How to involve employees in creating a strong brand?
Technologies and tools
M. Yu. Semenov
A. V. Boyarkina
T. I. Mironenko
© M. Yu. Semenov, 2017
© A. V. Boyarkina, 2017
© T. I. Mironenko, 2017
ISBN 978-5-4485-2637-4
Created in the intellectual publishing system Ridero
Book structure
Introduction
Book reviews as a preface
Chapter 1: Clarifying the Brand Idea
1.2. Results of workshops to clarify the content of brand DNA
Chapter 2. Engaging employees in the brand
2.1. Characteristics of the position of a specialist responsible for engaging employees in the brand
2.2. Technology “Microtrainings for the office “36 minutes with a brand”, or Brand School”
2.3. Technology "Thematic weeks"
2.4. Brand auction technology
2.5. Technology "Corporate Portal"
2.6. Technology “Corporate language of our brand”
Chapter 3. Reinforcement: Brand Assessment
3.1. Pyramid of employees and activities in relation to the brand
3.2. Brand assessment technology
Chapter 4. Feedback
Project Retrospective
Bibliography
Introduction
This book describes a case: the experience of implementing a project in 2013 by TIM-CONSULTING (team-consult.ru) to involve employees in the company’s new brand.
Every brand has a set of ideas that form the internal brand structure, or brand DNA. We borrowed this term from the book by J. Barlow and P. Stewart, “Brand-Driven Service.”
The birth of a brand is most often insight and history, after which it is necessary to analyze and understand the brand, isolate its meaning, structure and create tools for translating brand ideas into the work of the company. Brand carriers are the people who created the brand, its ideologists and inspirers. They can evaluate whether an action or phenomenon is consistent with the brand or not. Brand carriers can describe the idea of a brand in words, highlight the closest and, conversely, contrasting concepts. In this way, the semantic field of the brand is formed - a set of words of different parts of speech, the meanings of which have one common semantic feature - the ideas of the brand are close.
Then, on a dedicated basis, the brand DNA is formed and a program is developed to “infect” all employees with the brand idea.
A strong brand is not only advertising, it is, first of all, the people broadcasting it. What should leaders do to engage employees in building a strong brand? How can you do this in a modern, incendiary, interesting, easy way.
The context of the book. The customer company has been working in mobile retail since the 90s. At the start of the project, the company employed about 60 people in the office and about 250 people in retail. Approximately 40 stores.
More than six months ago, before the launch of the project, the company underwent a rebranding and reformatting of some retail outlets, however, this did not bring the expected dividends in the form of profit and increased staff motivation.
The objectives of this project were to convey the brand idea to each employee and involve them in implementation in such a way that each employee reinforces the brand idea in their daily work in interaction with customers and employees.
The project was implemented in the following stages:
1) Clarifying the brand idea
2) Involving employees in the brand
3) Cementation: consolidating brand ideas through evaluation, feedback and stimulation.
Book shape– report: only the most important things to understand brand engagement activities and their meaning. I remember Igor Mann’s statement: “What books do you choose? - Short ones! Therefore, less than 100 pages of this book can be read in 2 hours, in one trip.
The book will be useful to those who work on employee engagement, create a strong company brand and manage the HR brand, corporate culture and internal communications. If you need to solve a similar problem, you can get some useful ideas from this book.
The appendix to the book – Grade tables – can be downloaded by filling out the form at [broken link] https://goo.gl/k7PjuL
If you need a training program "Brand School" and workbook, write to the author
Semenov Mikhail– project manager, management consultant, business coach, managing partner of “TEAM CONSULTING”. Specialization: management and HR consulting, business training, organization of training and assessment of employees, internal communications, development of customer focus, consumer behavior research. Leading Russian expert on the psychology of money, Ph.D. psychological sciences, associate professor.
Boyarkina Anna- business trainer. Specialization: sales training, management skills training, organization of in-house training, assessment and certification of personnel, in-house communications, HR consulting, development of company services.
