business process : review

the brief

To get some solid data and a true picture from a busy customer support department. The team was stressed and claiming to be overworked, however they were unable to give the department manager enough clear and objective data or information with which to build any kind of business case for change.

what we did

In conjunction with the department manager, we explored some of the current perceived issues and barriers to change that existed within the department. To bring about sustainable change we knew anything we did needed to be contextual, so we also explored the company’s culture and the broader appetite for change within it.
We used the findings to understand why earlier efforts to bring in changes had not been successful. We developed a palatable four phase project approach, always building the new phase on cumulative outcomes of previous phases in a non-prescriptive but measurable balance.
The project would bring additional value from the end of phase one onwards. However it would only proceed with the phases, and at a pace, that the manager and board were comfortable with.
In phase one, we collated the currently available data sources involving frontline staff with the project’s scope and purpose, and data collection activities.
We identified gaps in the existing data and developed a simple method to collect new data.
We combined the existing and new data into a report and presentation.
Some of the material was presented in a format that was new, and we believed, compelling. So we thoroughly briefed and coached the department manager to help him deliver the most compelling story to the board and staff.

outcome

The subjective opinions and feelings of overwhelmed staff were taken seriously and used as a basis for objective observations.
The job of getting the data together and making sense of it was done for the manager in phase one of the project. The report and story convinced the board of the urgent need to increase headcount in the department. The stressed staff got additional resource. A new way of understanding and reporting process variance was introduced into the department.