Operations will always have problems. But before trying to fix all issues in your processes, it’s important to keep in mind that not all problems are created equal.
People will say something’s a problem today because it’s happening right now and it’s the most urgent thing on your plate. If a problem only happens once, can you even consider it a real problem? Why are we solving something that only happens once? This will make people question the validity of the problem.
We have to be clear on what qualifies as a problem. And the only way we can do that is by understanding what we call a gap scenario. This is the gap between what we call the ideal state and the current state.
Understanding and documenting the current operation
When organizations name problems, they start right away from their own perspective—their own bias. In the work that we do in process improvement, we have to do a step before we even talk about problems and that is to understand the current situation.
We do that through documenting a Goods and Information Flow across the entire customer experience, as it is today, the current operation with no change. This is the first step of all of my activities with clients. It takes a whole day to do but it’s super powerful. And then we define the ideal situation statement.
Defining your ideal situation statement and why it matters
The ideal situation statement is a three-to-five-sentence statement that provides a description of your organization’s ideal state. For example, the ideal state can be defined as providing a seamless and efficient experience where customers are referring their family and friends to you without you asking them to. Or where your employees feel valued and excited to come to work.
You can talk about problems all day long but if you are not in agreement in your organization of what your ideal state is, then you don’t know that you have the same problems identified. You have different perspectives and biases around what the problems are.
For instance, CFO has a vision of the ideal state, and your Chief Customer Officer has a different vision of the ideal state, the gap between the current and the ideal is going to be very different.
Your CFO might have an issue and problems around efficiency, maybe productivity costs. Whereas your Chief Customer Officer might have some problems with customer satisfaction, employee happiness, customer experience, and retention of customers. You’re looking from completely different lenses. In order to really talk about problems, you have to understand what is the big picture.
Now that you documented your current operation and defined your ideal state, you can now determine the gap between the ideal state and the current situation. You can come to an agreement that the current state is not ideal. Therefore, you have a problem.
Yes, fix things when they aren’t broken.
In this work of process improvement, we solve problems when they are quiet. We solve problems in a more peaceful and less chaotic environment. And in order to do that, you must first learn how to properly identify problems in your processes.
People feel the most unsupported when they think everything’s a problem and has to be fixed now. Not all problems matter now and have the same weight. To truly understand what a problem is, you have to understand the gap and be in agreement of the gap between the current and the ideal state.
As you can tell by now, most methods of process mapping aren’t necessary and are over-complicated and siloed. Plus, everyone thinks process mapping is the SAME. But this is what they get it wrong. There are many nuanced methods for doing process mapping effectively.
This is where my newest offer, The Flow State Workshop, comes in. This workshop is a 2-day process where I take your senior leaders through an in-depth process mapping tool.
So if you’re ready to finally get crystal clear on the state of your business, and learn how to accurately identify problems, visit hilarycorna.com/workshop to learn more.
I only have space for 2 clients next month so be sure to apply now.
In love and respect,
Hilary Corna
