I will share some learnings from our continuing Business Transformation journey.
- It is hard and tedious work. Whether you work towards developing the strategy, pull data for analytics, baseline a process, or manage the change, excellence and the devil, are in the details. There is no other choice but to apply the necessary due diligence and industry to each part of the endeavor. Leaders must engage in the actual daily processing work to understand the current state and gaps, and then collaborate towards transformation. We shadow processors, and often complete unit level activities, such as, a benefits coding or claims, to truly understand the pain points. This is hard work because as change agents we are learning something (new) and doing it, but this is the only way to understand first-hand the ails and travails, to enable transformation. And the return is noteworthy.
- Really understand, document, and baseline the process. This will help towards understanding, rectifying, and eliminating the non-value added parts of the process and provide insights into how to automate or completely transform the process and roles. After all, automating a bad or faulty process will only create mistakes at electronic speeds! Process baselining will also enable establishing control and measure points. These are points where either a current or future process is measured for Quality.
- Initial baseline data may not exist for you to develop metrics. This can be quite common and you need to then embark on the grunt work of time studies or transaction time stamps to develop initial baselines. This can also be quite difficult, time consuming, and obstacle prone, as associates may not be comfortable with time monitoring of their work and there may be multiple cross-functional processes or systems to monitor. Effective, and regular, communication helps tremendously and must be part of any Transformation.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate the goals, impending change, and potential impact. Always state clearly why, what, when, how, and who, while clearly linking goals to the activity level. Each operator must understand how they are impacted by the planned body of work, and what benefits may or may not accrue. Questions and answers must be answered truthfully and often; communication forums and means must be customized and implemented as needed.
- Matrix management of staff. The body of work is likely to span across multiple functions and locations. Therefore, it is important to engage the function or business owners as a key stakeholders, understand from them their pain points, and engage them in the solution with them being the transformed process owners. And remember, they may not report to you or within your organization; therefore, they must understand from you that their success is the goal. Refrain from using the “consultant” approach in telling them what is wrong with their function and “recommending” solutions. It doesn’t work.
- Right skilling and resistance management. As you go through the process, you will find the skill requirements continue to evolve and change. Two things are important: the skill transformation necessary for the transformed process, and the skill necessary to enable the transformation. What do you need to start the process: do you have the necessary analysts, coders, communication specialists, etc.? And what skills do you need to operate the transformed process? For example, if you are implementing 3D printing, the skills needed would be very different than producing the equivalent artifact using a traditional method, such as, casting. Also, the feeder and fed processes will have different requirements, such as, order management, demand planning, service and repair, and so forth. You will have to consider the skill requirements by technology, process, and people. You will likely face resistance with a “we have done it this way” mentality- some will change voluntarily, some will change reluctantly, some won’t at all. You will have to manage through this via coaching, training, effective communication, and firm organizational decision making with the recalcitrants.
- Finally, it is all about innovation: while Revenue gains and Margin improvements continue to be key metrics, innovation is their enabler. Integral to the Transformation journey is innovation, which means, defining innovation for the greater good, explaining innovation simply, and quantifying it through financial metrics. Leadership must always champion the role of innovation.
This article was originally published in Linkedin.