See the process

Over the years, I have found getting processes and procedures out of the head and putting them on paper make process improvement highly effective by creating the ability to see the entire process from begining to end at one time.  It takes tremendous effort but yields tremendous results.

I once visited a food manufacturing plant to implement a new accouting process.  We (meaning the accounting staff) spent the entire first day mapping each step of every staffer in a workstream during a closing period.  The next morning we reviewed the map looking for missing steps, then took a step back.

The team quickly identified redundancy when they saw two individuals did identical work.  They streamlined nearly 50% of the process with a simple solution: reassign tasks.



Current Process



New Process



What "seeing the process" can do:

• Show complexity, gaps, and/or redundancies
• Compare actual (current state) versus ideal (future state) processes to identify where to focus efforts
• Allow team members to agree on a single process
• Provide training

This series will provide some practical tips and insights to mapping a process.