Transcript Διαδικασίες: ο πραγματικός πλούτος μίας

Capacity building for improving
business process interoperability:
soft aspects that matter
Natassa Iliadou, ALTEC SA, Greece
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Business processes: the real
wealth of companies
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How we define wealth?
What is “wealth” for a company?
The Resources?
The access to resources?
The various material and immaterial assets
presented in its balance sheet?
...
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On people and knowledge...
Considerable literature focuses on the human resources
aspect and the knowledge possessed by them.
Obviously both concern “soft” aspects with a high
degree of interaction
– People possess and create knowledge,
– Knowledge is transferred and evolved amongst people,
– e.t.c.
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Processes on stage!
They are everywhere:
In computer applications and programs
In bureaucratic organisations as e.g. in the public sector
– Amongst the employees of an authority (e.g. for receipt and
registration of incoming documents, internal forwarding for
signature, communication of a decision, etc.
– In the communication with the citizens (e.g. for the provision of
public documents and certificates, etc.)
In the communication we have with our boss as well as our
friends
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Process types
“Easy” and “difficult”
Simple and complex
Time consuming with multiple layers and “quick”
ones with only one stage
Cheap and expensive (in whichever way we
define cost)
...
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What exactly is a process?
There are many definitions – related with the
domain we investigate
They all converge to a common denominator:
The existence of a formally defined sequence of
steps and functions, with specified input, output,
conditions for execution, results, etc.
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Who defines a process?
The company
The boss of a company
The employees of the company
The client(s)
God
Nobody (in particular)
All (partially)
All the above!
Which is the right answer?
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Why are processes the wealth of a
company? (1/3)
Because a company operates through processes!
Even if these do not ‘exist’
Not true: as they take place, therefore they ‘exist’! It is only that
they are not documented – in some cases this is extremely good!
Even if they are invented each day from scratch
Even if they are ‘bad’, incomplete, error prone, non
functional, ...,
They exist!
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Why are processes the wealth of a
company? (2/3)
Through the processes, a company:
‘experiences’ its present
plans its future (and its new processes)
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Why are processes the wealth of a
company? (3/3)
The cost of a company is defined from its
processes
The profit of a company is defined, again, from
its processes
The value of a company is defined - guess what!
- again from its processes!
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Consequently...
Processes are of central importance of the
corporate “food chain”:
With ‘bad’ processes you have neither a present
nor a future
With ‘good’ processes you have both!
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What does this mean?
Threats and diseases:
Process-mania
Process-phobia
Process-overflow
Process-plexia
Process-anexia
Of course, for every disease there are different treatments!
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Αegrescit medendo (1/2)
What does this mean?
The disease worsens with the treatment (or else:
the treatment is worse than the disease!)
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Αegrescit medendo (2/2)
What else does this mean?
Much (much) money spent to consultants, IT
companies, management overhead costs, (much
much) waste of time, and (many, too many) lost
opportunities!
And the worst of all: disappointment
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Disappointment...
As bad as enthusiasm
Main difference: enthusiasm lasts only for a while
Why is it bad? Because it hinders learning.
After any process-disease, the company, the
Management and the employees are ready to learn
(after they got exposed to the experience...)
Disappointment disables learning
– The same is caused by blameshifting, assignment of
responsibilities (usually to the innocent or less involved...)
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The solution (a solution!)
A ‘holistic’ framework that:
Concentrates all employees, customers, suppliers and
collaborators
Helps in the design, the implementation, the execution and the
monitoring of the corporate processes
Uses as a shadow capital the mistakes of the past
Recognises the future challenges
And does all these together, continuously, with all possible
instruments and all the powers that reside in the ‘system’
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In short we talk about…
A capacity building infrastructure that takes care
of and improves soft skills of employees and
customers!
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About soft aspects
Relates to a sad reality faced by many (high
technology) companies:
– They are not lacking on human resources to take or
make decisions,
– BUT they are lacking all the necessary underlying
constituents frequently described as ‘soft skills’ and
capacities, which can make the difference
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How we came to this finding
We realised that several of our innovative
systems and applications simply failed in
aspects related to
–
–
–
–
deployment,
adoption,
usage and
uptake
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Also…
We bitterly recognised
that a great part of our
developments was
ignoring the real user,
while our programmers –
analysts – technical
managers and project
managers (see picture
next) had little intentions
to improve their attitude.
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Soft aspects
Are generally ignored but…
Seem to now get more attention
Why?
