how to implement business excellence in an sme

How To Implement Business Excellence In An SME

Dr Mark RehnMy Business ExcellenceMob: +61 438 585 009Email: [email protected]: www.mybusinessexcellence.com

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.mybusinessexcellence.com/

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The world’s converging Business Excellence frameworks all share the following five fundamental prerequisites for business excellence

Chuan and Soon “A detailed trends analysis of national quality awards world-wide” Total Quality Management, V11, No.8, 2000, p.1065-1080

1. Shared Strategic Direction Poor implementation of the Strategic Plan and so Direction not shared by all employees

2. Process Design & Improvement Key Processes not identified and hence not targeted for improvement

3. Performance Measurement & Feedback

Ad-hoc approach to selecting Key Performance IndicatorsFew measures of progress against Strategic ObjectivesHealth of Key Processes not measured

4. Knowledge Capture & Leverage No systematic approachPoor IT support infrastructureMisaligned reward and recognition system

5. Leadership & Management of Change Underdone and treated in an ad-hoc fashion

Common WeaknessPrerequisite

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Over 35 years of working with SMEs, we have found that the common organisational weaknesses relative to this framework are as follows…

Mark Rehn Consulting Services; Aptech Australia

Deals with the emotions of change

Deals with the complexities of change

Leadership Management

• Conceptualising, visioning

• Sharing strategic direction

• Empowering, motivating, inspiring, energising, coaching

• Exemplifying desired behaviours

• Bringing order and consistency

• Planning, budgeting

• Organising, staffing, delegating, controlling

• Problem solving

• Improving processes

4

Leadership is different from management and all businesses need a balance of the two

Leadership Style

Induced Behaviour

Myron Tribus

Director Hero Coach Enabler

Does to others

Does for others

All knowing provider

Does with others

Expert and teacher

Does through others

Facilitator and mentor

Master

Unquestioning followers

Follow the rules

Passive recipients

Step aside

Learning participants

Apply the learning

Self learners; Self starters

Find new ways

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Leadership style, both individual and collective, has a huge impact on the induced behaviour of employees and so the top leadership team needs a collective leadership style more to the right hand side of this spectrum

Note: Actions should deliver each Objective

in full!

Planning period (typically 3 years)

Q1: Now?

Q2:Where?Objectives

(≤7)

Q3:How?Actions

Actions which address once-off

processes:

Use (linear!) Project Management

methodology

Actions which address repetitive

processes:

Use (circular!) Process Improvement

methodology

+

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Strategic planning must be simple enough to be widely shared – and must have a process focus for best results (since all work is done through processes)

Vision*, Role, Process Model, Objectives, KPIs, Actions



Top down development of

strategy for alignment and buy-in!

* common to all levels

Personal Performance Indicators (PIs) and Personal Development Plans (PDPs) should have ‘line of sight’ alignment to all the above Strategic Plans!

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The‘coat-hanger’model enables rapid cascading and sharing of strategic direction down and across large SME organisations – with the same format and language at every level to best achieve vertical and horizontal alignment!

DIVISIONS

DEPARTMENTS

This tends to be the least understood and the least managed aspect of business performance

It represents a wealth of largely untapped potential for any organisation seeking excellence!

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Since all work (including strategy execution) is done through processes, high level process modelling of the organisation is essential to target the Key Processes for improvement

Rummler and Brache

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A process is a sequence of Activities to convert Inputs into Outputs plus perceived Outcomes for the internal or external customer – all work is done through processes!

OutputsInputs Activities

Outcomes

(Customer Perceptions)

Outputs

Process!

Process design and improvement is important for two reasons

1. Our entire work system is comprised of multiple processes which deliver goods and services to our customers

2. The effectiveness and efficiency of these processes can be improved dramatically by our own people provided we give them the opportunity!

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Key Business Processes serve external customers, and fulfil the organisation’s clinical Role (i.e. what we do for a living!), for example:

Position the businessWin a job Do the job

Collect the money and pay the bills

Develop the client relationship

Key Business (external customer; Level 1) Processes

1 2 3 4

5

Our ROLE: (Level 0 process) We design and construct heavy engineering steel structures for Australia and Pacific Rim countries.

