McDonald's Bathrooms

"I did backpacking for 4 years in the middle east and Asia...
after 4 years I learned that the most amazing 2 words in traveling are:

McDonalds Bathrooms"

I read the Flying Solo website on a regular basis.  The forum on there had this interesting post today thanks to "Gabriel" sharing one of the gems of wisdom from his experience.  

But why?

Why does a McDonald's bathroom look like a shining light in a confusing and culturally diverse world.  Because, say what you like about McDonalds, you know what you are going to get (basically) before you walk in the door.  In the heat, hustle and bustle of a foreign culture, you sometimes need something familiar.  This is the essence of processes.  It's not about exceptional service but about consistent service, regardless of the department the service is coming from, the person it is coming from or, for soloists, the task you are doing.  If providing your main service or product with care yet the invoicing or payment is careless, you've sent a mixed message.  Keep it consistent, and consistent with who you are as an organisation.

Keep the Wheels Turning

This week has reminded me why processes are so important to micro businesses.  You see, we had ill children.  Now, this was just a minor inconvenience as it was the typical winter flu.  However, when running your own business, a serious illness or accident has a major impact on your income stream.

Of course, insurance is available to cover your income.  This could give you a six month grace period which is an excellent buffer.  Remember though, what happens at the end of this period?  How much of your business would you have left after six months?  Think about this seriously.  Some of you may work on large projects and this would mean missing out on one project but being able to take on the next long-term project that comes along.  If you are working in retail or in hourly or daily consulting, you will not have much of a business to come back to after this period.

Processes, can be a type of insurance as well.  Having solid processes in place makes it a lot easier to hand work over to someone else, either a manager, subcontractor or another small business owner in the industry.  With up to date records and easy to use systems for daily routines, you could have the business still moving along in ways such as:

1. Contracting out the work and scale right back to the administration work if you are still capable of a few hours a week.  This would keep business afloat and may be able to supplement the insurance payments depending on your policy.

2. Certain businesses may lend themselves to bringing in a manager.  Retail, tourism, food and beverage, are examples of industries that may lend themselves to hiring temporary or more permanent management.  Yes, you might have a certain style that you believe is hard to replicate.  However, processes can provide that personal touch to your business that carries on without you present.

3. Handing your business over to a "competitor" could be counter-intuitive.  However, many people in specialised consulting will often be familiar, if not friends, with others in the same industry.  If one or a few other consultants can take on some or all of your clients in an agreed way, this can keep things going for both you and the client.  Alternatively, this could be the ideal time for someone you know to move from employed to self-employed and help you out.

In the end, having processes gives you flexibility to be innovative in keeping your business alive without you present for some time.  Protecting your income means not only insuring it continues through illness, but insuring you have an income-producing business when you return.

Bye-bye Business

Do you know where you are going?  If you own a business then one of the most powerful things you can possibly have is an exit strategy.  Why?  How you want to get out of your business determines a lot about how you setup business, what choices you make and how you run your business day-to-day.

Have you thought about how you are getting out of your business?  It's a very serious question that you need to give thought to.  You need to look at the stakeholders in your business to see whether the exit strategy works for them as well.  I'm not just talking about another director or co-owner, it could be your family who is the stakeholder in you and your business.  You might find that you and your spouse have very different ideas of when you want to get out of your business.  Maybe they are looking for a relaxing retirement and you are looking to work well into your 70s.  If you haven't talked about getting out... now is the time you need to do this.

How can you use this knowledge to your best advantage?  Short answer: Everywhere!  Your business structure, your growth strategy, your image, your marketing, your client base both now and in the future, the list goes on.  In fact, between the entry and exit strategies are the systems and workflows that create your business and uphold the exit strategy you have set.  Remember this is not a "one size fits all" situation.  If you want to sell your business in the near future, you are going to have a radically different take on growth compared to if you would like to slowly reduce your hours till you are working part-time in 5 years.

But it's not just when you setup a business do you need an exit strategy.  You'll go through many exit strategies in your business.  In fact, for every entry strategy, there should be an exit strategy.  An entry strategy to a new market may need an exit strategy such as franchising, selling the business or even employing and growth can be an exit strategy as you take your business from one stage to the next.  Exit strategies are almost big picture goals but often cater for the down-side that a pure goal does not cater for.  See this as practical and inspiring.  Often small business owners have found the greatest growth in the biggest challenges.

So, if you haven't thought about how you'll say bye-bye to your business, it's time to talk to the stakeholders and align your exit strategy.  By doing this, you set the framework in which your business systems can operate to move you ever closer to that big goodbye!

Be Careful What You Say: Social constructs in workflow

If you have ever tried to implement a workflow into your organisation, you'll know that the key is people.  It's very "yin and yang" in that they can react to new procedures in both good and bad ways.  In fact, process needs people so that it can actually be used.  A process that lacks people is an automation.  You'll mostly find that process mapping involves the interaction of people, information and equipment.

