When discussing the need to review processes with an intermediary at a conference late last year I got the distinct impression that he absolutely got what I was saying. His head nodded at the right times when I mentioned words like ‘efficiency’, ‘staff culture’ and of course ‘profitability’. However I got the distinct impression that he was like a customer in a computer repair shop. The assistant is being very helpful, and some of the words being mentioned are being recognised and nodded at, at the right times, but also that the customer doesn’t really understand the difference between IE7 and IE8, and whether it needed a particular graphics card. The customer is asking themselves, ‘does it work now? If so show me how so I can just get on.’
It felt the same describing the need for a process culture. Everybody knows that they need one they just don’t understand how to start and build it. They just want to be given one, one that works and that can be implemented as easily as possible.
As mentioned in previous blogs, the Retail Distribution Review is demanding an understanding from the intermediary about the cost of delivering their products and services. Charging fees will mean being able to justify it whilst maintaining an acceptable level of profit. If the company does not understand the cost of its processes how can it know what to charge and what real profit it is making?.
Process analysis is not always an easy option to grasp, so I’m going to take one example and work it through briefly. The example is not an untypical one, a multi adviser practice with one main head office/admin centre, and the process is how these advisers interact with their support team.
The way to start is to get all parties in the process together. Inevitably there’ll be different views on what actually happens, so don’t let this become divisive and ensure that all sides can be heard. Ask some hard questions;
- Is there a standard way of working for all advisers?
- If so do they actually adopt it?
- Do the support staff allows themselves to be deviated from the tasks by different requests?
- How much time is lost due to reptition of similar work?
- Are there service standards from adviser to support and vice versa?
- How much time is lost by advisers making calls to chase items ahead of time?
Often having the parties in a room and having an open and honest discussion will precipitate new ideas and processes to help guide the team forward, bringing with it new efficiencies. Once they have been agreed, measure them to see that they do make a difference. If you can’t decide which process to start with, ask your staff to keep a timesheet for a week recording activity, you’ll soon see where a lot of the time is spent and this is always a good place to start.
Once you’ve addressed the key processes and started to establish how long these tasks take, the prospect of being able to understand what these cost is much more realistic.
We all run processes, and obtaining the perfect process is almost impossible, but once you embark on the journey, make time to look at other key processes in your business and be sure you spend the time revisiting them on a periodic basis.
Martin McKenna - 22nd April 2010