Review: i&i Members Community Network Meeting on "Governance & Process Ownership"

by Matthew Moore on 22nd May 2009

13th May 2009

i&i Members gathered at Dunchurch Park near Rugby, UK to discuss and learn from a cross-section of industries on the subject of Governance and Process Ownership.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the challenges faced by organisations moving from functional silos to cross-functional value-chains which are numerous and arduous. Attendees were able to learn from other organisations’ experiences about new process structures, governance models and approaches to attaining true customer focus by understanding their journey from end to end. In addition, formal and informal discussions enabled potential solutions to be posited on a variety of issues, including how to gain support for major change implementations, how to establish decision-making rights and consistently measure and manage against the business’ strategic objectives. These discussions, in tandem with the networking opportunities, facilitated several offers of informal benchmarking to be made between the members.

Leading management thought-leader Daniel T Jones shared his experience and knowledge in a Q&A session with attendees. In answering pointed questions from practitioners and leaders with very specific challenges, Dan gave valuable insights into the superior business performance of Toyota and Tesco, as well as examples of best practice within other industries. Dan spoke about organising the business into a horizontal dimension and how to deploy the tools necessary to support it, how to replicate lean across industries, and the three stages of a successful lean implementation:

The initial engagement of tools on the shop floor for eliminating waste locally,
Linking end to end processes with top down support focusing on the customer journey,
The re-design of new business model, planning for a fundamentally different future.

Paul Nestor, Continuous Improvement Director, with BP, shared the story of how BP re-launched its downstream operations, and began the process of joining all the elements of the business into an integrated whole, ensuring that all operations – from marketing and retail, to distribution and logistics, and refining and supply – work together effectively.

Paul described the tools necessary for the successful deployment of this strategy, including the Enterprise Activity Model for clear Process Ownership and role definition, and streamlined decision-making through the use of RAPID - an organisational design tool for improving decision-making.

The workshops in the afternoon debated the lessons learned from the morning sessions and identified tangible benefits, in terms of knowledge, ideas, tools and tips, that could be taken back and implemented in the workplace. For these, each group identified at least three that could be utilised. These included:

A3 sheet idea; eliminates reams of data, helps find an actual solution and generates a cultural change.
RAPID decisions-making model; can be used for both business and process improvement decisions and arguably in conjunction with RACI, defines who has decision-making rights.
Enterprise Activity Model (EAM); assists with holistic cross-process management, helps solve “silo” problems, solves the inherent problem of “as standard as possible, as local as necessary”.
Common view of a process; make sure it is an end-to-end holistic view starting at the customer.
The management of the process concentrates on ensuring the process delivers what the customer wants and not their own “gut feeling”.
Maturity Model Assessment; where the organisation is on the path to maturity.
Understand and measure what is important to the customer; the right metrics and measures will drive the right behaviours.
Interruptions in the process can amplify problems and introduce over-burdening which impacts the customer experience.
Process owners need teeth and recognition; they should be recognisably authorised.
Encourage senior management to walk through the process so they can see the touchpoints and the protracted supply chain that may exist.
Focus on the customer; find out what they want before anything else, especially when beginning improvement activities.
Value Stream Management; give individuals responsibility for end-to-end processes, across the functions to ensure everyone works together.