It’s a reality of process improvement work that sometimes the most impactful changes we can implement seem far too mundane. Please don’t let their simplicity turn you away. This is not to say that we shouldn’t try and be remarkable and innovative in our work, but do not let the drive for flashes of brilliance blind you to the improvements which can be made by simple changes. There is always going to be this drive to look for the exotic, intricate, and exciting, after all, these are the stories which get told and the great case studies we present at conferences.
But sometimes, it really is the simple things. It’s the job aids, it’s the operations manuals, it’s the training. We get so focused on the details, we miss the basics which allow processes to run effectively. These may not seem interesting, but over and over I find that these are not well done and hamper a process from running effectively. When hearing issues about communication, non-standardization, and confusion, it often comes back to these simple things.
One recent examples was working with a sales organizations where there was a problem with getting their order commitments through the process. This was happening to such a degree that customers were getting upset that their money wasn’t getting deposited fast enough. While there were scores of recommendations we made around their technology and processes, some of the biggest impacts we had were around standardizing documents and developing clear routing, roles and responsibilities, and escalation channels. One design model we developed, which became known as the “Mad Libs” model was credited with dropping processing time over 80%. Fancy – no, effective – very.
This can sometimes feel underwhelming. After all, we are being hired, and paid well, to deliver something remarkable. It can feel underwhelming to suggest such simple and mundane ideas. But often these simple adjustments help address systemic issues which plague process systems. Solving these will allow those clever exotic transformative changes take place.