Students taking
Geometry or Calculus will typically learn that the ‘shortest distance between
any two points is a straight line.’
While this is true for mathematics and important if you have wings, it’s
also true in business process improvement.
In the 1980s
American businesses soon learned that the Japanese had perfected the art of
process improvement and were turning out products with higher quality at a
lower cost than their American competitors.
American business schools and management consultants responded by
introducing sophisticated tools and templates for business improvements
ultimately leading to methodologies like Six Sigma, Kaizen, and Lean Processes.
While these
methodologies are well documented and have worked well for many organizations,
they are often difficult to understand at the employee-service level where they
need to be implemented. My response is
that one of the best ways to better understand business process improvement is
to think of the flow of goods and services from the company to the customer as
a line. The straighter that line
becomes, the more opportunity for process improvement.
For example:
• Retail: Retailers often learn that grouping
products together based on type or use make it easier for the consumer to find
items quicker, improving customer satisfaction and often earning more of the
customer wallet. Retailers experiment
with unusual placements for the benefit of suppliers often at the expense of
sales and customer satisfaction
• Services: The objective should be to empower employees
at every level so that the both customer and employee satisfaction
improves. Empowerment means true
delegation of authority, not just responsibility.
• Professions: Professionals including doctors, attorneys
and senior executives often isolate themselves from their customers and clients
by employing representatives that are rarely allowed the opportunity to fully
support the client. Processes and
customer satisfaction improve when these representatives are adequately
trained and empowered to handle the 90% of routine inquiries as professionally
as their employer.
• Governments: Traditionally, government agencies are bureaucracies,
often more interested in preserving their jobs and benefits than servicing the
public. However, many cities, townships
and counties have found ways to make that ‘straight-line’ work for them by
empowering these public servants and allowing them to respond to individual
inquiries rather than showing the public to the next line or window.
If a business
wanted to improve processes and customer satisfaction while at the same time
raising their own employee satisfaction, they should start with the employee in
mind. Empower the employee to identify
redundant processes, wasted and inefficient procedures and give them the
authority to approve the transactions, variations and respond to customer
complaints.
Straight-line
process improvement works best when businesses simplify work rules and
procedures so that they rely on employees understanding of the ultimate
objective. Clue in everyone in the line
from product or service to the customer on the mission, principles and
objectives of the organization. Find
ways to the crooked paths straight and reduce unnecessary detours along the
way.