Because we all have experiences with the
suboptimal results when ignoring them
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Purpose of our investigation
Provide the tools and techniques for managers and
supervisors to build and maintain strong working
relationships with their employees.
This will enable managers and supervisors to manifest
Vision, Values, and Commitment in the workplace.
The environment is designed to facilitate productive,
frequent, and motivational dialogue between
supervisors and employees, and among employees.
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Goal
The environment is generally dedicated to equip
managers and supervisors with specific techniques and
processes in order to foster an open and
communicative environment and employee engagement
through a truly inclusive approach
Specifically:
1. Improve overall business process production, execution,
and quality
2. Maintain/increase existing employee commitment to the
various business processes
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Goal (cont’d)
3. Retain quality people in critical positions
4. Enable managers to feel more competent and
confident to meet daily challenges of managing
employees in the corporate context
5. Help managers provide clarity to employees on
how/where they fit within the organisation,
thereby increasing loyalty and commitment
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Desired result
Every employee
– will perceive that he/she is an important, valued member of
the team;
– will be motivated to achieve high standards of business
process performance and conduct;
– will experience an open, communicative environment in
which he/she feels free to surface ideas, questions, issues,
and/or concerns about processes of his/her responsibility;
From the supervisor’s perspective, they
– will overcome what many supervisors experience as the
“caution syndrome” in order to feel once again that they are
“driving the bus” in terms of running their work groups.
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Soft Skills Most Sought After by Organisations
Demonstrate effective interpersonal relations.
Demonstrate self-management strategies.
Work within teams.
Creatively solve problems.
Make Decisions.
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Social Skills are Needed to Enable an employee to:
Cooperate with others.
Interact within the work place.
Advance to new positions and responsibilities
within the organisation.
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To Advance to New Positions an employee must be
able to:
Cooperate
Accept supervision
Work within diverse environments
Resolve conflict.
Provide supervision for others.
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Demonstrating Self Management Strategies Requires the
Ability to:
Display responsible personal behaviors.
Display responsible work behaviors and time
management effectively.
Display the ability to solve problems effectively
and creatively.
Display an ability to make decisions when
necessary.
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In short it is all about…
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We (tried to) build on lessons…
Lesson nr 1:
There is no such thing as
“IT Project”
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Other (equally important) lessons…
Business alignment is one of the key factors blurring the line between IT and business.
IT is now embedded across many of the processes and operations that run today’s
organizations. Think about it. Computer systems and databases route information
throughout a company and keep coworkers, customers and contacts talking to each
other. Software runs customer service applications, coordinates the distribution of
goods and is necessary for administrative functions to be accurately completed.
In short, IT no longer functions as a separate entity. As a result, technology
professionals are required to frequently collaborate with their cross-departmental
colleagues. In order to do so, IT practitioners must speak in a language that those
outside the computer world understand, be familiar with the unique needs of various
end users and be able to devise technology solutions that help solve business
challenges.
More than ever before, the IT department must take a service-minded approach,
treating internal teams throughout an organization as its customers.
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The serious side …
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And the very serious side …
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From all this mess we focus on…
Implementation procedures…
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Salient action points for capacity building
Identification of training needs
Training techniques
Soft skills such as communication,
motivation, team building, attitudinal
change, leadership etc.
Net working skills
Project monitoring and evaluation
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Emergence of the Versatilist
Source: Gartner's Top Predictions for 2006 and Beyond. Gartner Research.
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Business Alignment
IT is embedded in many functions that run today’s
organizations, regardless of industry, such as:
– Accounting
– Operations
– Sales/Marketing
IT staff must:
–
–
–
–
–
Collaborate with cross-departmental colleagues
Speak a neutral language
Understand the unique needs of end users
Think strategically
Take a service-minded approach
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Soft Skills Needed
Effective communication skills
Motivation, drive, willingness to learn
An understanding of business fundamentals (multiple domains)
Customer service
Project management, leadership and consulting skills
Continuous improvement, knowledge of best practices, following
emerging trends
The ability to collaborate with peers, colleagues, users, external clients
and vendors
Business acumen, ability to act as a change agent within the
organization
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Evaluating People’s
Soft Skills
Develop competency models (existing vs. lacking soft
skills)
Look beyond just tasks and business processes qualities required to complete them
– E.g. Patience, leadership, conflict resolution, ethics, sales,
customer service, motivation, attitude, professionalism, etc
Look at top performers, consult customers
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Helping People Develop Soft Skills
Provide training in non-technical areas
Leverage in-house resources
Encourage staff to enroll in business-training
courses
Provide workplace and working hours flexibility
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Thank you for your attention.
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