Our ROLE: (Level 0 process) We design and construct heavy engineering steel structures for Australia and Pacific Rim countries.

(Level 2 processes)

Position the businessWin a job Do the job


Design and improve processes

Capture and leverage knowledge

Govern and plan the business

Measure performance and provide feedback

Provide a safe and upskilled workforce

Provide enabling IT support

Manage financial resources

Develop the client relationship

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In addition, globally ubiquitous Key Support Processes for the internal customers enable the Key Business Processes to be executed brilliantly


Key Support (internal customer; Level 1) Processes

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89

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1 2 3 4

5

1. Be the senior person in the organisation responsible for the design, understanding and health of the assigned Key (Level 1) Process – for the entire organisation!

2. Supported by the CEO, champion continuous process improvement

3. Select one (preferably!) or more Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the operational health of the process, and regularly monitor the KPI trends

4. Sponsor process improvement projects as a result of KPI under-performance, employee suggestions, customer complaints, perceived process weaknesses etc

5. Ensure that adequate Quality Assurance (i.e. the wedge! – see slide 39) is in place to guarantee on-going exemplary execution of the improved process

6. Arrange succession when unable or unwilling to fulfil this part-time role for any reason

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The Process Manager role is crucial

Position the Business(AP)

Focus the State’s environmental education services (GY)

Undertake environmental analysis for government and private sector clients

(AJ)

Deliver environmental and geographic information products and services (PL)


The Process Manager for each Key (Level 1) Process is indicated in brackets


Our ROLE: (Level 0 process!) We manage environmental and geographic information for access by Government and the wider community.

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(Level 2 processes)

Design and improve processes (KS)

Capture and leverage knowledge (KS)

Govern and plan the business (PG)

Measure performance and provide feedback (BJ)

Provide a safe and upskilled workforce (BC)

Provide enabling IT support (AF)

Manage financial resources (AW)

Manage thedevelopment and integration

of all environmental and geographic information of the Agency ready for delivery (AG)

A Process Manager should be assigned to each Key Process - public sector SME example:

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89

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1

2

3

4

5

Manage thedevelopment and integration

of all environmental and geographic information of the Agency ready for delivery (AG)Position the Business

(AP)

Undertake environmental analysis for government and private sector clients

(AJ)

Deliver environmental and geographic information products and services (PL)

Yr 2 Yr 1

15


(Level 2 processes)

Design and improve processes (KS)

Capture and leverage knowledge (KS)

Govern and plan the business (PG)

Measure performance and provide feedback (BJ)

Provide a safe and upskilled workforce (BC)

Provide enabling IT support (AF)

Manage financial resources (AW)

Agreeing which Key Business Processes are most broken identifies Process Reengineering projects which must be included in the Strategic Plan because of their strategic impact!

Focus the State’s environmental education services (GY)


Yr 31

2

3

4

5

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89

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Our ROLE: (Level 0 process!) We manage environmental and geographic information for access by Government and the wider community.

Note: The 7 Key Support Processes have already been reengineered many times over, and the results are in the public domain – ready to be ‘retrofitted’ to your SME

Our ROLE: (Level 0 process) We develop, generate and trade renewable energy for the people of our island.

Position the

business in the

market-place

(AB)


Design and improve processes (PQ)

Capture and leverage knowledge (PQ)

Govern and plan the business (QR)

Manage financial resources (OP)

Provide a safe and upskilled workforce (MN)


Provide enabling IT support (RS)

Measure performance and provide feedback (NO)

The assigned Process Manager for each Key (Level 1) Process is indicated in brackets

11121314151617

1

Forecast energy demand

and supply

(BC)

Acquire, develop

and maintain energy

resources (CD)

Develop energy asset

strategy (DE)

Plan energy capital

works (EF)

Deliver energy capital

works (GH)

Generate and

transmit energy (IJ)

Trade energy (JK)

Collect revenue and pay

third party expenses

(KL)

3 52 4 97 86

Manage energy stakeholder and regulatory relationships (LM) 10

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Here is a further SME example of a 1-page Process Model – this time for a small electricity supply organisation

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2

3

45

67

8

9

10

11

…the average calendar time taken to complete any process while exceeding customer expectations

Measured and managed by the experts – the process

participants

Today’s customers want “the right stuff FAST”!