This means that the social construct surrounding the concepts and language within the workflow will determine the success of its acceptance and its workability.  You see, social construct gives us meaning to what is said.  Think about a workflow in which you want Admin Staff to book meeting rooms.  You probably already have an innate sense of who is considered "Admin Staff" within your organisation or department.  Let's turn this around.  Think of someone who is new to your organisation.  They may not know who is part of "Admin Staff".  Or even another department could  have different "Admin Staff".  Think through these crucial terms.

You don't have to make your processes over complicated.  You can fix these issues in numerous ways, for example:

1. Provide a glossary of terms as part of your operations manual or your workflow (in the business rules section).
2. Relay this information as part of induction - particularly a cultural induction into the work place
3. Place this information into charts, missions or policies.  In the above example of the Admin Staff, this could be presented in an organisation chart.

By being careful with what you say in your workflows and process maps, you will be able to define the true meanings of social constructs created within your organisational culture.  You can make it crystal clear who is who, what is what and how it all comes together to create better process that meets everyones' needs regardless of department or how long they have been in the organisation.

The Backburner

It's 2am, you've woken up and sat straight up in bed.  You've never felt this awake before, you have the most brilliant idea that is going to revolutionise your industry.  Eureka!  You look at the time and smile, settle back down and go back to sleep.

Next morning comes around.  You wake up, but not as awake as you were at 2am.  Then you remember, your innovative idea.  But the problem is, you don't quite remember.  And you are questioning if it really was as great as you thought it was.  You just don't know because you really don't remember the details all that well, just some vague outline of what it might have been about.

This happened to me all too many times.  Then I'd start to write them down because I was sick of forgetting the details.  I'd read in them in the morning and often found these ideas were reasonably sound.  However, the timing might not have been right or I didn't know the right people.  Then when the opportunity arose to use the idea, or I was looking for a new concept to pursue, the paper I had written it on was long since gone.

This led me to create a document called The Backburner.  This document contains short dot-points on ideas that I have from time to time.  When something comes to mind, or comes across my desk, it is noted in The Backburner - filed away for future reference.  I create this document for each new job and date each idea and reference it if it's not my own.  

This way, we can collect information for future processes.  We can make suggestions to clients further down the track, and we can capture what people say and credit those people for their suggestions.  This creates a holistic approach to not only BPM and the art of workflow and process mapping, it helps with any endeavour that needs an injection of innovative thinking.  The Backburner becomes your well of good ideas.

Authentic Customer Service: The process that produces warm fuzzies

We are fairly astute these days.  We can smell phony from a mile away.  One step away from what a company says compared to what they do is one step too many.  So how do companies create authentic customer service?  How do they produce that warm fuzzy feeling in clients and stakeholders?

I had the pleasure of meeting Chris Thomas a few years ago.  He was instrumental in the customer service strategy at Westnet, a well known Australian Internet Service Provider.  Westnet had taken a different tact with their customer service compared to their competitors.  If they said they would ring you back, then they rang you back when they said they would.  They didn't close a support request until you, the client, said it could be closed.  This experience was not unique, I had heard the same story again and again with friends and family.  I had even experienced their service first hand as a client.  When it came to doing what the staff said they would do, it was done.

Now, they just hired the same people that you and I hire for customer-facing roles.  Of course you look for a certain type of person that is friendly and has the ability to build rapport.  However, without processes that are backed by the company, good intentions is mostly what you get with this strategy.  And blame isn't solely with the staff, who are often trying their best to fulfill more than they can due to time constraints.  Processes and company buy-in to those processes is essential to give great and authentic customer service across all customer-facing staff.

What Chris said about getting management investment was eye-opening.  Instigating processes needed complete backing and this was hard slog.  The bottom line is... you are implementing processes that require more time and effort, and thus, more staff.  This is on the same number of clients and income.  You have to have a true believer leading this, and you need the measurements in place to show that the numbers work.  You have to give the numbers time to work too.  It's a leap of faith that everyone takes, but it has paid off for Westnet, in both awards and with real dollars and cents (they were purchased by a competitor because of their customer service standards).

So, what were the measurements that Chris and his team used.  In gaining feedback, there was one question they asked their clients that really mattered.  One question on which executives pay was based.  If you want to know about this one question, it's time to read the Harvard Business Review article from the December 2003 issue - "The one number you need to grow" by Frederick Reichheld.

So, today's lesson?  Have processes, humanise your processes, connect them from the top down for authenticity, and measure the results.  Why else would you have goals?  Authentic customer service is about knowing were you are going and how well you are growing.