Mironenko Tatyana– business trainer, coach, head of “TEAM CONSULTING”. Specialization: business coaching for top managers, strategic sessions, training in team building, project management, leadership, situational management, b2b sales management, telemarketing and telephone sales, training for sales representatives and supervisors.
Reviews as a preface
Baibakova Olga: “ Very capacious, interesting and practice-oriented material. While reading, I was amazed at the scale of time and intellectual expenditure when conducting Brand Involvement Weeks. In conclusion, I saw that these activities were abandoned. In vain, they could just reduce the frequency. Manager Assessment Questionnaire – very strong. I was even surprised that they went for it. And... again they refused.
Once again I admire your team’s projects, your global systemic vision combined with clear attention to detail! It costs a lot! Thanks for sharing!”
Baybakova Olga, consultant in the field of production management (quality management, lean manufacturing, development of production personnel), business coach, facilitator of organizational changes
Gladysheva Svetlana: “ The information in the book is a great tool! Take it and do it. The entire process of involving employees in the brand and company values is described in detail. It is indicated what went well and what did not take root, what was applicable and what was not. Simple and accessible text, and it’s great that there are apps.
The book is really very interesting. I read it in one sitting. I am sure that it will be a success among professional readers. Good luck to you and your colleagues!”
Gladysheva Svetlana, business coach, business consultant in the field of personnel selection, adaptation and development, facilitator
Brychenkova Natalya: “ If you want to understand how to create a unified spirit among the people with whom you do business, and at the same time achieve your personal business goals, then you definitely need to read this book. The title fully reflects the content of the book; while reading it, you become involved in the process of learning and knowledge, and, most interestingly, there is a desire to try the technology in your company.
The authors managed to present a complete and understandable algorithm of actions, logically completed and implemented in a specific real business. Large methodological blocks with specific tools, recommendations and methods of implementation are reflected.
What is missing in the book is a reflection of the economic efficiency of using technology, final HR metrics that allow you to see the “Before” picture and the “After” picture.
The book will be useful to caring people interested in professional development and the formation of a unified corporate environment. I would like to note the advantages: accessible, understandable material, clarity, clear instructions, specific examples, the possibility of practical application in any area of business.”
Brychenkova Natalya, HR Director, Santelecom LLC
Chapter 1: Clarifying the Brand Idea
1.1. How we clarified the brand DNA
Clarification of the content and structure, or DNA, of the brand took place with the company's top managers during a series of seminars.
We proceeded from the fact that the DNA of a corporate brand is the core corporate values expressed in the form of a company brand. Therefore, this technology can be used to clarify company values.
It's time to teach your colleagues to love their jobs. And do it well.
This is true even if they are currently not happy with their workplace. Try changing something - we have 23 ideas for you.
#1 Allow teams and departments to create their own sets of values
If your colleagues get together and discuss how they see values for their small team, this will be a good practice. At such moments, everyone can understand: what is the colleague striving for? what do I want? How can we achieve our goal together? The conditional internal constitution adopted by them should not contradict the company’s values.
#2 Encourage personal projects
An employee who wants to do something that interests him and regularly talks about it to management is more valuable than someone who simply carries out his duties and sits quietly in the corner. We often underestimate personal initiative, but allowing employees within the company to implement small personal projects can benefit both parties.
#3 Create a buddy-program or personal mentoring program
Telling you about the primary adaptation in the workplace, we have already mentioned the importance of this program. This time we want to say that it does not have to end, it can be implemented throughout the employee’s entire working time in the company. Let everyone who needs it have the opportunity to choose a mentor, a leader-mentor. Feeling supported makes employees more confident in taking on challenging tasks and staying on the team longer.
#4 Organize themed days in the office
A day when everyone has to wear jeans? Chocolate day at the office? New Year in the summer? A little madness won't hurt anyone - this kind of activity, a change in mood and typical roles allows you to relax and look at your work differently.
