How to know that processes do not work?
Issues in processes might result in the following problems:
- Customers may complain about poor product quality or bad service.
- Colleagues get frustrated.
- Work may be duplicated, or not done.
- Costs increase.
- Ressources are wasted.
- Bottlenecks can develop, causing you to miss deadlines.
How to improve processes?
Create a process map
To understand your processes, you need to have a clear overview on what is required and when. Modeling it using a flowchart to highlight each steps of the process. Once each process has a clear overview, your organization will be able to engage coworkers on a deeper level, and each of them will have an understanding on the full process cycle.
Whether your organization sells goods or services, having a clear flowchart of you process will help you showcase the different steps that needs to be taken before the product or service is delivered to your customer.
Analyze the process
Thanks to your flowchart, you can then find out what can be improved, where your team get frustrated, where are the highest costs, the delays and the bottlenecks. The goal will be to go back to the roots. You can break down each budget to find out where your highest costs are, track recurring delays to identify the bottlenecks, and run monthly checks to find out if your coworkers are frustrated and why.
Customer experience improvement
Once your product or service is delivered the process is not over. Behind each unhappy consumer lays a broken process. It can be time, quality, transparency … By having a clear understanding on your customer’s satisfaction, you will be able to find out which processes are not optimized and to meet their need more precisely.
Implement a PMO
If you haven’t implemented a PMO, then read our article: “Why should I implement a PMO”.
Indeed, implementing a PMO will not only give an overview of your ongoing, future and past projects, but also relevant insights about the efficiency of your projects and a more efficient capacity and demand management.
But on top of that, PMO is a catalyst for business aiming to accelerate the implementation processes of your projects.
Have a clear change management strategy
When improving existing processes, it is important to think about communicating on the reason to modify existing procedure. Your coworkers are used to their tasks, the processes they follow, and it is always hard to introduce changes into their routine. Having a clear path toward process improvement include a defined change management strategy.
