3. Fix the Processes

Large amounts of time and effort can go into developing good processes, but if they are not documented and effectively communicated, there can still be problems with the quality and accuracy of completed tasks. Problems in an organization such as poor quality, damaged materials, rework, slower than expected performance, and poor on-time delivery can be linked back to three fundamental areas:

1. No documented processes

2. Incorrectly documented processes

3. Processes documented well but not performed correctly

Problems occurring from a lack of documented processes leave the door open to incorrect interpretation of how things are to be done. This can promote “tribal knowledge,” or the verbal passing down of task information, which increases the risk of incomplete or inaccurate information and poor task performance. A lack of monitoring can lead to not knowing why processes are performed incorrectly. In many cases managers struggle with processes and wonder why things just aren’t going as well as they would like, but don’t know where the problem lies or what to do. As you will see in this chapter, processes are very important and addressing this fundamental area will be a powerful tool for the manager.

Poor process performance can occur at all levels in the organization in small or large tasks, but they usually go undetected as being “just the way we’ve always done it.” It is here we see the first sign of a systemic problem built into any organization that doesn’t monitor its processes or can’t see inefficiency in a process. Sadly enough, in too many cases blame is placed in the wrong area and the problem is not addressed correctly, if at all. This is where care has to be taken in fixing the process because there has to be an accurate assessment of the details within the process to ascertain what is wrong. The manager should look at six general areas of a process that can point to where a problem might be:

1. Developing the process—How was the process designed to be done?

2. Documenting the process—What form can capture how the process is to be done?

3. Staffing the process—Are the correct people performing the process tasks?

4. Monitoring and measuring the process—How is the process actually being performed?

5. Changing the process—Does the process need improvement or alterations?

6. Finding other ways—Are there other ways to accomplish the task that might be more efficient?

As you will see, there are several things that can create poor performance in processes.

In large organizations, process development teams might have done sophisticated analysis and testing and developed sound and efficient processes, whereas other processes might have been developed by the person assigned the task with little or no analysis done. In either case, tasks were developed and the manager should look into how and why they are being done in a particular way.

We are looking into why a process has to be developed and the best practices for developing processes. Process development starts with understanding what has to be accomplished in the department and how a process fits in the overall flow of work being done. The following steps help outline how you develop a process:

1. Determine a need—This usually starts with some basic questions about the need for a process. Why does the proposed task have to be done? Is there only one occurrence of the task or is this going to be a repetitive task? Is the task being done in the correct department? Will it be performed by human or mechanical resources or a combination of both? Outline the scope of the process, including all tasks and resources that will be included in the process. Create a proposal of this process to submit to higher management for approval.

2. Select the person best qualified to correctly develop the process—Having a good process starts with having the right people developing the process. This can be the start of problems seen in processes and will be important in developing new processes. To clarify, there are those who have critical information about the tasks (subject matter experts) and those who will develop the best way to accomplish what has to be done (process developers). Both are needed and they might or might not be the same person. The important thing is having the most accurate information about the tasks and someone who is skilled in process development. Process developers take information about tasks and develop the best sequence of work to create an efficient flow of tasks that define the process.

3. Observe the environment in which the process will be conducted—Care must be taken to understand what effect the new process will have on the existing environment and whether there will be anything in the environment that will present a challenge in developing the new process. Although processes can be developed in a different location to define the steps, it is critical that the process be performed in the location and environment in which it will be conducted to ensure that there are no influences that might alter the process or anything in the process that will have an effect on the surrounding area.

4. Perform the process—If this is a new process, it will need to be outlined and the individual steps tested. If this is an existing process, each task and the sequence of tasks should be observed and evaluated by both the subject matter expert and a process developer.

5. Test the process—After observations have been made and the process appears to be designed on paper, it is time to test the sequence of tasks. This will be done in both a new process and an existing process because there might be changes that need to be tested. This is where you see whether the process will accomplish the desired output.

6. Make adjustments and fine-tune—Now that the process has been verified through testing, it’s time to refine the process to make it efficient and cost-effective. Look for ways to streamline the sequence of tasks to make it as efficient as you can.