I am the apple

Do you remember that Beatles Song, 'I am the Walrus'?  This song is the epitome of intellectual property and having "made it".  Lennon wrote it somewhere between an acid trip and a joke on himself.  He heard that they had started analysing Beatles lyrics in school and thought he'd throw some utter rubbish into a song and send them all chasing after the euphemistic white rabbit.  But you know it's true, you know you have made it when your IP is part of the subject matter at school or university. 

Hmmm... what has this got to do with process mapping, or with business for that matter?  Let me tell you a little story.  About 3 years ago I went looking for some insight into well run call centres.  Three of us went to visit centres from different industries and we talked to the managers about how they made it work.  This was very insightful, but the one that really stayed with me was a manager of a major call centre in the medical industry.  He pulled out file after file, graph after graph.  He had completely designed his own way of running a call centre.  Processes, procedures, measures and manuals.  He had created a complete methodology that he could carry from job to job.  

This caught my attention - that light-bulb moment happened.  What was before me was tried and tested Personal Intellectual Property.  Yes, the PIP.  He had got to the core of what worked and what could be replicated.  He'd spent years building a wealth of knowledge.  It just made sense to me.  You create and become known for what you have quietly been using and refining for years.  

I saw a future where employees will be hired on the basis of their PIP, to some extent it was already happening at board level, at executive level.  It wasn't being explicitly acknowledged as IP.  Building processes, procedures, measures and manuals for your expert area can become your PIP, what you are known for.  You can be the apple.

Open door policy - don't let it shut on your behind

I don't know about you guys, but when you are managing people one of the hardest things I've found is walking the very thin line between being open and approachable and being their "boss".  Oh, don't get me wrong, I will mostly walk on the side of being open because I don't see the point in hiding what you do and how you do it (just means that you can't have holidays and, more importantly, can't move up).

However, processes can often be born out of HR challenges.  I've seen it time and time again where issues come creeping in with staff because no process was present.  There was no real measuring stick on how the person was travelling.  Performance reviews are run on a "gut feeling" which is no good for you and certainly not good for the staff member either.

How open should you be?  Well, being open actually brings about both results.  It allows you to have your own procedures that can be handed on should you need time away and it forms part of the overall process which supports performance reviews and produces very measurable results from day-to-day work.  

As I said yesterday, I used to display processes.  I displayed a particular process we had written on the wall for months.  It was a "hub" process and used pretty much every day by staff.  It wasn't that anyone looked at it much.  I doubt they even looked at it beyond the first "Ta da!  Here it is" moment.  But it was there, including my own management notes - everything was open and transparent.  It was like a contract between all of us as to what we did to keep the process moving.  And it was all done with paper, sticky tape, string and blu-tac.  It was easy to change as it was a "living, breathing" process.

The key for me seems to be that 'open' and 'nice' get confused in the work place.  You don't have to be 'nice' (or nasty, for that matter).  You can be matter of fact about things and still be open.  In a way, it is easier to be matter of fact when you are open.  Don't be afraid to put on display what you do as a manager or owner of the business.  Be open about your personal processes and procedures and you will be less likely to be hit on the behind by a the 'closing door' from issues with staff.

Sweat the small stuff

You've probably been told not to sweat the small stuff, concentrate on what really matters.  And while this is great advice generally, it's not always the case.  Remember the last time you went to the toilet only to find all the toilet paper gone?  Or you went to your favorite section of the newspaper, only to find that someone had cut out the coupon to win a car on the page before, leaving you with only a quarter of the crossword.  Oh, I bet these had you sweating (or swearing).

This may not seem like the typical domain of process professionals.  Remember that it's generally the small stuff that unnerves you.  Let's do an experiment.  The next time you "snap" (however mild your version of "snapping" might be), think through the last thing that happened prior.  I bet it was something you could quite easily classify as small.  Try it for yourself, yes you mild mannered, patient people might have to wait awhile to try this out but it will open your eyes to why small things matter.

Small things matter in process mapping.  You'll only find out the small stuff over time as we are wired to remember what our brain considered important when it took on the information.  This generally means "big things" are what we list out when brainstorming process improvement.  So time is the most useful tool in your tool box.  I've found two great ways to use time as a friend:

1. Take the time to speak to a range of people who are directly involved in this process.  This is your "Process Unit".  Speak to them one-on-one.  They are more likely to be open about intra-team issues which might be big to them but small to the team in general.

2. Treat processes as living, breathing organisms.  Let them grow through suggestions, replace what doesn't work, adopt the short-cuts people take, and have them out on display.  If you feel more comfortable, you could have them on trial for a few months whilst you work through the process several times over and let it evolve during that time.

It doesn't have to take forever but given time, you can delve into the nitty-gritty and get a great flow out of your process for yourself and the team.

