Case study: Process Mapping the process that is needed to effectively manage strategic investments.

Enterprise: State Owned Enterprise

Pétanque role: Delivered VizPro®

Duration: 2 days

Scope: In order to ensure that strategic investments in the organisation are managed effectively throughout, from concept to delivery, it was necessary to determine what the full lifecycle of an investment is, to start off with. From this, the step by step activities that is needed to effectively roll out and track each investment, were defined, debated and agreed on by key role players.

Application: The result of this project is that role players are clear on their respective accountabilities, stakeholders understand the full scope of work that tracks an investment, and management is provided with assurance that all elements are defined and assigned for actioning.

Benefit: Transparency, role clarity, progress tracking, risk management tracking, resource management.

Process performance is an increasingly hot topic, as the current economic climate requires organisations to reduce costs by becoming more efficient, and also by improving the workforce effectiveness. Much attention is going to measurement of performance, which is obviously critical. Nevertheless: a process can only be as good as its people, and therefore, the teams participation in the development of the processes is fundamental in developing processes that will benefit the organisations performance.

VizPro® is based on the principles of participation, integration and communication. In a VizPro® workshop a facilitator enables a team to discuss and challenge end to end processes, to improve the process, and to create transparency between the different roles and departments. Understanding of the bigger picture, and the opportunity to engage, share concerns, opinions, and ideas, is critical for people to feel acknowledged and to be part of the process. With people as the baseline of the organisation, process optimisation starts with intensive communication with the team.

We recently decided to go back to the drawing board to fill a position within our company. We followed our Recruitment and Selection process, and reviewed the Job Description for the new candidate. We summarised the job, listing essential duties and responsibilities, job requirements, key performance areas, and personal attributes. My colleague and I critically brainstormed about the position and the role that the new candidate would have to fulfil. The discussion we had sparked my interest, as we were not clear on how to include all the additional activities outside the core Job Description. I explored reasons behind this and came across something really interesting: The Job Description of a Knowledge Worker!

In the old days, work was obvious; it was clear what needed to be done: fields had to be ploughed, machines tooled, boxes unpacked, cows milked. You knew what you had to do – you could see it. It was clear when work was finished, or not finished. What was then known as “work”,was later transformed to assembly line, make-it and move-it kinds of activity-, and then to information processing, determining what next action needs to be taken.

David Allen (well-known for his book “Getting Things Done”) hits the nail on its head posing the question: “Which of you are doing only what you were hired to do?”

If you had a chance to stick to a specific Job Description for long enough, you would figure out soon enough what you needed to do (how much, at what level) to stay sane. However, things are not always that rosy in an age where continuous growth is critical.

In his book, “Getting Things Done”, Allen provides two reasons for the constant shift in the definition of our jobs:

1. The organisations we’re involved with seem to be in constant morph mode, with ever changing goals, products, partners, customers, markets, technology etc. These all, by necessity, shake up structures roles and responsibilities.
2. The average professional is more of free agent these days than ever before, changing careers as often as his/her parents once changed jobs. Even 40-somethings and 50-somethings hold standards of continual growth.

Little seems clear for the long term anymore, as far as what our work is concerned. I’ve come to the realisation that in today’s “Knowledge Age”, the professional doesn’t really have a fixed job description!

By Justin Siljeur

John Hayden, MD of John Hayden and Associates, shared his view on BPM at the Free Process Transformation Executive Forum, Johannesburg:

Hayden says BPM takes commitment and without the right people with the right attitude, BPM will not be the silver bullet: “BPM is a philosophy, mindset and management discipline. According to a Harvard Business Review, a firm's competitive success depends on transforming its key end-to-end processes into strategic capabilities that consistently provide superior value to the customer.”

Hayden notes that business process automation will improve customer service, cost-reduction, compliance and business agility. However, he adds that any change is always a headache and businesses have to go through some rigorous risk analysis to determine if it is viable to turn to BPM.