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The most important process variable to get under control in any business is Cycle Time (not cost!)

Waiting time

Rework time

Extra inspection time

Fire-fighting time

Extra transport time

etc

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Cycle time is most important since poor process performance anywhere results in wasted sub-sets of overall cycle time – and costs are cycle-time dependent

CustomerRequest

Goods /Services

…as time gets lost in the ‘white space’ between organisational units and layers. Remember: Today’s customers want “the right stuff FAST”!

Xerox19

Any organisation which is not structured along process lines to minimise horizontal and vertical ‘hand-offs’ will suffer over-extended Cycle Times, excessive costs, and lack of customer responsiveness

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The Process Model leads to an organisational structure with minimal hand-offs and hence minimal Cycle Times – for example (refer earlier public sector Process Model slide 14):

Organisational Design Principle:

Wherever possible, the execution of every Key Business Process

(green) and Key Support Process (blue) is entirely under the control

of one line manager

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What is your organisation’s ROLE and what are the Key Business (external customer; Level 1) Processes for your organisation?

Limit the total number of Key Business Processes to 5-12 – in series or in parallel or both!

?(Process Manager)

?(Process Manager)

?(Process Manager)

? (Process Manager)

? (Process Manager)

? (Process Manager)

? (Process Manager)

Our ROLE: We …..

1 2 3

4 5 6

7


• Review and refine targeted market segments and relative competitive positioning

• Develop branding imagery (for correspondence, reports, presentations, newsletters, tradeshows and website)

• Identify key stakeholder groups (including customers) for which a tailored positioning strategy is warranted

• For each targeted stakeholder group, develop key positioning messages and associated communication collateral

• Deliver the messages to the targeted groups via optimal communication channels

• Develop the relationships with external stakeholders and customers

• Use market feedback to refine the overall positioning strategy

Eg Position the Business (Proc Mgr)

Level 2 processes in the right sequence!

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The ‘Should Be’ Level 2 processes (approximately 6-8) for each Key (Level 1) Process can now be developed in the right (best practice) sequence

? (Proc Mgr) ? (Proc Mgr) ? (Proc Mgr)

? (Proc Mgr)

Always use the international standard ‘verb + noun’ language (eg Position the Business) to specify every process at every level (including Levels 3, 4 etc)!

• ?• ?• ?• ?• ?• ?• ?

Always use the international standard ‘verb + noun’ language (eg Position the Business) to specify every process at every level (including Levels 3, 4 etc)!

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What are the Level 2 processes (approximately 6-8) for each of your Key Business (Level 1) Processes?

Level 2 processes in the right sequence!

Eg Position the Business (Proc Mgr)

? ? ?

?

• Identify strategic HR needs and develop and communicate overall HR strategy• Develop and administer HR policies• Develop and communicate HR plans for organisational structure, recruitment, Occupational Health and Safety,

development, compensation and benefits, succession and diversity• Develop strategy for HR IT support• Design, acquire/construct and dispose of property• Recruit, source, select and induct employees• Develop and counsel employees• Manage Occupational Health and Safety of employees• Reward and retain employees• Provide payroll and other essential people support services for existing staff• Re-deploy and retire employees• Manage employee information• Manage employee communication

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What are the Level 2 processes for‘Provide a safe and upskilled workforce’? (These draft suggestions are based on generic best practice – refer APQC.org – but should be tailored to suit your organisation)

Design and improve processes (Process Manager)

Capture and leverage knowledge (Process Manager)

Govern and plan the business (Process Manager)

Manage financial resources (Process Manager)

Provide a safe and upskilled workforce (Process Manager)

Provide enabling IT support (Process Manager)

Measure performance and provide feedback (Process Manager)

• Identify and agree the minimum number of KPIs for all the Objectives of the Strategic Plan plus any ‘cascaded’ versions for organisational units

• Identify and agree the minimum number of KPIs for all the Key Processes of the Process Model plus any ‘cascaded’ versions for organisational units

