#process strategy

[bradfordpower]

For Cross-Functional Change, a Good Disruption Helps

Synopsis: The uber challenge for process improvement in organizations has always been to make improvements across functions. In the absence of a significant disruptive event, or obvious proof that the world is changing, the gravitational forces in organizations pull strongly towards the performance engine: functional, hierarchical, command-and-control, rigid. Few organizations have assigned people to manage their major end-to-end processes — and been successful.

Example: A U.K. bank is making continuous improvement part of their standard work. It has gone well, but only at a functional level. Trying to get end-to-end improvements has proven to be virtually impossible.

Question: Have any sizable organizations assigned people to manage their major end-to-end processes — and kept them in place over the long term?

[bradfordpower]

Three Examples of New Process Strategy

Synopsis: I see three big opportunities to improve work in the coming decade, which I'm calling Process Strategy 2.0: 

1. To streamline customer experiences in end-to-end processes, Process Strategy 2.0 will require aligned goals and supporting systems to manage work between partners.

2. To manage the rising tide of knowledge work performed by a younger generation of employees, Process Strategy 2.0 will depend heavily on social collaboration tools.

3. To speed operations and improvement, Process Strategy 2.0 will make greater use of quick experiments and more agile management processes.

Examples: Forbes uses bloggers to create content and engages with readers, Nationwide Insurance is pioneering the use of collaboration tools to help its knowledge workers, and Google runs lots of experiments with new product or feature ideas and lets the market decide which ones deserve further investment.

Question: Over the rest of this decade, how do you think your organization will change its methods and tools for process improvement?

[bradfordpower]

The Next Wave of Process Strategy

Synopsis: The question for top management is no longer whether your organization's processes need to be improved, but rather which ones, how much, and when. I see three big opportunities in the coming decade: (1) work across organizational and global boundaries, (2) knowledge work redesign, and (3) speed.

Examples: Nine healthcare organizations redesign hip and knee replacements. Ford redesigns global product development. P&G tracks customer sentiments. ThinkFinance uses “daily huddles”.  ThedaCare throws out annual budgets. ING and Nationwide use “agile scrum” methods.

Questions: Where are today's biggest opportunities for improving work? How should organizations take advantage of them?