7. Test the final revision of the process—After all the refinements have been made, test the final revision of the process to verify the sequence, speed, accuracy, quality, and desired output to see whether the process is at its best. Try to test the final version in the actual environment to make sure you have accounted for everything that could influence the process.

8. Document the process—Now that the process has been verified and tested, the next important part is documenting the process. This is where the sequences of tasks in the final version are recorded along with any details or instructions that would help someone not familiar with the process perform it. Documenting a process is best done by someone experienced in writing process documents because there are certain formats and protocols that help promote effective communication of the process in written form. After the steps have been recorded, the document must be tested. We will cover documenting a process in more detail in the next section.

9. Communicate and train—The next important step is communicating the process using the document and training. This is where the document is tested to see how complete and accurate it is and how easy it will be to follow. When training, use well-written documents, let the document do the talking, and interject only when needed if something is unclear. Too much information during this time can overwhelm the trainee, causing her to struggle. In most cases it is best to “show” how the process is done by walking through the document once, and then have the trainee “do” the process to get a hands-on feel of how it is done, also using the document as a guide. Have the trainee perform the process several times without help to ensure that she is following the “documented way” and that she understands each step. Repetitive training also promotes memory retention and allows the trainee to formulate more advanced questions to be answered if needed before the trainee actually starts performing the process live. It is important for the trainer to be convinced that the trainee knows the process as designed before starting because this is where bad habits can start and processes might turn out to be not as efficient as they could be.

10. Monitor and measure process performance—After the process is in place and running live, there must be a level of monitoring in place to measure how well a process is working. This can be done two ways, measuring each task in the sequence or just measuring the output of the process. In the development stage of the process, measurements were taken to verify the process and these can be used again in verifying the ongoing performance of the process. This is how processes are controlled; they have to be monitored and measured against a goal. Things that can be measured include speed, quality or accuracy, quantity, and cost.

11. Conduct process improvement if needed—If measurements indicate that a process is deviating from a baseline or standard, adjustments must be made. Processes will fall into two categories: in control, when the process is performing as expected at peak efficiency, and out of control, when measurements indicate that too much deviation is taking place, resulting in less than desired output. In the latter case, adjustments are needed to bring the process back in control. Care must be taken when making adjustments because more damage than good can result from incorrect adjustments. Remember, this process was designed and verified to be at peak efficiency, so there might be only a small step that is not correct in the process. Always start with observing every step in the process and comparing the steps to the document to ensure that the process is still being done correctly. In most cases there is a step that is not being followed, and this is a simple training fix. In other cases there might be something that has changed, and this might be a good time to bring the subject matter expert and the process developer back in to see where the problem exists and to get recommendations on what adjustment is needed. In either case, verify that the process has been brought back into control and is performing per the document and as expected, and continue to monitor and measure performance.

One note of importance in process integrity is that all too often we have a tendency to blame people for problems that occur in the operation. People are doing their job and in many cases following a process, but this is where problems can exist. If the person is following a process but the process is not good, the outcome will be failure.

There might have been poor training, or lack of an established process, and people are left to decide on their own how to perform the task. The manager must look at process problems and improvement with an open mind, evaluating the design of the process, the documentation, and the ability of the staff to perform the process correctly.

In some cases tasks are performed based on tribal knowledge, or information passed down through the ranks and over time. This can be problematic because this information is not documented and analyzed but simply is passed down over time. The people who are communicating this information and their skills in communication and training will determine the quality of the information that’s being passed on.

Some people are very good at articulating process details and can train people very well. Other people might be an expert in a particular process but not necessarily good at training or communicating process steps. This can lead to confusion and misunderstanding or steps that are left out because the trainer assumes that the trainee already knows the information. This will lead to two directions of process control: The first relates to the documentation process itself and the second relates to how the processes are being communicated and trained within the organization.

The writing of a process document should involve two types of resources, the subject matter expert (with knowledge of the process steps) and the process developer (skilled in process development and document writing).