• Determine the formula, input data, measurement frequency, baseline and target values for each KPI• Design and implement mechanisms to capture, monitor, and feed back the KPI data at agreed frequencies to

the agreed target audiences• Driven by the relevant KPIs, choose aligned employee performance measures for the immediate 12 month

period• Regularly appraise individual and team performance against the agreed measures

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What are the Level 2 processes for‘Measure performance and provide feedback’? (These draft suggestions are based on generic best practice – refer APQC.org - and should be tailored to suit your organisation)








• Perform financial planning and management accounting• Perform revenue accounting• Perform general accounting and reporting• Manage fixed assets from a financial perspective• Process payroll• Process accounts payable and expense reimbursements• Manage treasury operations• Manage internal financial controls• Manage taxes

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What are the Level 2 processes for ‘Manage financial resources’? (These draft suggestions are based on generic best practice – refer APQC.org - and should be tailored to suit your organisation)

• Agree and maintain the complete Process Model – with part-time Process Managers• Agree priority Key Business Processes to be reengineered over the next 3 years (max 1-2 per annum)• Train Process Managers in their critical part-time role• Prepare a Project Brief for each Process Reengineering or Fast Process Improvement project (Process

Managers)• Select and train in-house, part-time facilitators for Process Reengineering projects• Train all employees in Fast Process Improvement via the PDCA cycle plus Quality Assurance (QA) Wedge (1-

day training session per employee in groups of 20)• Undertake each Fast Process Improvement project and Process Reengineering project via a facilitated and

representative team• Document the improved process using SmartDraw® or similar software and ensure employee compliance with

the resultant Quality Assurance (QA) Wedge• Celebrate project results and accumulate the estimated net benefits of all completed projects• Obtain / Maintain ISO certification for the overall approach to continuous process improvement via the PDCA

cycle plus the QA Wedge

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What are the Level 2 processes for ‘Design and improve processes’?

For each Key Process…• Identify critical knowledge required and by whom• Capture, store and share this knowledge linked visually to the process flows - using SmartDraw, Visio, iGrafx or

similar software• Design and maintain mechanisms to regularly review and update the process knowledge, culling that which is

out of date• Recognise contributions to the development of process knowledge

Overall…• Create and maintain the specification for the knowledge management system, featuring SmartDraw, Visio,

iGrafx or similar as the web-enabled process-oriented software to link process flows directly to the knowledge required by process participants

• Regularly review and improve the knowledge management system, driven by the outcomes of each process improvement activity

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What are the Level 2 processes for ‘Capture and leverage knowledge’?

• Develop / Maintain a 3-year Strategic Plan on an annual ‘roll forward’ basis, incorporating risk mitigation initiatives in the Action Plans

• Assess operational risks and take appropriate action to mitigate them• ‘Cascade’ the Strategic Plan to form aligned 1-year Business Plans plus Capex and Opex Budgets for all

organisational units• Monitor progress towards the Strategic Plan and Business Plans / Budgets• Via the KPIs for the agreed Key Processes, monitor the organisation’s operational health and trigger process

improvements• Ensure adherence to all regulatory requirements• Optimise the organisational structure for minimum process cycle times• Conduct regular meetings of key stakeholders to effectively govern the business on an ethical and community-

sensitive basis

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What are the Level 2 processes ‘Govern and plan the business’? (These draft suggestions are based on generic best practice – refer APQC.org - and should be tailored to suit your organisation)

• Design and maintain the long-term enterprise architecture for IT, developed as a set of 3 interrelated views (Information; Technology; Applications) – all aligned to and driven by the Key Processes

• Arrange IT participation in all Process Reengineering project teams• Work collaboratively with organisational units to formulate and maintain the 3-year IT strategic plan to best

enable their Business Plans• Create and market a service catalogue for IT users featuring user-process-oriented terminology• Manage the planned portfolio of IT projects and undertake top priority new projects• Operate, manage and maintain existing IT systems, applying operational governance frameworks and

standards• Manage supply of and demand for IT resources• Track and report on the value of IT to the business

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What are the Level 2 processes ‘Provide enabling IT support’? (These draft suggestions are based on generic best practice – refer APQC.org - and should be tailored to suit your organisation)

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Since every employee needs to know your Strategic Objectives ‘off by heart’ in order for them all to make consistent business decisions every day, the Strategic Plan must be simple, brief and extremely visual!

