean, process, Process Improvement, process improvement methodology, Six Sigma, the whiteboard way, whiteboard consultingRuth Henderson

It’s true. Rules are made to be broken. Even in the world of Process Improvement.

“Wait, what?” you ask. “But Ruth, process improvement is all about rules and statistics and doing things the same way every time, yada yada yada. You’re contradicting the very foundation of what Whiteboard teaches!”

Ah, nothing is so black and white, grasshopper. Hear me out.

Process Improvement is Changing

In my process career I have witnessed and/or been part of many process improvement initiatives – big, small, fully funded and supported, done “off the corner of a desk”, successful, and unsuccessful.

The two things that made the difference between success and failure – in addition to the usuals of effective communication, engagement, and senior management commitment – were:

Early evidence that the new methods work and are worth the effort, and
The ability to be flexible and change your mind.

And this last one, flexibility, seems to be growing in importance. In fact, it also influences the first one – “evidence of success.” flexible

Traditional and, dare I say it, soon to become “old school” methodologies like Six Sigma and to some extent Lean, are based on strict methodologies that work really well in some organizations – usually those in a manufacturing or highly repetitive/operational industry. In other industries, particularly serviced-based, these methods have a more difficult time taking root. It’s not impossible, and there are many very successful examples – but it is harder.

It’s OK to Change Your Mind – Just Don’t Squirrel

When Nicole and I teach The Whiteboard Way© to aspiring process-improvement practitioners, we are careful to point out the need to be flexible, and to change things along the way if they aren’t working. The ability to do this is refreshing to people who are often nervous about adopting a new method, or taking on “this process stuff.”

I recently did some strategic planning with a client – he was a little nervous about planning tactics for goals that were 12-24 months out. “Things can change, Ruth,” he said. And he was right. That’s why it’s important to have a plan and a process, and then if (when) things change you can make intentional decisions to veer away from or modify the plan. But – the modification is then intentional, not just because you saw a fun-looking squirrel and decided to run after it like the dog in the movie Up (love this clip: click here). Some people do this so frequently, that Nicole and I actually use “squirrelling” as a verb.

In the Four Disciplines of Execution, Sean Covey stresses the importance of using and tracking lead measures – those which you can influence and which drive the progress towards a goal – in the execution of a goal or strategy. His theory is that a “cadence of accountability” ensures that people develop the habit of reviewing their commitments and assessing whether those tactics (or lead measures) are making the progress they expected. If they’re not, then they change the tactics and the things they measure until it has the desired result. (Click to Tweet)

In the The Whiteboard Way© we teach the same principles. We combine traditional process improvement tools with modern theories about being flexible yet accountable, and we show how this approach generates increased engagement and better results.

Have you had success doing process improvement this way? Tell us about it!

Until next time,

Ruth.

November 9, 2013Blogbrainstorming, fishbone diagram, poke yoke, Process Improvement, process improvement methodology, process mappingRuth Henderson

This week we continue our series on The Whiteboard Way© by taking you through what just might be the “favourite” phase in the process improvement journey – “Imagine It!”

Why is it the favourite phase? Well, it’s because most people have a solution in mind when they start this journey, and up until now we haven’t allowed them to even suggest it. We were all about problem definition in Step One (remember, no solutions) and then the visual representation by drawing the current state in Step Two. In the third phase, we finally get down to business and talk about some possible ways to fix the problem.

Finally! I Can Just Implement My Idea, Right?

Um, no. Sorry. There are a few things we need to do to make sure that your idea not only will fix the problem, but that it’s also the best place to start. Sometimes great ideas are trumped by new ideas that we find in the first few steps of Step Three. If you can hang in a little longer, what we want to do next is brainstorm all the possible causes for the problem you designed in Step One, and drew in Step Two.

We’ve been looking at three different problem statements in this series:

In the last 3 months we have had to fix this issue 6 times for four customers, causing dissatisfaction for our customers and wasted processing time for our staff.
Each month we are 5-7 days late completing this process, impacting other departments and generating late fees for the company.
This piece of work costs the organization $5,000 per month. Best practices in similar companies is half that amount.

Let’s take a closer look at the first example. It seems that we’ve sent the wrong thing to our customers 3 times in 6 months. Our shipping manager is pretty sure that it’s because we hired 4 new people in the warehouse, and they’re just not using the shipping system properly. He’d like to do some training for them – it will cost $1,500 a person to attend a two day course, and will require hiring temps to backfill while they’re off at training.

In “Imagine It”, the first thing we have to do is think of all the potential reasons for the mis-shipped products. We love to use a tool called a Fishbone Diagram to help people come up with “root causes” for the problem. This diagram is best drawn on a big whiteboard or brown roll-paper on the wall. At the head of the fishbone you put the problem “Mis-shipped products”. Each of the bones in the spine represents a common category of root causes. These categories are designed to trigger thoughts while brainstorming – participants use them to think of all the things in that category that could possibly impact the outcome.

A completed Fishbone Diagram for this issue might look like this.

Actually, it would probably look much messier and with dozens more ideas. But let’s run with this one.

Our shipping manager’s idea of training being the big concern is right there on the fishbone, under the “People” category. But during the brainstorming session, someone pointed out that there have been a few power outages recently and that all the picking had to be done manually. Also that the website had been updated, and that customers in Vancouver had called in with issues using the online order forms.

Suddenly, the training idea has taken a back burner until the other ideas are investigated. It doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea, or even the wrong idea – it’s just that a little more investigation is needed first.

In this case, it turns out that the power outage was the root cause – each mis-shipment was linked directly to times when the picking process had to be done manually.

Now What?

A few things. First, you might want to investigate why you’re having so many power outages! Is it a freak of nature or do you have electrical issues? Second, how can you improve the manual picking process? Use your new process mapping skills to look at the current process and see where there might be room for improvement and ways to prevent mistakes from happening (the Japanese term for this is Poke Yoke – error proofing).

You might want to prove that the new process will work too. That’s the topic for next week.

Until then, please leave a comment – anything! Process questions, ideas for an upcoming blog, your thoughts on the Maple Leaf’s’ chances this year. Whatever!

Ruth.