The next step is to select someone who has no knowledge of the process and have them perform it using only your document and no help of any kind. If the person can perform the process steps correctly, using the document without help (including verbal queues), then the process is well documented. The purpose of well-documented processes is to effectively communicate the process details when needed.

For processes that have been documented, one needs to look at and read through them to see whether they make logical sense. This should be done by two people: the subject matter expert (someone who is very familiar with the process) and the process developer who designed the process. After they have read through the process, they should take the document and go to the area within the organization where the process is carried out and have one or more individuals walk through the process to see whether it matches the document. It might be discovered that a process was documented very well, but the people doing the process are doing it differently than described in the document. In some cases the resources performing the process steps are actually doing it correctly and this might have changed over time as a result of process improvement, but this change simply was not documented. In other cases, modifications were made to the process documents but were never communicated to those doing the process. In either case the process will be prone to failure if information about a process is not properly documented so that it can be communicated to others unfamiliar with the process.

The manager might need to consider the perception of what is being done by management outside the department. Management might be aware of a process as defined several years ago, but not be aware of current changes made to the process and thus might question what is being done. This is usually a result of poor or incomplete documentation change control—such that changes are made with little or no communication. Many problems with processes can be related to areas of process control, document control, and a document change or update system. With as much work as there is invested in process development, there can be just as many problems arising from documentation.

Managers need to monitor their staff, their needs, and whether they are successful in the assignments they are given because this can play a large role in the success of processes. Managers should be able to tell if a resource is not performing well and should meet with that resource to determine whether the problem is work related and what steps can be taken to address the issue. It might be that the resource has not been fully trained on the process, or that the resources does not have all the tools or work environment needed to perform that process. It could also be that the resource simply does not have all the skills required to perform the process and needs to be replaced.

Managers should also look at all the processes being performed in their department to see who they have assigned to each process. There might be some resources who are skilled in several areas and could do many processes, whereas other resources might only be able to do certain processes well. Mangers typically want to staff their department with as many multiskilled resources as possible to have the flexibility in resource leveling, but this isn’t always the case; managers do have to hand-select some resources for certain processes. As skill is one part of the resource allocation equation, numbers of resources also play a role in resource staffing.

Part of process design lies in ensuring that you have the correct number of people doing the process and will not be overburdened with a lack of resources or become complacent from having too many resources, which can promote failure and mistakes. In most cases, capacity modeling for processes will indicate the resource loading required to balance processes in a department. This involves determining how long the process takes compared to other processes being performed in the department and leveling resources to accomplish everything that needs to be done in a given timeframe. The manager has a limited number of resources and needs to accomplish a set amount of work, so the resources need to be scheduled to cover all the work required but not be overallocated.

After you have chosen the trainers, you need to consider the training environment and how many staff will be trained at one time. When training is completed, the test of that training will require the measuring system discussed earlier. As with process improvement, new people will be performing these tasks for the first time and will need to be assessed as to whether they are effective in performing those tasks. This comes from measuring their performance against the baseline or expectation for that process.

Care must be taken to properly assess new staff members’ performance on a process because they will not be able to perform the tasks as quickly and efficiently as more experienced people. Allow the person time to become comfortable in doing the process, and as they build confidence, their performance will improve. If too much pressure is put on the individual to perform too soon in the learning stage, this can present the opportunity for failure. Establish a reasonable amount of time for resources to learn a process, and communicate that expectation as a goal to reach.

1. Review what the original intent of the process was (scope, quality, quantity).

2. Review the tested results from the design phase of the process.

3. Form a standard or baseline from the data in the design of the process.

4. Collect data on the current process to document performance.

5. Compare current data to the baseline and identify variances.

6. Prioritize the variances in a Pareto chart from highest to lowest.

7. Develop a plan to address each issue in the process.

8. Measure any changes that have been made to verify performance.

9. Update documentation and retrain staff on changes.

In the general understanding of monitoring and measuring, what the manager is actually developing is a process of control. If processes are left to run unchecked or monitored, there is no way to quantify process efficiency or even success. The process of measuring and collection process data is called statistical process control (SPC). There are tools that managers can use to gather and analyze data to understand the general performance of processes and any problems or inefficiencies that actually occur. Following are several SPC-type tools that can be found in text and on the Internet:

• Check charts

• X-Bar, R charts

• Pareto charts

• Histogram

• Scatter diagram

One simple tool for gathering information is the check chart. A check chart can be set up in a couple of ways:

1. Use a list of process steps and record data for each time the step is completed, such as times, quantity, or the use of certain items.