#5 Support social responsibility programs
Even if your company does not have a ward of an orphanage or there is no tradition of collecting gifts for pensioners or adopting homeless kittens, you can still organize small events to raise funds for charity. For example, selling homemade sweets right in the office or crafts for the New Year. There can be many options. A sense of community will help you increase team spirit. Not to mention, doing good deeds is great. And together - even better.
#6 Volunteer together
In many Western companies, employees have the opportunity to work for the benefit of society several times a year at the expense of the company. Maybe you should consider this option too? For example, offer to go to a shelter and walk with homeless animals, or maybe give an English lesson to the children. Once again, unlimited space for your ideas and needs to fulfill your civic duty.
#7 Celebrate achievements
When we say “celebrate your victories,” we don’t mean setting the office table. Rather, on the contrary, the energy received needs to be converted into new projects, into something that the team has been talking about for a long time - jump with parachutes or take a pizza-making course? Try to make the holiday an experience, not a get-together.
#8 Celebrate your colleagues’ holidays
Birthday, retirement, birth of a child, personal victory, promotion - all these are reasons to once again tell the person why you value him on the team. He's pleased that the team is back together. Seeing the sincere emotions of your employees at such moments is priceless. Work is work, but being able to create such team bonds is simply necessary.
#9 Get feedback and give it
Openness is a working principle that should not be forgotten. If your team strives for success, it will discuss failure. If employees want more, they will talk about what they are not happy with and will be willing to listen to constructive criticism addressed to them. By accepting these kinds of theses as the rules of life in the company, you ensure trusting relationships within and a willingness to always listen and discuss why things are going this way and not otherwise.
#10 Encourage learning
Allowing people to go to courses, create a library with literature in the office, organize internal educational events - it’s just that we don’t want to study at school, but when it’s a matter of professional status, you look at new knowledge completely differently, especially when given by an employer.
#11 Communicate
Communication does not end with the question “How are you?” You should make sure that each employee has everything or almost everything in order to feel comfortable and have everything that he expected from his workplace. Little things matter a lot - ask your colleagues what they lack for complete happiness at work (or almost)?
#12 Show employees they have choices.
On a variety of issues. For example, what time should they come to work - it’s not necessary for everyone to get there by 9 am? When to take a vacation? Discipline must certainly be present at work, but so is the opportunity to choose important aspects of life.
#13 Conduct brainstorming sessions
Sometimes one team cannot solve a problem, but another team will look from the outside and see the solution. You need to learn to take advantage of the capabilities of your employees who work on different problems and have different views on the world.
#14 Try to communicate informally
There are definitely difficulties with this in Russia. You need to understand: it is not necessary to always call all colleagues by name and patronymic - this does not bring us closer in any way, this is already a thing of the past. For a long time. And those who begin to be friends at some point switch to the familiar “Mikhalych”, “Petrovna”. This is a certain level of culture - to communicate equally with both management and subordinates. Everyone has a first name, not just a last and patronymic name. Try to somehow cultivate this in your company.
#15 Host an annual awards ceremony
Where all employees receive awards. Come up with nominations yourself - let everyone feel that they are performing a completely unique function.
#16 Inquire about your health status
Good modern employer companies provide insurance to their employees. It's fair. But, unfortunately, not everyone is yet ready to take responsibility for their employees and their health. So it’s worth starting by at least inquiring about the health status of those who are on sick leave. People need to know that the employer cares.
#17 Host sporting events
Allow employees to compete outside of the office and achieve goals with the team, such as playing volleyball. Changing activities helps.
#18 Allow employees to participate in the selection process
It is worth conducting team interviews instead of 5 stages with representatives of different departments and specialists at different levels of the office hierarchy - let your employees ask questions, help you evaluate candidates, and see the selection process from a different perspective.
#19 Create a blog about working in a company
Where the authors will be the employees themselves, talking about their experience working in the company. Or you yourself can collect stories about your colleagues and post them on the website - who stood out during the interview? How did you once manage to finish everything by a deadline, although it seemed impossible? We all have stories, we have no doubt.
