A flawed process can be so frustrating for both the employees and customers. It can drive you crazy wondering why something so simple can be so hard to get right.
So how did they get that way in the first place, and what can we do to improve it? I have highlighted four common causes of defective processes and how to solve them.
Processes determine outcomes.
👉 As a business owner, having a good process can differentiate you from your competition.
👉 As a manager in the corporate industry, having a good process has the power to satisfy both customers and employees.
👉 As an individual, this means you are not constantly starting over.
A business process is like a recipe; a recipe is a set of instructions telling you how to prepare and cook food, including what ingredient is needed.
The objective of any good recipe is continuity – clear enough direction for anyone to recreate the same dish, no matter who or where they are, with identical results.
The same objective is true of a business process, a series of steps that, when followed, can consistently produce excellent output. And, again, like a recipe, where the chef probably never meets most of the people that use the formula, a new employee has a chance at success once they learn the documented business process.
Now that we understand the importance of a good business process, what makes a process bad? Simple, a series of steps that do not consistently produce excellent output leading to rework, and extension, unhappy employees and customers.
A flawed process can be so frustrating for both the employees and customers. It can drive you crazy wondering why something so simple can be so hard to get right.
So how did they get that way in the first place, and what can we do to improve it? I have highlighted four common causes of defective processes and how to solve them.
Assumptions
Ambiguity
Miscommunication
Misalignment
Assumptions Although you think you know your customers well, the truth is you probably do not know them that well, and if these assumptions underlie a particular process, then that activity is not likely to meet expectations.
Understanding how little you know about your customers is the first step toward understanding them. We can solve this by challenging our assumptions and reviewing the actual goals of our processes. The KANO model is a good place to start.
Ambiguity A good food recipe anticipates the user's questions, like how much water is needed? When do we add the water? What are the substitutes if water is unavailable?
Like a good recipe, an exemplary process must anticipate and help answer our likely questions. A process must define all possible scenarios with clear instructions on what to do each time.
Miscommunication Poor communication forces the employees to develop their processes on the fly. Some companies have documented excellent procedures, but none of the employees knows it exists.
One step is to make the documents easy to access, i.e., digitize them with web-based wikis. Another way is to automate the process so employees follow it intuitively.
Misalignment Like ourselves, we have great intentions but sometimes get tired and cut corners. Companies' misalignment between goals and actions also happens; employees tend to put off doing the right thing until later.
Companies must continually monitor their processes to ensure they deliver results consistently. Process Owners must manage their operations by defining realistic KPIs, tracking how well they are performing, and collecting data for business decision-making.
In conclusion, think about your business processes.
Have you been patient enough to think through your process goals?
Has your documented process been adequately communicated to your employees?
Are employees just so busy that they're struggling to keep up?
Make sure your operations are being allowed to succeed.
What are others reasons why processes don't work? Would you please share in the comments below?