Avoid investing in process documentation that no one uses

Lots of companies invest in process documentation that is not really used actively. So what are the strategies for making business processes useful to employees so they deliver value beyond mere compliance?

In this webinar we unpack the problem and its potential solutions. Watch it to learn how to:

• reduce confusion about responsibilities.
• delegate process ownership for quality and relevance.
• make your processes just as agile as your fastest learners.
• turn your processes into interactive guides for how work is done.

Watch it now! Or read the main takeaways listed below ⬇️

Key Points and Takeaways from the Webinar:

This webinar emphasizes the importance of aligning BPM with the needs and perspectives of employees, utilizing their feedback to continuously improve processes, and decentralizing process ownership to encourage engagement and accountability.

1. Drivers for Documentation Mapping Processes:
   • Compliance risk: Meeting external and internal stakeholder requirements in regulated industries by documenting and executing processes.
   • IT implementation risk: Mapping out business processes when implementing large IT systems like ERP or CRM to understand business requirements.
   • Efficiency: Focus on process improvement to eliminate waste and enhance efficiency.
2. Importance of Starting Point:
   • The starting point significantly impacts the suitability of solutions for engaging employees in process documentation.
3. Case Study 1: ERP System Implementation:
   • A company mapped over 200 processes aligned with ERP functionalities.
   • Used a simplified version of BPM notation to make it user-friendly.
   • Struggled with competing ownership between process excellence, quality, and lean functions.
   • Resulted in processes that were not effectively used by employees.
4. Case Study 2: Standardizing Work Procedures:
   • Standardization was essential due to variations in work procedures.
   • Glue was used to create and manage work instructions, with processes as a way to manage access.
   • Resulted in 559 business processes with an average of 3-4 work instructions per process.
5. Combining BPM Drivers:
   • Integrating compliance, IT, and efficiency goals is essential for BPM success.
   • Starting with the organization’s needs, rather than a system, leads to more effective BPM.
6. Employee-Centric Approach:
   • Centering processes around employees and their needs is crucial.
   • Balancing the needs of common systems and individual users is a challenge.
7. Engaging Employees:
   • Involving frontline employees in process documentation and improvement is often overlooked.
   • Glue aims to engage both process experts and regular employees in the process.
8. Feedback Loop:
   • Creating a feedback loop from employees to management and back is essential for continuous improvement.
   • Making processes relevant and valuable to employees encourages participation.
9. Executing Processes:
   • Automating and orchestrating processes ensures tasks are executed correctly and tracked.
   • Provides a higher level of compliance and understanding of how work is done.
10. Improving Processes:
    • Continuous improvement involves incremental changes and, eventually, reengineering.
    • Capturing data and feedback from employees is vital for identifying areas of improvement.
11. Delegating Process Ownership:
    • Decentralizing process ownership to department heads or team leaders is crucial.
    • It allows employees closer to the work to be involved and engaged in process improvement.
12. Engaging Management:
    • Tools should be easy to use, as process owners need to engage with users and evaluate improvement suggestions.
    • The process owner is a business improvement manager more than a process expert.
13. Closing Thoughts:
    • Centering processes around employees and their needs is a valuable philosophy.
    • Emphasizing an employee-centric approach can lead to more effective BPM.