Meandering Mind - Eva Dillner [13]
What makes an ideal climate for re-engineering?
Top management has set a strategic direction that rewards re-engineering efforts. There is responsibility, autonomy and authority to implement changes in organization, processes and procedures. The company has a long term focus, invests for the future by treating employees, suppliers and customers fairly, maintains and improves physical assets, conducts their business with honesty, ethics and integrity, encourages employees to be innovative and creative and rewards them for doing the right things.
Why re-engineer?
In today's global business climate, you can't afford not to. Re-engineering is the art and the science of transforming an organization at the core so that a shift to the next level of excellence can be achieved. It is about making the company more profitable and ensuring its continuation well into the next millennium.
Ground rules
No idea is too crazy to be considered. Everyone affected is asked for input. Show respect for each individual - you can learn more by listening than by talking. Try not to judge ideas as good or bad, but allow the ideas to evolve. Inherent in the creative process is the dissolution or falling apart of the old form. Be willing and open to let go of old belief systems and behavior patterns that no longer serve you. From physics, we know that order is preceded by chaos. Nature teaches us that to become a butterfly the caterpillar must pass through a chrysalis state.
Step 1 - Learn
Like any problem, you need to define it before you can solve it. How is the work accomplished now and why? What is the actual process? How does this compare to the written down process? Why is this work being done? How does this work support the strategic, long-term vision of the company as well as what is it contributing today? What are the soft benefits, e.g. customer satisfaction, building and maintaining relationships, goodwill in the community? What are the hard benefits in dollar terms? What are the key skills of the people doing the work - are they using their best skills and doing what they do best? It is important to get an overview, to see the forest before analyzing the trees.
Step 2 - Build relationships
While researching in step one, a parallel process is the building of relationships. To make fundamental shifts that last, individual people need to participate in the process. If you are going to change someone's job, they need to feel a part of the solution and you need them on your team to be a successful implementer. What you are aiming for is that all affected have ownership of the process, understand the potentials, and feel that they have been listened to, that their ideas are taken seriously. Don't forget to connect with the quiet ones, they frequently have the best ideas.
Step 3 - Brainstorm
List all possible improvements. At this point, make no judgments about feasibility or effectiveness. Be playful, be creative. Try to expand your thinking. Listen to your intuition. Be audacious. If you were starting from scratch, how would you design and organize the work? How can work be streamlined or rebundled, who really needs to be involved? Who is the most appropriate person to make what decisions? Who should best handle what work? What can be eliminated? Where is the garden in need of weeding and pruning? How can “dots” be connected in new ways? How can work be organized to draw on key skills of employees? Is there new technology or new tools available that could be implemented for efficiency gains? How could cross pollenization between departments help? Bring fresh viewpoints, new thinking, change in attitude. Brainstorm with the awareness that nobody knows it all.
Step 4 - Prioritize
Which ideas have the biggest payoff? What is the relative difficulty and cost of implementing changes? Will the effect be seen only this quarter or is the change enduring? For example, cutting R&D spending today improves quarterly results but makes no sense for a company that wants to be in business long term. Is there one idea that has popular support