Typically for a 3-year planning period

Driven by your emotional, long-term Vision (i.e. for at least twice the planning period)

Less than 7 strategic Objectives all up!

At least 1 strategic Objective in each of the four ‘Balanced Scorecard’ perspectives* (Finance; Customer; Process; People & Infrastructure)

Standard wording for the Finance and Process strategic Objectives!

All the above on 1 page!

Kaplan & Norton: “The Strategy Focused Organisation” 2002; Mark Rehn Consulting Services

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Finance

Customer

Process

People &Infra-structure

Our VISION: To become a viable international business

Reengineer the following Key Business Processes (refer 1-page process model): (KS)

• Position the business (Year 1)• Develop and introduce new products (Year 2)• Integrate targeted acquisitions (Year 3)

P1

The‘Objective Owner’= person with overall accountability for achieving each Objective is indicated in brackets - Team Leaders for Actions (see later) report on progress to these people. Arrows between Objectives indicate the cause and effect relationship between them.

Modify our collective leadership style to empower

our people to pursue continuous process

improvement(BC)

PI1

Achieve sustainable, profitable growth (MN)

F1

L2

Broaden our product range to address emerging global fashion trends

(GC)

C1

Target and develop offshore business for the ‘under 25’ market segment in SE Asia

(PA)

C2

Redesign and implement our new organisational

structure along process lines to reduce overall Cycle Times

(AW)

Realign our reward and recognition system to suit this Strategic Plan

(AW)

PI3PI2

Example of 1-page, 3-yearStrategic Plan via the 4Balanced Scorecard perspectives

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Finance

Customer

Process

People &Infra-structure

Reengineer the following Key Business Processes (refer 1-page Process Model): (??)

• ?? (Year 1)• ?? (Year 2)• ?? (Year 3)

P1

?? (??)

PI1

Achieve sustainable profitable growth (??)

F1

L2

?? (??)

C1

?? (??)

C2

?? (??)

?? (??)

PI3PI2

Your 1-page, 3-yearStrategic Plan via the 4 Balanced Scorecard perspectives

Our VISION: ?

33The‘Objective Owner’= person with overall accountability for achieving each Objective is indicated in brackets - Team Leaders for Actions (see

later) report on progress to these people. Arrows between Objectives indicate the cause and effect relationship between them.

1-3 People & Infrastructure Objectives! (PI1, PI2, PI3)

1-3 Customer Objectives! (C1, C2, C3)

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What 1-2 Measures (preferably just one!), Baselines and Targets will enable your organisation to be certain that each Objective is being progressively achieved over the 3-year planning period?

Delete or Add row(s) to match the chosen ≤ 7 strategic Objectives of your 1-page Strategic Plan

Objective Measure (#; $; %; Milestone; Nil)Frequ-ency

(W;M;Q;Y)

Baseline End FY 2013/14

Target End FY 2014/15



F1 Achieve sustainable, profitable growth$ total national revenue (rolling past 12 months)?% annual Return (EBIT) on Shareholder Funds?

M?Y?

$?M?%

$?M?%

$?M?%

$?M?%

C1 ???? ? ? ? ? ?

C2 ???? ? ? ? ? ?

C3 ???? ? ? ? ? ?

P1 Reengineer the following Key Business Processes: (refer Process Model)# targeted Key Business Processes re-engineered and properly wedged with QA per annum# Fast Process Improvement projects completed per annum by each Process Manager

Y

Y

0

0

≥ 1

≥ 2

≥ 1

≥ 2

≥ 1

≥ 2

PI1 ???? ? ? ? ? ?

PI2 ???? ? ? ? ? ?

PI3 ???? ? ? ? ? ?

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For example for Objective C1…

What 3-11 Actions, Timings [eg Sep/14-Nov/14] and Team Leaders [individuals!] are required to deliver each Objective in full by the end of the 3-year planning period? – one page per Objective

Action

Year FY2014/15 FY2015/16 F2016/17

LeaderJ A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J

C1.1 ?? ??

