Tammy Adams is a certified process facilitator specializing in Team Facilitation and Business Process Analysis. She guides teams in transforming their process knowledge and business requirements into viable project and system deliverables that incorporate quality principles consistent with quality methodologies such as TQM, Six Sigma, and Lean. She is co-author of, “Facilitating the Project Lifecycle: Skills and Tools to Accelerate Progress for Project Managers, Facilitators, and Six Sigma Project Teams.”
Adams said the definition of facilitation is, “to make easy or more convenient,” and that it is what trainers, teachers, managers, mediators and coaches do every day. Adams says that BPM is actually missing another “P” in the acronym. It should be Business Process and People Management. Without facilitating the people within the organization, the process will not be improved. Specifically, Adams facilitates project teams to enable them to have a shared vision and a shared purpose for their project.
There are seven keys to facilitating process design. These include:
- Get a capable facilitator
- Get the right people involved
- Hold work sessions
- Define the scope and boundaries of the process
- Understand the improvement goals
- Use appropriate models
- Transcribe information into a usable output
A capable facilitator must be able to manage group dynamics and facilitate the building of necessary models. The facilitator needs to meet the required timeframes and serve as a neutral process guide, allowing the team to discuss, discover and decide the best way to move forward. It is important the facilitator not decide the direction for the team. The team needs to own the outcomes.
The right people need to be involved. It is important to have subject matter experts, (SMEs) who understand how the process really works. Also needed are support partners who can identify the impacts of changing the process and the project and process owners who will ensure the improvements are implemented and measured. In addition, customer representatives are also needed to confirm the process meets customer requirements.
Work sessions should be led by a capable facilitator, involve cross-organizational participation, and should last from one to three days. The highest value is achieved in work sessions if the process crosses multiple departments within the business and the process changes require buy-in from a broad audience. The timelines should allow little or no slippage. The chosen project can be something new, or some unsuccessful project that was tried beforel.
Defining the scope and boundaries means getting the team on the same page. There should be a process name and purpose defined in a concise statement of 15 words or less. The scope covers what is included and what is excluded from consideration. The boundaries include the starting and ending points of the process, the inputs and outputs, and the delivery channels.
Everyone needs to understand the improvement goals. There should be guiding principles with value statements or concepts that will guide the process design. The entire team should understand the objectives and targets of the goals, and the measurable results.
Using appropriate models means decomposing the process. The models should help “chunk” any part of the process that is complex or broad. The models also need to address the goals of the project and include the metrics that will be used to measure the desired results.
Transcribing the information into usable output means that the results of the team work sessions need to come off the wall so it can be understood and used by the rest of the people in the organization- the ones who didn’t attend the meetings. The results will be used in the next stage of the project and can be updated using tools readily available in the organization. Useful tools include Visio, iFlowCharter or similar products, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Adams said it is important to not assume that the process actually follows the written procedures. Other don’ts include:
• Don’t get hung up on perfection the first time through
• Don’t change team members mid-design or you will be re-modeling the process
• Don’t assume that everyone knows what the project is intended to accomplish
• Don’t allow pre-mature discussion around solutions or supporting technology
But do involve those who know and those who are impacted by any of the changes along with those who support the development and implementation. It is important to understand the purpose, boundaries, and goals before the process is modeled. The roles and responsibilities are defined as the process is defined.
