Managing Work as a Process

Managing “work as a process” is an essential step to continuous improvement and organizational sustainability. This page provides a step-by-step approach.

Introduction

Most work by individuals in an organization is a part of a business process rather than a project. A process is simply a repeatable set of activities to meet a desired customer outcome. It is an important concept because the structuring of work guided by a designated process owner leads to documentation, standardization and continual improvement.

Managing work as a process simply means that a standard set of steps and tools are used consistently. Some processes, such as a medical procedure have high stakes and require strict adherence to the steps. A process such as packing a school lunch for your kids probably doesn’t require this adherence…but both are processes. Processes must be owned, documented and improved. While documentation can vary, I recommend the format shown in the “Develop Detailed Process Summaries” section of this web page. Read more about Process Management at this link.

Goals

Process documentation and improvement should have one or more goals. Here are some examples:

Effectiveness. The process delivers better results, e.g., more volunteers are recruited or more people who get a job.
Efficiency. The process takes less effort, e.g., something gets done in 4 hours instead of 8 or a volunteers gets their first assignment in > 4 weeks.
Sustainability. The process can be used by a new hire (after someone leaves the organization) or if someone is out-of-the office.

Develop an Overall Process Masterplan

The Process Masterplan outlines all the work in your organization. It describes key measures, status, effort and ownership. In itself, it is a type of Dashboard. There is a starting template at the end of this section. The columns are described here:

Top-level. I start with the Kentucky Non-Profit Network best practices framework. This is just one of many frameworks you can choose.
Sub-level. This is a short description of your processes, using your terms and vocabulary.
Key element or measure. This identifies the one thing you would check to assess if the process is effective (and efficient). Note that the Process Summaries might have more than one metric but try to choose the most important one.
Status. This is green (effective), yellow or red (ineffective) based on the key element or measure you have chosen.
Documentation. This can be one of three levels: formal (using my template or another standard), a task-specific tool (e.g. a standard agenda or checklist) or informal (it is in your head).
Effort. Again, three choices are possible: breakthrough (a step change in results is needed), improve (continual improvement is needed, e.g. 5-10%) and maintain (we are happy with the results).
Owner. The Process Owner is the designated leader for this process.
Notes and Actions. This is a good place to capture the single most important action to drive the process to “green”.

The facilitated exercise to develop the Process Masterplan takes about two hours. It creates an important managing framework and leads to numerous improvement insights. It is a key activity in creating an organizational capacity strategy.

Click here to view our starting template.

Contact Tony Aloise for the Excel version.

After The Process Masterplan

Now that your organization’s Process Masterplan is developed, you have choices on how to proceed…

Begin using the Process Masterplan informally in 1:1 meetings with direct reports.
- Probe status (red, yellow, green) and the key element that is defined.
- Ask “what significant action would turn this process to green?”.
- Encourage and coach to deliver the actions.

Document the “handful” of processes deemed critical to mission delivery (and strategic plan).
- Select those designated as “breakthrough” or “red” in status.
- Add the “next big action” to the right-hand column and assign owners and dates for these actions.
- Hold people accountable for the completion of this work.

Initiate formal (quarterly) reviews and (annual) approval of all processes.
- Start adding metrics to the Executive Dashboard.

Develop a culture of process management throughout the organization.
- Assign Process Owners and provide training.
- Share a vision to document all processes within the next 1-3 years.
- Standardize the documentation (see LSN template).

Train the Organization

The Process Masterplan is typically developed with the Executive Director and maybe their leadership team. The work should be owned by people throughout the organization. A 90-minute training event can be scheduled to both train all Process Owners and develop an example Process Summary.

Click here to view the training slides.

Develop Detailed Process Summaries for Critical Processes

Process Summaries are the process details. Ideally, there is one for every row on the Process Masterplan. There is an example at the end of this chapter (see the Partnership Management Process Summary). The template itself describes the content. I have facilitated many of these over the last 5 years and they usually take less than an hour. It’s easiest to document established processes rather than design a new one but the tool can work for both.

Leaders demand process thinking and documentation.
Leaders can describe in a sentence or two what process management is intended to accomplish, i.e. effectiveness, capacity and sustainability.
You get what you measure. Outcome and process measures are agreed-upon and tracked. Keep it simple. Poor results are looked at to discover root cause.
The Process Masterplan is updated and reviewed formally at least quarterly, i.e. it is treated with importance.
Managers discuss process status and improvement needs regularly in 1:1’s with direct reports. There is alignment on status (green, yellow, red) and needed improvements. There is more focus on the process rather than the person.
Process Summaries are reviewed and formally approved once per year.
Roles are clear. Process Owners guide the processes but may not be approvers. PACE: Process Owner, Approver, Contributor and Executor.

Managing Work as a Process