#20 Create a newsletter
Tell your employees what’s going on in the company, what news is there, what’s for lunch in the canteen today, what new employees will be arriving soon, ask how they would like to celebrate the New Year and how their work week went - this kind of communication encourages and reminds them of suddenly pleasant little things that rarely happen in simple correspondence.
#21 Have a board game night
For example, on Friday night play Mafia. Believe me, no one leaves work before 22:00! 🙂
#22 Host events for employee families
Great practice - everyone will get to know each other even better and will be able to spend time with their family at the same time.
#23 Go to the cinema together
Once a month you can go together and watch a movie with the team - and before that, arrange a vote on which movie who wants to watch.
#24 #25 #26 - then only your ideas, your approach. You need to know your team very well to find universal ways to involve them in the process. We shared what we think is relevant, correct, and valuable for each team.
In order to build a strategy for increasing the involvement of managers in important projects for the company, I would start by defining what exactly we mean by involvement.
The Common Concept of Engagement – This an emotional and intellectual state that motivates employees to do their jobs to the best of their ability. If we break involvement into components, then in addition to the euphoria from participating in a project, that is, when we like the very nature of the work, we will receive a degree of personal responsibility, a sense of involvement in the company and what is happening in it, self-realization through participation in the project, understanding the similarity of your personal goals and the goals of the project. If we dig deeper, we will find many other components of engagement, but these clearly lie on the surface.
The next step is to analyze the level of engagement. And here I would analyze the reasons for the lack of involvement of each manager separately. Through conversation or questionnaires.
My experience shows that the reasons can be very individual. For some managers, the lack of involvement is really associated with an unwillingness to take on additional responsibility. Others can take it, but the level of this responsibility is directly proportional to the level of salary. And, it would seem, why get involved in something else if you don’t get paid for it? By the way, this is now a fairly common category of managers, and people in general.
There are managers who are confident that their efforts will not change the “average temperature in the ward”, and their work is just a drop in the bucket that no one will notice. Then why try even harder? Of course, here we are not talking about the motivation of the manager, but about the transparency of communications in the company, about encouraging the initiative that actually exists in the company, about the feeling of involvement with decision makers. In this situation, it is worth thinking about the functionality of the employee as a management unit and his capabilities in making independent decisions. Because if your leaders feel like they are just cogs in a big system, then he will either accept it or run away, but his involvement will never grow.
The next category of managers are those people who are successful and effective when their activities give them the opportunity to grow personally along with the project. The project develops, and the manager develops, because at the same time he solves his internal personal problems.
And there are managers who “want to, but cannot,” because their level of competence does not allow them to feel confident in the project. By the way, for most managers, the fear of appearing “not the smartest” and therefore losing authority and trust is a fairly common fear. Once at company X, where my training took place, I was surprised by the universal reaction of the managers. They were supposed to start the exercise, but everyone remained in place, looking at each other. They were afraid to take a step and make a mistake, so they passed. Later it turned out that the company's culture was built on the principle of ancient Sparta - people had no room for error, because they were immediately thrown off a cliff. Like ballast. So they weren't wrong. And they didn’t participate.
The first step to take is a conversation with the key managers on whom the HR department plans to rely on the project. The purpose of this conversation is to understand why the manager might be interested in participating in the project, as well as to explain to him how he can realize his personal goals by participating in the project. It has long been proven that the involvement of personal goals and the goals of the organization is one of the most powerful motivators. Remember the golden rule of sales - speak in the language of benefits for the client. Talk about his personal benefits. Even when there are major negotiations between companies, an experienced seller always remembers that it is not a company sitting in front of him, but a living person with his own desires, expectations and character.
In other words, if the personnel service is going to “sell” the idea of a project to the manager and motivate him to participate in it, then it is always worth remembering that before us is a living person with his own expectations, goals, and dreams. Of course he loves company. But he loves himself more. Therefore, building a strategy for involving managers in a project starts with selling the idea of the project itself, based on the personal motives of each manager.
