Using process reviews to maintain the gains

The big transformation

Last spring, I had a professional landscaping company come to my house and replace the weeds that dominated my front yard with new sod. They also converted one large planter into two smaller ones and added fresh mulch. The contrast between the new yard and old yard was startling. Not long after they had completed their work, I began to notice that the new grass, although certainly healthier and more attractive than my old weeds, still required a minimum level of work in order to maintain that stark contrast over the old weeds.

The “big transformation” had temporarily solved many of my problems – an unsightly yard, out of control weeds, and unhappy neighbors – but it did not eliminate the need for me to manage my yard. Despite the large upfront investment, I still had to work to maintain the gains that were made.

It is not uncommon for organizations to approach process management like I approached my yard project – with an overemphasis on the dramatic transformation and an underdeveloped system for maintaining the transformation. Proper process management has mechanisms for maintaining process transformations – one of which is the process review.

The dirty work

Process reviews are how an organization keeps their process standards in step with the current business requirements. Process reviews typically occur on a regular cadence (6, 12, 18 months, etc.) and involve a detailed look at the process content, structure, and performance. Essentially, process reviews serve as insurance against a playbook that is outdated, stale, and ineffective.

It should be noted that a process review is not a tool specifically designed to advance the process – that would be a focused improvement event (i.e. kaizen event) or a smaller “everyday” incremental improvement – but rather, is a method for maintaining the process. To draw from my yard analogy once more – the initial sod installation typifies a focused process improvement event whereas routine yard maintenance represents a regular cadence of process reviews.

Are your processes stale?

I imagine most of us have been there before – working to complete a particular activity and looking for that perfect resource to help us keep the process moving. You go to SharePoint (or your intranet of choice) and do a search. Somewhere on page five of the search results you find a document that should hold the answer to your question. You open the document only to find that is was last updated in 2009 and references an accounting system that the company dropped four years ago. Dejected, you move on and continue your search for the right information.

This is a typical experience of a worker who is not supported by up-to-date and relevant process standards. Establishing regular process reviews can limit these types of experiences. 

Refresh your processes

There are three basic ingredients to a process review: Defined process governance, a regular review cadence, and an established process review procedure.

Essentially, the process owner should review said process on a defined cadence while following the organization’s process review procedure. By pushing this model across your process framework, you can begin to build confidence in the organization’s process standards, leading to increased usage and value.

I have created a process review procedure template that you can download for free at the Nintex Process Accelerator Gallery. If you are a Promapp user, you can import the XML file directly into your Promapp environment and modify to fit the needs of your organization. If you are not a Promapp user, you may still find the PDF copy of the procedure to be helpful. You can download that here: Perform Process Review.

Regardless of what template you use, the important thing is that your processes are regularly reviewed. Doing this not only maintains any performance gains attained through improvement efforts, but also maximizes the value your end-users receive when utilizing the organization’s standard processes.