2. Record the problems that occur at each process step, such as pass or fail, quality issues that are found, etc.

Tables 3.1 and 3.2 show some examples of how check charts can be set up to record data.

Table 3.1. Check Chart to Record Process Step Problems

Table 3.2. Check Chart to Record Problems on Specific Items

Simple designators that show or qualify how a process step was performed can record how a process is actually being done and reveal even minor issues happening at each step. The use of check charts is valuable to gather any amount or type of information that you want. When check charts are used throughout a process, information can be gathered on a daily or weekly basis and put into a spreadsheet that shows what the outcome of that process actually is. When you have a way of collecting data, you can see how the process steps are being carried out, and their effectiveness and efficiency become visible quite easily. In some cases there might be different people doing a process, or the process might be done by several people over multiple shifts. This will also be valuable information, as you can see, if the process changes depending on the people, the shift, or time of day. This is information that can be looked at and analyzed to see whether any process improvements need to be made.

Now that information has been gathered as to how the process is being conducted, the data needs to be analyzed to evaluate the process. Real-time process data needs to be compared to standard or original design criteria to see whether there are variations in how it is being conducted against the original design. Using the data from how the process was originally designed or intended is called setting a baseline. Compare the baseline to the actual data you gathered and see where problems or deviations from the intended process are occurring. This is a powerful tool because slight changes usually occur that can point to problems or inefficiencies.

This is also a great opportunity to remind those involved in the process how the process was originally intended to be done. Subtle changes are not always visible while a process is being observed, but when the process is compared to the baseline, obvious differences could account for inefficiencies. In some cases managers look at problems or deviations as not following the process and decide that this is why processes are failing, but managers should be careful in analyzing data to understand what the deviations are actually uncovering.

You might be simply verifying that a process is actually being done correctly compared to the baseline. In other cases you might also verify that a process is being done incorrectly and modifications need to be made. This might lead to more training or better documentation and communication of how the process steps are to be carried out. The data might indicate that something in the environment surrounding the process needs to be addressed. Within an organization, managers should be monitoring processes being carried out to ensure that the business is running most effectively and efficiently. Managers should also understand any deviations from the baseline and act quickly to address issues that might arise. The data might indicate a problem that, if left unattended, will result in loss of time, material, quality, and resource availability.

One area to consider when managers want to change something in a process is any reluctance by the people doing the process to change. This is common and usually is a result of people having done a process for a very long time, in a particular way, and they think that’s the only way to do the process—or they simply do not like change. This might also be from people who have altered a process based on the way they “see” that a process should be done and it’s not being done as it has been documented. In either case, it’s the responsibility of the manager to oversee the processes within the assigned area and to ensure that processes are being done correctly and look for ways to improve processes.

Managers should pay attention and listen to the resources doing these processes because these individuals work with the process and have very good input and ideas about improvements that would make the process more efficient.

Even small changes to a process add up over several processes in the organization and can result in significant improvements in efficiency. In regularly monitoring and measuring processes, managers should ask those doing the process whether there’s any way the process can be improved. This gives the manager an opportunity to have more contact with the resources in the organization and better understand the process from the workers’ perspective. It will also improve the credibility of the manager because the people will see that he is truly interested in the work being performed and wants to make sure that work is being done most efficiently. This is also seen when process improvement ideas originating from the resources are actually implemented, allowing them to feel a sense of ownership of the process and to feel that they were able to have a part in making it better.

