I have been leading a process integration from a merger recently. The teams provided their many long SOPs and I tried to make sense of them – but with only minimal success. So, at the first meeting (web-based of course), I said we should map the process at high level (one page) for just one of the organisations. People weren’t convinced there would be a benefit but were willing to humour me. In a two-hour meeting, we mapped the process and were also able to:
- Mark where the existing SOPs fit in the high-level process – giving a perspective no-one had seen before
- Highlight differences in processes between the two organisations – in actual process steps, equipment or materials
- Discuss strengths, weaknesses and opportunities in the processes
- Agree an action plan for the next steps to move towards harmonisation
Mapping was done using MS PowerPoint. They loved this simple approach that made sure the focus of the integration effort was on the process – after all, to quote W. Edwards Deming, “If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.” At a subsequent meeting, reviewing another process, one of the participants had actually mapped their process beforehand – and we used that as the starting point.
Process maps are such a powerful tool in helping people focus on what matters – without getting into unnecessary detail. They help people to come to a common perspective and to highlight differences to discuss. We also use them this way at the Metrics Champion Consortium where one of the really important outcomes from mapping is the recognition of different terminology used by different organisations. We can then focus on harmonising the terminology and developing a glossary of terms that we all agree on. This reduces confusion in subsequent discussions.
Process maps are really a great tool. They are useful when complete, but so much more benefit comes from a team of people with different perspectives actually developing them. They help to bring processes into focus. And can even help with root cause analysis. If you don’t use them, perhaps you should!
For those that use process maps, what do you find as the benefits? And the challenges?
Text: © 2020 Dorricott MPI Ltd. All rights reserved.
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