C1.2 ?? ??

C1.3 ?? ??

C1.4 ?? ??

C1.5 ?? ??

C1.6 ?? ??

C1.7 ?? ??

C1.8 ?? ??

C1.9 ?? ??

C1.10 ?? ??

C1.11 ?? ??

Delete or Add row(s) to suit the number of Actions considered necessary to deliver this Objective in full over the 3 years

Our ROLE: (Level 0 process): We design and construct heavy engineering steel structures for Australia and Pacific Rim countries.

Position the business(AB) Win a job

(CD)Do the job

(DE)

Develop and maintain the client relationship (FG)

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(EF)


Design and improve processes (PQ)

Capture and leverage knowledge (PQ)

Govern and plan the business (QR)

Manage financial resources (OP)

Provide a safe and upskilled workforce (MN)


Provide enabling IT support (RS)

Measure performance and provide feedback (NO)

The question to be asked for each Key Process is: What KPI(s) must we choose and monitor in order to convince ourselves that this Key Process is healthy?

6789

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Since all work is done through the Key Processes, the source of all operational KPIs is the agreed 1-page Process Model – again for a construction company…

1 2 3 4

5

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What KPIs will therefore be used to monitor the operational health of the organisation over the next 12 months?

Key Business Process Measure(#; $; %; Nil)

Frequ-ency

(W;M;Q;Y)

BaselineEnd FY2013/14

TargetEnd FY 2014/15

1. ? ? ? ? ?

2. ? ? ? ? ?

3. ? ? ? ? ?

4. ? ? ? ? ?

5. ? ? ? ? ?

Key Support Process`

Measure(#; $; %; Nil)

Frequ-ency

(W;M;Q;Y)

BaselineEnd FY2013/14

TargetEnd FY 2014/15

6. Provide a safe and upskilled workforce

? ? ? ?

7. Measure performance and provide feedback

? ? ? ?

8. Manage financial resources

? ? ? ?

9. Design and improve processes

? ? ? ?

10. Capture and leverage knowledge

? ? ? ?

11. Govern and plan the business

? ? ? ?

12. Provide enabling IT support

? ? ? ?

“It will never work”

“We tried that in ‘56”

“Our people couldn’t handle it”

“We’ve always done it this way”

Set aggressive targets

Kill sacred cows

Throw out existing rules

Think laterally and be adventurous

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If processes are to improve dramatically, mind-sets must be altered

Aptech Australia 198339

The‘Wheel of Progress’for process improvement of repetitive processes has four quadrants, and has been applied for approximately 90 years around the world with amazing results

Time

Org

an

isat

iona

l Pe

rfor

ma

nce

Small-step(Fast Process Improvement)

BIG-STEP(Process Reengineering)QA Wedge

(ie Document; Train; Measure; Celebrate)

Plan

Do

Act

Check

The team that does the PDCA Wheel must also do the QA Wedge – to avoid a damaging hand-off!

Understand project

Walter Shewhart, 1926

21

3

4

5

6

78

9

10

Analyse process and measure current performance

Determine root causes of process variation

Analyse performance data for process capability

Develop promising solutions

Select trial solution

Plan implementation

Implement the plan

Monitor success of trial

Standardise (QA wedge)

P

D

A

C

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The full PDCA cycle for process improvement (both Small and BIG!) has ten logical, simple steps

Walter Shewhart, 1926

PD

AC

Is team-based

Identifies root causes of process problems

Precludes premature and inappropriate conclusions

Locks in improvements via the QA wedge (in the Act quadrant)

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The PDCA Cycle is still the world’s simplest and most popular problem-solving technique for process improvement

PD

AC

Many CEOs remain oblivious to the technique and its potential impact – because they were never exposed to it as part of their formal education Hence they don’t encourage their employees to apply the

technique in solving their organisation’s problems

For the same reason, the vast majority of today’s employees default to the traditional linear technique of Project Management as the only way to solve a business problem – whereas the world’s high performance organisations have known for 90 years that the PDCA Cycle + QA Wedge is far more effective and efficient for improving repetitive processes This is particularly worrying for a national economy because

executing repetitive processes constitutes > 90% of the average employee’s working day!