The next tool that effectively increases engagement is the demonstration of intermediate results that were obtained with the participation of the manager, or better yet, his personal results in the project. How often? As often as possible. For what? This tool helps you see the significance of your work, get rid of the feeling of a small cog in a big machine and see your contribution to the work of this machine. It is advisable to reinforce the results with positive feedback. Positive reinforcement is a powerful tool for developing an achievement mindset.
If it is planned to involve several managers in the project, then the assessment of intermediate results should contain a competitive element. The competitive game is exhilarating. A good game is always played according to the rules. These are certain restrictions that are mandatory for all players. The limitations are what make the game so interesting. There are restrictions in any game - say, the football field is limited, the number of players on the team is limited, time is limited, and so on. And these restrictions spur excitement. In addition to restrictions, there should also be freedom in the game - room for creativity and maneuver. Moreover, the more restrictions, the more freedoms. If a game has only rules, then it is not interesting to play. Look at all the successful leaders who achieve high employee engagement at work. They skillfully use the idea of competition, limiting it with boundaries and increasing it with freedoms.
Training of managers is essential for the effectiveness of the project in which they are planned to be involved. After all, competent training, training created specifically for a new project, will allow you to avoid fears associated with your own incompetence in a new issue. It will allow managers to feel ownership, see themselves in the project, see their growth points and opportunities. And, of course, one of the functions of training is to motivate employees. Companies know this and actively use training as a form of motivation and increasing employee engagement. For example, last week I conducted training for a large Russian company that was starting a new all-Russian project. And the staff met this project with skepticism. I was given a priority task - to motivate the staff to successfully start the project, having previously been intimidated by the fact that the employees openly resist participation in it. This is what I focused on. And I honestly think that the success of the project is largely due to the fact that the company chose the right training format and delivered this training on time.
To summarize, the implementation of the task of increasing engagement begins with an analysis of the situation - after all, before building a policy, it is necessary to collect information and analyze the reasons. The next step is to “sell” the idea to managers based on their personal motivations and interests. Effective in this case will be training, monitoring of intermediate results, creating competition, rules and freedoms.
August 23, 2018 10:52 amV.V. Repin, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Management Consultant, [email protected]
Introduction
To the question: “Do your company’s managers work with business processes?” the majority will answer “Of course yes, they work.” But everyone understands this differently. Do work with business processes involve organizing the activities of subordinates, operational control and setting tasks? I think no". Manual control of ongoing activities cannot be called process work or process management. Why? The fact is that the process, as an object of management, as a technology, as a work system does not change, does not develop purposefully taking into account all the requirements, restrictions and risks. To work with the process, you need appropriate methods and tools. So why don't our leaders use them enough? Perhaps they hope that as part of the 4th Industrial Revolution, artificial intelligence will soon do all the design and process management work for them, and robots will do the work? No, it's unlikely. For many, these radical changes are a long way off. They use last century management techniques with productivity to match. How can we make managers want to work with business processes using modern management methods and tools? Let's discuss these issues.
What is process management today?
To begin, I would like to briefly talk about what knowledge about process management is available to managers today. This:
BPM CBOK is a body of knowledge in the field of business process management - a document on the basis of which you can determine the level of maturity of an organization in the field of process management and formulate a company development plan.
There are more than 30 methods for assessing the level of process maturity.
BPMN is an ISO standard since 2013.
Industry process frameworks (APQC, eTOM, ITIL, SCOR, etc.).
Effective business process automation tools (BPMS, ERP, including elements of robotization and artificial intelligence).
Prof. The “Business Process Management Specialist” standard is being prepared for approval.
I would also note that today the following practical methods and tools of process management are available to every manager:
Certification of processes;
Operational process management using a system of indicators (KPI), incl. using BPM systems;
Process control in BPMS and/or EDMS;
Creation of graphic process diagrams (including using special software, for example, ARIS, iGrafx, MS Visio, etc.);
Process analysis (including graphical diagrams).
Reorganization of processes (using Lean technologies, automation, change management, as well as the entire arsenal of technologies of the 4th industrial revolution);
Regulation and standardization of processes;
Monitoring the implementation of standards (including using modern information technologies).
