Business process mapping is a critical tool that can help organisations streamline their operations, improve productivity, and enhance customer satisfaction. With clear and defined business processes, organisations can identify areas that require improvement, enhance their overall performance and get them ready for growth.
Businesses go through the various life stages of start up, to scale up to maturity and often processes are left to catch up. Because team members are too busy servicing customers or doing tasks within the process, rarely do organisations prepare for the next stage of growth to look at whether their processes are fit for purpose. Quite a few projects we work on at CI Teams, are linked to helping clients understand their current state processes and how to create a standardised approach across the organisation i.e. standardised work. It enables the leaders to get their head out of the detail, work on business improvement and remove themselves from being the fire-fighters for all problems.
Unfortunately if organisations do not focus on standardising work or understanding their processes, as they scale, they are scaling with their problems and inefficiencies which limits their growth potential.
In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of business process mapping and how it can transform your organisation.
1. What is business process mapping?
Business process mapping is a visual representation of how tasks, activities, and decisions are made within an organisation. It involves identifying the inputs, processes, and outputs of each activity to establish a clear understanding of how the organisation operates.
It can also provide insights into what a customer pays for in the process and what is an internal cost, helping team members to understand where the focus should be in removing waste in a process.
We often work with client organisations that are ISO accredited, however the processes documented in their ISO standards are far removed from what is happening in reality. To operate efficiently, businesses must have a thorough understanding of their real day to day processes vs using it to tick an accreditation box.
2. Benefits of business process mapping
a. Improved efficiency: Business process mapping can help organisations streamline their operations and identify areas that require improvement, leading to enhanced overall efficiency. Importantly, improvements needs to be linked back to core business strategy so it is controlled continuous improvement vs chaotic improvement.
b. Enhanced communication: By visualising and documenting business processes, organisations can enhance communication and ensure that every team member understands their role in the process. Often larger organisations have siloed teams, and business process mapping can assist them in breaking down the silos that exist and create mutual respect for what each team does.
c. Increased customer satisfaction: Clear and defined business processes will help organisations identify areas that require improvement and create standardised work that leads to improved customer satisfaction. It reduces errors and improves delivery times.
d. Cost savings: Business process mapping can help organisations identify areas that require improvement, which reduces costs associated with inefficiencies. This can make the organisation more competitive in the market and deliver better services or products.
3. How to implement business process mapping
a. Identify the processes that need mapping
b. Define the scope of the process
c. Gather information and data about the process
d. Create the process map (see how to create a Process Map here)
e. Review the process map with stakeholders
f. Implement the process map and coach to standard work
Ultimately, business process mapping is a critical tool that can help organisations improve their operations and solve serious issues or bottlenecks. By creating clear and defined business processes, organisations can identify areas that require improvement and streamline their operations. Implementing business process mapping requires a systematic approach, but the benefits far outweigh the effort required.
Contact CI Teams if you need help to learn how to map processes in your organisation or need an experienced facilitator to run process mapping sessions and coach to standard work.