As you have already seen, changes to a process can actually result in its getting better or possibly getting worse, so when changes are made, they need to be remeasured and reanalyzed to ensure that the change actually accomplished the desired outcome. When a change is being considered, there needs to be a plan (process) to document and control the activities needed to develop the change. The change should be evaluated off-line so as not to interrupt the normal process. If it is not possible to test the change off-line, the manager must schedule some downtime so that the change can be tested. Changes should be made only by resources qualified in process development to correctly outline the change parameters, test conditions, and documentation. Changes can be tested in two general ways:

1. Designed and calculated—Designed changes are when someone has developed a modification and documented how the change will be tested and implemented.

2. On-the-fly—On-the-fly changes are ideas tested in the current process environment to meet a more immediate need with the intent that the change will be implemented quickly.

The biggest difference is in preparation and the ability to perform adequate and thorough testing prior to implementation. Both require testing the change first to verify the desired effect, documenting the change, and training resources performing the process on the new change.

When considering a change to a process, one generally has an idea that they think will produce a desired outcome but, when tried, results in a different outcome than expected. This might require a trial-and-error type of approach in which small modifications to the process can be made until the desired outcome is actually achieved. After you have consistently shown that the desired outcome can be achieved with this process improvement, the change needs to be documented. When a change has been permanently made and documented, the change then needs to be communicated to all involved with the process. This is where potential problems usually lie in process improvement—perhaps someone was able to make an effective change but it was poorly documented or communicated and therefore the change does not take its full effect. When change has been communicated to those performing the process, measuring this process again has to be done to ensure that the change is still producing the desired outcome and that the desired outcome is being achieved by all who are performing the process. This will ensure that the change is sustainable and will produce the efficiency desired in the change.

1. High level—Look at the entire department as a whole and all the processes being performed. Determine whether they all belong in that department and are grouped or organized correctly.

2. Low level—Look at each process individually by monitoring and measuring to determine whether each process is running as it was designed and at its highest efficiency.

The organization of processes can be just as important as the process design itself. The manager must evaluate not only what processes they have, but where they are located, and how they are grouped and interact with each other. The manager should ask the questions, why do we have these processes, are there any other ways to perform the processes, and can we split processes into smaller components or simplify tasks to make them easier and reduce errors? Managers, in monitoring their department, need to continually ask themselves whether the overall department is running as efficiently as it can.

Processes that feed other processes are important to evaluate because this interface can be difficult sometimes. One side is viewed as the supplier (delivering the product) and the other side is seen as the customer (accepting the product). The evaluation would be to determine whether the product being delivered is complete, is meeting the quality standard, and is on time. The only way each process group will be successful is if each is starting the process with everything they need and delivering the output as expected. This process integration needs to be measured, much like measuring the individual processes, to verify that it is being completed as designed. Evaluating this data against a standard or baseline will help the manager determine whether changes are needed in the interfaces or groups of processes.

In this macro view of the department’s processes, it’s important to remember that any changes need to be carefully designed and tested before they are implemented. This is another area that can cause as many problems as it solves if not done correctly. The manager needs to expand her thinking this time to a larger scale, including the idea of which department should be doing each process, or where in the process lineup all the processes fall, and whether the lineup is correct. Be prepared to discover that some processes might not even be needed anymore or can be modified to they point where they can be combined with another process. This does require thinking out-of-the-box about what “really” needs to be done to accomplish the desired output of the department. The manager now has tools to effectively evaluate the department and make necessary changes in both individual processes and the overall organization of the department. This is one of the many ways you will see how organizations continually improve profitability and maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

• The manager needs to know how to objectively determine what is wrong in order to effectively correct problems. Making these types of assessments and possible adjustments in the organization brings both the manager and the organization to a higher level of performance.

• In troubleshooting a process problem, one should be focusing not on the person as being the problem but more on the process as being the problem.

• Having people doing jobs they are skilled at and educated for allows the organization to best utilize its resources and promotes job satisfaction.

• A large part of this scheduling dilemma involves having the right staff doing the processes they are training and skilled for. Scheduling techniques are covered in more detail in Chapter 5.

• When quality training has been accomplished and processes are being completed efficiently, it will be a form of completion that gives the department and manager power.

• The resources performing tasks within the process can sometimes spot subtle changes not captured in the data and can improve a process.