Examples of successful enterprises show that the effect of working with business processes can be tens, and in the case of the introduction of innovative products, technologies and business models, hundreds of percent! The effect is expressed in reduced execution time, increased productivity, increased profitability, and increased customer satisfaction.
Example. Group of companies "EVRAZ". Project for automation of General Service Center processes for managing HR services. As part of the project, the work of more than 250 HR SSC employees was automated. The system records 100% of transactions occurring in the SSC. More than 80 HR business processes have been automated. The processing time for employee requests to the HR service has been reduced by 2 or more times. The number of errors has been significantly reduced. Compliance with regulatory deadlines is ensured (at the beginning of the project - for 70% of requests, after completion - 90%). Transparency of processes is ensured. Reducing the number of HR by 20%.
Example. Large agricultural holding. A project for transforming agricultural production management processes using a comprehensive IT solution was completed. Carrying out a comprehensive transformation and automation of processes made it possible to increase profitability per hectare by 30%.
Example. Construction company. Optimization and automation of the inventory order process and the implementation of the KPI system made it possible to increase operating profitability from 2 to 15%.
For employees of the organizational development department, it is obvious that the process approach as a tool is needed for the company and its employees. However, when trying to convey knowledge about this tool to managers and specialists of the organization, you can fall into the trap of the following misconceptions:
Company employees need it simply because it is effective, interesting, cool, smart, beautiful, fashionable, this is how they do it in the USA, etc.;
You can train employees, and after that they will apply new methods;
You can issue an order “Introduce a process approach from ... date”;
You can hire more business analysts, and work with processes will be streamlined;
Experience shows that company employees do not accept these arguments. The cause of the problem is their internal motivation status (in this case, I use S. Fowler’s technique, formulated in her book “Why Don’t They Work?”).
Methods of “involving” employees in working with processes
When employees are in an imposed state of motivation, they perceive attempts to convey to them the importance and usefulness of process management as something artificial, far-fetched, and unnecessary for everyday practical work. But at the same time they are forced to take up these methods and apply them. I will give examples of situations when this happens:
An employee works in a business process management system - performs only predetermined actions;
The company's management initiated a project of transformation, process optimization, etc.;
“Involvement” events (training, etc.) are held, which you must attend;
The results of the “process description” project (etc.) are assessed by KPI and have a noticeable impact on the bonus.
A typical example of creating an imposed motivation status would be the launch of a project “introducing process management (process descriptions, process regulation, process automation)” by order. Employees do not understand why this is necessary. In addition, they are afraid of change.
Example. Large bank. After the change of management of the bank, the task of optimizing processes was set. Within 1.5 months, a team of several people described all the processes of the directorate (more than 100 processes).
Example. A large corporation initiated a process optimization project by order. By the appointed deadline, division heads presented the results of the “as is” description and proposals for process improvements.
There is another motivation status - automatic. For example, a city-forming enterprise in which an employee has worked for more than 30 years is in a pre-bankruptcy state. It is urgent to save the situation. Management appeals to employees for help, etc. In general, a situation where “... there is nowhere to retreat.” If you are loyal to the company and want to survive with it, then willy-nilly you will take care of the processes.
Can projects undertaken by employees with automatic, extrinsic, or imposed motivation status be successful? Quite if the success of the project is considered to be the achievement of formally established plans (“for show”) without assessing the real change in the company’s performance indicators and the degree of implementation of new innovative technologies. However, as soon as the external factor ceases to operate (for example, the top manager who initiated and supported the project leaves), employees very quickly lose interest and stop working with the processes.
Let's consider softer methods that also create external and imposed motivation statuses. These include various activities to involve staff, incl. process management training:
Training and certification (including in the personnel reserve training program);
Simulation sessions;
Corporate WiKi;
"hotline";
Awards;
Publications;
Visual propaganda, incl. "Combat sheets";
Internal seminars and conferences;
Corporate library.
