Transforming a Process A Change Team looks at each step in the process its initiative has spotlighted. Each step should add some measurable value to the material flowing through the process. The team looks for new, easier and more sensible ways to work. New ways that remove the barriers to achieving the company's vision. Ways to work that virtually guarantee error-free results customers value. Ways that give more control to the individuals doing the day-to-day work. Process improvement streamlines the steps of a process. Improvements must contribute to a measurable increase in efficiency or productivity (for instance, reducing cycle time by 15 percent). This is not the work of Change Teams, but rather the work of Quality Teams. Process transformation significantly changes the structure of a process and the way it operates (for instance, combining three cycles into one). After transformation, people should spend less time checking for -- and correcting -- errors. People who do the work should have a closer connection to the end product. Reinventing processes can radically change the costs, time to produce and quality of the end product thereby creating leaps in both customer satisfaction and shareholder value. Change Teams reinvent processes (or parts of processes). Quality Teams leave processes as they are and make them better. In the planning stage, a smart Change Team includes the opinions and insights of lots of people as it looks at the possibilities. Start planning by determining what people need: customers, employees and stockholders. Are there others who have a stake in this process? The more the people who do the work actively participate in the change, the less they will resist the change later. They are a critical source of information about the process now and about the effectiveness of the Change Team's work as it progresses. The more the customers who benefit from the process are included, the more support (and power) they will offer you in implementing change plans. By including customers early on, they will be more understanding during the awkward period of moving from the old process to the new one. Be sure to gather information about the stockholders' needs and interests from the managers involved in the work you are reinventing. Only announce the final plan after everyone who has to work in the new process has had a chance to give input AND after you've worked to include their suggestions. To maintain support, you must talk openly, honestly and frequently with the people who work in the changing process. These people can and will offer the Change Team insights and suggestions that it may never have considered. Actively soliciting their participation in the Change Initiative and blending their suggestions into the final plan significantly reduces their opposition to the new process. With the plan done, the resources you will need and obstacles you will face become clearer. The Champion helps the Change Team find the needed resources and develop the right strategy to remove or avoid the obstacles. To get resources, you will typically have to produce a new design for the process (accounting for the savings, costs and benefits it will generate) and a fairly detailed implementation plan. Here are some items you should include in your implementation plan: 1. Developing (or acquiring) the new skills needed 2. A schedule for moving from the old to the new 3. Impact on people, equipment and organizations Coming up with an idea or a
recommendation doesn't create change. Even implementing the change in process may not be
enough. Be sure the people who are responsible for working the new process support it.
They must have all the skills they need to do good work. And they must have the time to
create some early successes with the new process. Change Teams are responsible for all of
this. If the Change Team fails in this follow-through, people who are doing the work after
you leave may well slip back into old habits, discarding the changes you made. © 1997 ChangeCraft™ Written by Heidi
Jeanne Hess and Doug Wesley Check Point (Please complete and submit the Form below) When you are finished
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