In view of the above, it is ironic that training an employee in how to do Project Management properly takes at least 10 times longer than the single day required to train them properly in the Fast Process Improvement technique!

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Unfortunately and in spite of the great net benefits realisable, only about 4% of organisations today are actively using the PDCA Cycle + QA Wedge to make permanent improvements to their processes!

Flow Chart Pareto Chart

Histogram

Cause & Effect Diagram

Run Chart

Control Chart

A recommended reference set of 34 standard “Tools &

Techniques for Problem Solving and

Innovation” is available as

software (Australian) from Insight Outsight (www.insightoutsight

.com.au) as a low cost‘desk-top coach’for all employees

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Standard and simple problem solving tools and techniques help with PDCA Cycle steps, for example:

Roles and responsibilities

Skills

Organisational structure

Information systems and technologies

Measurement, reward and recognition systems

Shared values and behaviours

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A Process Reengineering (BIG STEP) project is strategic and has major ramifications, typically changing…

1. Working in the system (85% of their time on average)

and

2. Working on the system (15% of their time on average)

(identifying and eliminating causes of process variation)

In highly competitive environments, any employees not willing to work on the system should be let go - because the organisation cannot afford to be so handicapped!

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In an adaptive, progressive organisation, every employee has two roles…

1. Natural work team (all from same work area to improve a local

process)

2. Multi-level, cross-functional team (to improve a cross-organisational process)

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Two types of team are needed for process improvement efforts

Ensure the team is adequately resourced and backed

Ensure disciplined application of the PDCA cycle

Keep the team focused on the task and facilitate progress

Provide feedback on team and interpersonal behaviours

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The process improvement team facilitator (internal or external) has a critical role to play and should therefore be appropriately skilled

Many of your employees are quite capable of facilitating a 2-hour Fast Process Improvement planning workshop of 3-4 colleagues–

because the techniques are so simple! But your appointed Pacemaker (internal or external) will need to facilitate each 2-day

Process Reengineering planning workshop.

Project Brief

Process improvement opportunitiesProcess improvement opportunities

PD

AC

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A concise Project Brief should be prepared by the Process Manager in order to prevent ‘scope creep’ when the team meets to Plan the process improvement

Blackburn, Joseph D Time-Based Competition Homewood, USA, Business One Irwin, 1991

Blackmore, John The Quality Solution Parramatta, Australia, MASC Publishing, 1989

Collins, Jim Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap… and others don’t Collins, USA, 2001

Camp, Robert C Benchmarking Milwaukee, USA, ASQC Quality Press, 1996 Fooks, Jack H Profiles for Performance Reading, Massachusetts, USA, Addison-Wesley, 1992

Hammer, Michael Beyond Reengineering – How the process-centered organization is changing our work and our lives. New York, Harper Collins Publishers, 1996

Hammer, Michael; Stanton, Steven How process enterprises really work. Harvard Business Review, Vol.77, No.6, November-December 1999, p.108-118.

Hubbard, G; Samuel, D; Heap, S; Cocks, G The First XI – Winning organisations in Australia Milton, Australia, John Wiley & Sons, 2002

Kaplan, Robert S; Norton, David P Having trouble with your strategy? Then map it. Harvard Business Review onpoint, September-October 2000, p.1-10.

Kaplan, Robert S; Norton, David P The strategy-focused organization. Boston, Massachusetts, Harvard Business School Press, 2001

Kueng, Peter Process performance measurement system: a tool to support process-based organisations. Total Quality Management, Vol.11, No.1, 2000, p.67-85.

Mink, O G; Schultz, J M; Mink BP Developing and Managing Open Organisations Somerset Consulting Group Inc, 1208A Somerset Avenue, Austin, TX 78753, USA, 1991

Rummler, Geary A; Brache, Alan P Improving Performance – How to manage the white space on the organization chart. Second Edition, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1995

Tiwana, Amrit The Knowledge Management Toolkit Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall, 2000

Wenger, E; McDermott, R; Snyder, William M Cultivating Communities of Practice – A guide to managing knowledge. Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Harvard Business School Press, 2002

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Reference List

how to implement business excellence in an sme

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