Separately, we can note the tools of visual propaganda, namely:
Posters;
Prints on the walls;
Reminders at workplaces;
Example. Trade company. After training in Business Studio, certification and successful implementation, honorary diplomas were awarded.
Example. Large agricultural holding. A large number of bright posters created an atmosphere of importance of process management.
Propaganda means can create an atmosphere like “We are used to working with processes - look how great it is!” But in most cases, they will generate an external motivation status for employees.
The above methods work, but are not effective enough in terms of creating the desired motivation status. If an employee is interested and really needs to work with processes, then training opportunities, a Wiki, a library and other means of “engagement and support” are useful. But by themselves they are unlikely to force an employee to work with processes.
Another relatively “soft” method of involvement is to conduct modeling sessions and defend projects (process diagrams, draft regulations, process optimization measures).
Example. Simulation sessions at a large agricultural holding helped develop integrated planning processes.
Under what conditions will an employee be interested in working with processes? To do this, it is necessary to create a coordinated and/or integrated status of internal motivation for him. Consider the following situations:
Working with a charismatic leader;
The opportunity to acquire new knowledge and skills that are critical for subsequent career (professional) growth;
The opportunity to increase personal effectiveness (increase income, rationally organize time, the ability to solve interesting creative problems), if this is the goal and internal desire of a person;
The goals and values of the employee and the organization coincide.
Example. Chipboard production plant. Within a month, the working groups described and implemented processes in the field of maintenance and repair.
Example. Holding for the production and sale of poultry. The charismatic leader of the company supported the project = successful description, analysis and implementation of changes in processes using the SCRUM methodology.
The last situation (the coincidence of the goals and values of the company and the employee) in its pure form is, in my opinion, quite rare. Even if formally all employees are ready to sign up for this, in reality few people think so within themselves.
Our short discussion of the statuses of motivation and the tools for their creation may have led the reader to think about the inconsistent, weak impact of these methods on a person. We will consider below which remedies may be more potent and permanent.
Constant practice of working with processes as a key tool for engagement
The experience of projects suggests that neither hard nor soft one-time methods of influence ensure the creation of a system for working with processes in the long term. As soon as these factors cease to operate (for example, due to the departure of the project leader from the company), the organization rejects elements that are new to it - the process approach degrades to a functional one.
The following hypothesis can be formulated:
Neither hard (administrative) methods nor soft methods (culture, team) will change the attitude of employees towards methods of working with processes if there is no:
A clear role structure has been created for working with processes (including the responsibilities and powers of process owners, process managers, Process Committee, working groups, etc.);
Actions for working with processes have been created and reinforced by constant practice (as is the case with the formation of work plans, vacation schedules, payroll, etc.);
An incentive system has been created to engage in organizational development.
Companies in which working with processes has become a daily norm, a habit, have achieved good results. Some have achieved very impressive results. Thus, we can conclude that only constant, periodically repeated actions with processes can ensure the introduction of a process management culture in a company.
What ongoing process practices need to be created? Here's a possible list:
Constant analysis of necessary changes, updating regulations and communicating them to staff through the internal web portal;
Regular monitoring of the process using a system of indicators, identifying the causes of deviations, developing and implementing corrective actions;
Weekly 1-hour meeting on the topic “How to improve process efficiency?” followed by the launch of 1-2 short sprints (improvement activities) using the SCRUM method;
Regular analysis of employee proposals to improve the process, selection and implementation of the best proposals, informing employees;
Monthly analysis of additional automation capabilities (digitalization, robotization) of the process with the implementation of one sprint using the SCRUM method;
Quarterly analysis of the satisfaction of internal and external consumers of the process, adjustment of the indicator system and personnel incentive system;
Quarterly in-depth analysis of innovations, holding meetings, development, defense and implementation of projects for introducing innovations in the process;
Regular training of employees performing the process.
