Look before you leap: vision for process management

Process management, mapping and documenting processes is not just some “project” you start. Look before you leap, start with a clear vision!

The organisation's vision (made up of, among other things, its mission, strategy, long-term and short-term objectives) is the basis from which the entire organisation operates. The vision for process management will therefore also be based on this, albeit without process management becoming an objective in its own right. The vision for process management is, in fact, no more than an answer to the question of why your organisation should adhere to certain processes and what objective this is meant to achieve (after all, each process has a result).

I advise you to go by three basic principles in defining your vision:

1. Put customers first.
   How do you perceive customers? More than anything else, you want to keep them happy. So that will also have to be the basis for effective process management. Only then will you build a truly customer-oriented organisation. An outward-looking organisation, one whose operations are not purely based on its own needs. 
2. Process-based instead of department-based organisation.
   This will have consequences for the way you deal with your customers. Your business processes will ‘take a lead’ from your customers. And this will go across departmental boundaries. Department-based thinking and working limits your operations and will not result in satisfied customers. Adopting a process-based approach will mean that employees' activities will no longer be organised within departments, but rather be tied to the processes. The result: a process-based organisation that really puts customers first. For many organisations, this constitutes a drastic organisational change. 
3. Allocate tasks and responsibilities.
   Needless to say, tasks and responsibilities within business processes need to be clear. If they are, the workflow will be smoother. It will bring serenity and clarity to the organisation. Clarity about where responsibilities lie changes managers' and employees' work attitude; they start delegating more, show more initiative and take responsibility. 

This all sounds very logical. As it happens, describing processes can be relatively easy. Some aspects of a process management process have, however, become so self-evident that we take them for granted, making it likely that you will inadvertently skip a step.

• Aside from that, you must also be on high alert to pitfalls. If not, adequately describing processes will be an exercise that is doomed to fail. And there are quite a few of these pitfalls! 
• Never start a process management process without a vision and an objective. 
• Do not use a quality standard (such as ISO) as the starting point instead of the organisation's own needs. 
• Do not delegate process management to the quality manager without the support of business management. 
• Do not start improvement projects when processes haven't been embedded. 
• Make sure business management makes enough time available. Lack of time is disastrous. 
• Make sufficient manpower available when embarking on the process. Staff shortages make the process infeasible. 
• Do not get bogged down in overly detailed process description. 
• Make sure your employees possess sound background knowledge. This is required both for the correct description of processes and to garner support across the organisation. 
• Priorities may shift during a process. No problem, just make sure this is reflected in the descriptions. 
• Good internal communications are a must.