Why Your Processes Need to be Mapped
Process Mapping is an absolutely essential tool that is required to manage your business.
You may not have done it because of the cost. After all, why should you invest the time and energy to drag key subject matter experts and operational leaders into a room for what could be hours of work to create a document that tells us what we already know?
- If your processes aren’t mapped, then you don’t know the process. In this situation, there are three versions of a process: what the process owners think it is, what the associates doing the process think it is, and what is actually happening on the floor. The process mapping exercise is key to get everyone on the same page. Once you get the first “oh…” in the room, then folks will be bought in.
- A good process map is your primary tool to further continuous improvement activities. As you map your process, improvement opportunities will rain down on upon you. Don’t get sidetracked by them – stop mapping long enough to capture the thrust of the opportunity, write it down, write down who raised it, and keep moving. You will refine these later, and you’ll be glad you captured who brought it up in case you need more information!
- The process map makes the KPI discussion much easier. If your process isn’t mapped I would suspect your KPI game needs some help. What do customers care about? What are the process outputs? How do we measure quality? Where are the sensors in the process that tell us we are having a good day or not so good day? Where are they now, and where should they be?
As W. Edwards Deming once said, “If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.” If you’re in this situation, there’s no time like the present to get out of it. And if you need help, feel free to reach out to me!