Example. Commercial Bank. Process architecture developed. Up to 30% of the staff have been trained in process description and analysis techniques. Over the course of a year of work, 1,300 processes were described and standardized. An internal portal has been created to inform employees (regulations, NSD, indicators). Some results of the project: an application for an individual loan is processed in 1 hour (previously - in 2 days), a loan is issued to an individual in 1 visit (previously - in 3), the level of ATM availability has increased to 99.97% (previously - 90%), acceleration the processing time of the salary register from 4 hours to 0.5 hours, the number of structural units was reduced by 13%, the payroll was reduced and the number of personnel was reduced by 20%.
In conclusion, I will formulate some recommendations for the company’s Organizational Development Department, which is tasked with implementing the process approach. These recommendations are based on the theory and practice of implementing process management and change management:
Find your locomotive (project supervisor, top-level leader, owners);
Identify the key problem and overcome obstacles in the minds (managers' awareness of the problem);
Create a change team (find allies from among top managers and simply respected people, define roles, set rules);
Create a vision of the company’s target state (including management systems);
Concentrate resources (on key business processes);
Create the necessary motivation status among key figures of influence (top managers and owners);
Remove political obstacles in a timely manner;
Constantly conduct propaganda;
CREATE CONTINUOUS PRACTICES FOR WORKING WITH BUSINESS PROCESSES.
“Our employees approach project activities on a “residual” basis. How can we get our employees to complete the tasks assigned by the project manager on time?”, - I often hear this question at project management seminars. And it is asked, as a rule, by the heads of companies with a functional organizational structure, where the culture of project management is still low.
- How do you motivate them to work on projects?
- We pay them a salary for performing their duties, what other motivation is needed?
Put yourself in the place of a simple performer of work on a project. He has dozens of tasks for a week (okay, if for a week, someone has dozens of tasks for a day), and his bonuses (if he has them) depend on the performance of the department. And then a task comes from some project manager. Will he change priorities so as to implement it within the planned time frame? Who even set a target date for it?
Common situation?
So, what needs to be changed in the management system so that project tasks are completed by employees on time?
Let's go through each point in more detail.
1. The bonus system for project activities should motivate employees to participate in projects. But at the same time, it must take into account the department’s performance in non-project activities, that is, there should be no imbalance in the motivation system. The task of building such a bonus system is non-trivial, but very creative and interesting.
The easiest indicator to measure, but fair for paying bonuses for project activities, is the trust coefficient (I came up with the name myself).
The coefficient is calculated very simply:
- The project manager agrees on the deadlines for the tasks with the contractor
- The indicator is recorded based on available data in an accessible place, and you can always check the correctness of the calculations
- Premiums are paid on time and in accordance with the calculated coefficient value
Bonuses for a project can be paid in a certain established amount from the salary and at the same time multiplied by the trust coefficient. If the coefficient is 100%, then the performer receives 100% of the maximum possible bonus; if it is less, the bonus is reduced. In this case, it makes sense to introduce restrictions on the value of the coefficient at which the premium is not paid at all.
2. The timing of the project tasks should be planned together with the future contractor: only he can adequately estimate labor costs. And after the project manager, based on labor costs and limitations on the task and resources, calculates the deadlines for the implementation of the task, a competent step on the part of the project manager is to agree on these deadlines with the contractor. The rationale for this step is simple - by agreeing on a deadline, the contractor assumes obligations. Well, commitments, supported by indicators in the motivation system, increase the likelihood of completing a task on time.
3. The most difficult thing in implementing the three points I described is creating a system of unified prioritization of tasks for the performer. When building a system for managing priorities for tasks, you need to take into account that the employee will have both project and non-project tasks, and his time resource is limited. In addition, it is necessary to build a system for managing priorities for tasks so that the performer clearly understands every morning: how many tasks he must complete by the end of the day, what are the requirements for each task and how many man-hours are allocated for its implementation.
It would be strange to expect performers to complete project tasks on time in a situation where the three requirements described above are not implemented in the company’s management system. In my opinion, these are necessary conditions for motivating employees to work in projects, the implementation of which will increase executive discipline in projects and ultimately provide a good economic effect.
Good luck with your projects!