Hayden says before companies automate, they need to first redesign and reengineer their processes: “BPM is a multi-step process, with multiple predefined routing options and many role players. There are times that I believe you don't have to rush into technology.”

“Businesses should not underestimate the change management challenges in implementation from a staff point of view. Put in place a formal change-management and communications strategy. Make sure you know exactly why you want to automate the process and what the business is trying to achieve. Focus on customer-interfacing, revenue-generating processes.”

Hayden adds: “The single most important skill in BPM is analysis, interpersonal skills and the dialogue of sharing and understanding what's going on. It's about a collaborative debate with IT colleagues and business custodians on what the real benefits are.”

This platform for debate and knowledge share that Hayden is referring to, is created in VizPro® work sessions, where role players are invited to question and challenge current processes, share experiences, and come up with ideas for improvement. The non-threatening environment creates a forum for multi-level communication and interaction. While the discussions take place a process map is developed real-time, visualising the process to allow participants to see and understand the end-to-end processes and interfaces.

The facilitator ensures that the processes are directed by the organisation’s vision, aligning business processes to strategic objectives, resulting in a market driven process. Required improvements in the process to achieve the strategic goals are documented in an Action List, appointing an owner and setting a timeline, to ensure execution.

During each work session we experience that involving role players, listening to opinions, and sharing knowledge around the process, enlightens and enthuses people, and makes them receptive for change. This is opening doors to offer more value to your customers.

Case study: Process Mapping the process of changing from a business division into a company

Enterprise: State Owned Enterprise

Pétanque role: Delivered VizPro®

Duration: 3 workshop days of Process Mapping and Action Listing

Scope: The processes were needed for a current, operating division to become a corporatised entity. We designed the processes with the client corporatisation team on who needs to do what to change the business from a division to a fully fledged company. These are now being used as part of the overall corporatisation project which needs to deliver the new company: operational, branded and incorporated in 2010. The work was presented to the SOE’s board a week later, and the way forward was signed off.

Application: This information is now being used as input into the Programme Manager’s project plans.

Benefit: Actions to be taken agreed on, role clarity obtained, risks and mitigations identified and planned for, scheduling agreed to, process defined and agreed to.

Case study: Processing Mapping the Corporate Communication Function in order to support the business requirements

Enterprise: Large parastatal

Pétanque role: Delivered VizPro®

Duration: 2 workshop days of Process Mapping and Action Listing

Scope: This project was an extension of a mega-project to develop an organisational structure in support of the new business model. As part of that project the Corporate Communications process was documented. Further review was required to ensure seamless support of the organisation. Corporate Communications needs to contribute to business growth and to develop a positive reputation for the organisation.

In workshops, with relevant role players, we reviewed and designed the processes to support the enterprise by clearly defining the activities, people, systems and performance indicators to effectively communicate the pillars: Strategic Direction, Organisational Transformation, Brand Repositioning and Policies & Procedures.

Application: The processes were redesigned to drive and support a high performance organisation, to develop a positive reputation and to enable Corporate Communication to meet the businesses strategic objectives. The action lists were used to identify shortfalls within the process and are used continuously by management for process improvements.

Benefit: Immediate outcomes of this project were transparency, resource management, obtained role clarity, identified risks and controls, agreement and buy-in of the redefined process.

Case study: Process Mapping the process that is needed to effectively manage strategic investments

Enterprise: Large parastatal

Pétanque role: Delivered VizPro®

Duration: 2 days of Process Mapping and Action Listing

Scope: In order to ensure that strategic investments in the organisation are managed effectively throughout, from concept to delivery, it was necessary to determine what the full lifecycle of an investment is to start off with. From this, the step by step activities that are needed to effectively roll out and track each investment were defined, debated and agreed on by key role players.
 
Application: The result of this project is role players are clear on their respective accountabilities, stakeholders understand the full scope of work that tracks an investment, and management is provided with assurance that all elements are defined and assigned for actioning.

Benefit: Transparency, role clarity, progress tracking, risk management tracking, resource management.