The Computer Virus - A lesson for process mapping your business

Let's put a little wager on the fact that from the title of my blog, you'll be thinking the chaos of getting a computer virus was a great reason for getting business processes in order.  And whilst that could be a "mistake" that teaches you about IT processes, there is a very different reason I learnt about process mapping from computer viruses.  There are so many procedures in the most simple business structure, where do you start?


"An informed agent that attempts to deliberately damage a network will not eliminate the nodes randomly, but will preferentially target the most connected nodes. To simulate an attack we first remove the most connected node, and continue selecting and removing nodes in decreasing order of their connectivity." (Albert-László Barabási in his 2000 journal article 'Error and attack tolerance of complex networks').  Essentially, Professor Barabási  is stating a fairly obvious truth.  The Internet is made up of billions of connections (in 2000 it was around 800 million).  Yet it is only an average of 19 hops from your computer to any other point on the net.  In fact, us organic computers must be even better at networking because it is an average of 6 degrees of separation between you and any of the other 6 billion people on the planet.  And this is all to do with hubs, or very connected people (referred to as Mavens by Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point).  These are the most connected nodes that hold up these short connections, it's what creates these 'small worlds' that allows us to connect in six steps to anyone.

Coming back to Professor Barabási's research, the above diagrams shows a scale-free network.  The red dots are the most connected hubs and the green dots represent those points which are directly connected to a hub.  Take out those 5 little red dots and you are left with a lot of disconnection.  

And processes?  Where do you start in your business?  If you brain storm what processes your business consists of, you'll soon find that there are "hubs" in your processes (look at the above diagram, very similar to a brainstorm map).  It could be that accounting is a big part of your business, or that Marketing may have the largest number of processes hanging from it.  In your business, chances are, it is what you do day to day that is your hub.  It's essential that as you create a list of processes, you find your "hubs".  Once you have isolated these "hubs" you can immediately start building the most used processes and the surrounding support processes.

"Hubs" in process provide the backbone that quickly links seemingly disparate procedures to each other.  So, this is how the not-so-humble computer virus inspired us to find the hubs and give a roaring kick-start to the workflow maps and business operations manuals of our clients.

Mistakes - It's what we do before we do things better

We are taught to do things right the first time, every time.  Think about school, did you ever get praised for making a mistake?  Some work environments are like that, and then there is the environments where you can own up to your mistakes.  So, why would I write about mistakes?

Because this is often how new process comes about.  A mistake, and usually a serious one or a series of them, lead people to come and see us.  Oh, don't worry, you are not the first person in the world to make a mistake, or even the first to make this mistake (we'll trust statistics on that one... 6 billion people in the world would mean someone has made that mistake some where, at some time).  In fact, it was making a mistake that brought me to this business.  And I'll share that mistake down the track because it shaped who I am and why I do what I do.

But for now, it's enough to embrace mistakes.  Really own them and own the lessons from them.  They shape you like no "right answer the first time, every time" can.  This is real lessons that meant you have stepped away from how you've done things in the past.  And now you know, there is a process needed so that others can follow you in the new direction you can take your business, the place on the other side of the mistake.  

So, let's put the mistakes on the table.  This is a useful tool in creating process.  If you have the culture, you can go so much further by sitting down and listing real mistakes that have happened during the process or potential mistakes you could see coming around the corner.  You are not going to "fool-proof" your process, but you are going to get further because you can start building mechanisms in that will either remove the mistake from happening again or allow it to be double checked to pick-up mistakes.  Also, you'll notice a strange thing as you share mistakes, not only do people become more open if they can see others being open, you'll also see that a "negative" session quickly turns into positives.  

So, give it a try.  Start with "Even though I do this every week, I once buggered it up really badly by doing..."  "Can anyone else see how a mistake could happen?  Anyone else had a bad experience during this process?"  Start the 'bad' ball rolling and as people vent the issues and problems they start softening the blows themselves by bringing out positive aspects."  Tell me how it went.  How long did you take to get to the positive, to the lessons and good things from the mistake?

Life is a process

People often stare at me funny when I try to explain what I do.  I obviously haven't hit on the right thing to say yet.  For those in the know, you can spurt out words like Workflow, BPM, and add a few of the methodologies for mapping processes and quality assurance.  Yet I want to get to the essence of what it is, the universal truth in it.

And there I go, sounding sappy :)

You see, we are a process.  Everything we do is a process.  I just had a baby nine days ago, and from the time I found out I was pregnant, I basically knew what I was in for.  Approximately 40 weeks, probably sickness, a lot of pain at the end.  Every baby book you skim through has the essence of this... this is a process.

So, why is it so hard to describe what I do if we live and breath process every day.  Much of what we read is a process.  If you were in my shoes, what would you say?  And how would you say it?  How do we hit this nail on the head?