Someone asked me “so you sort out the constipation in organisations?” After I had got my smirk under control, I realised that this was actually a really good metaphor for what we do.
Work never flows smoothly through an organisation for lots of reasons. As examples: there are peaks and troughs in demand, some teams have more capacity or capability than others; there are pinch points, handovers don’t go to plan, key people take time off, priorities change, commercial realities change.
And all of those before we start considering the people issues that can negatively impact throughput: arguments, lack of understanding of priorities, misconceptions and miscommunication, historic baggage from previous processes etc as well as old favourites like inter-team rivalries, personal animosities and “we don’t do it that way round here”.
All of these factors mean that the work doesn’t flow as smoothly or as quickly as it could through the organisation. The problem with that is effectiveness and profitability are directly related to throughput. These disruptions to the flow are directly costing your organisation. There are indirect costs too: the amount of leadership time it takes to keep things moving along as needed.
What can you do about it? Firstly, go through the process end to end because it is likely that things aren’t happening the way you thought they were. Where are the pinch points, the holes that work falls in to and doesn’t emerge from? Do you have any tools to help you monitor these specific areas? Have you recorded how things really happen? You never need that information until it really is too late! Have you talked to the teams or people involved to see what they think? Asked them how they think things could be improved? Everyone working in the process will be able to give you good feedback about where the hold ups are.
All of this takes time and focus but the effort is worthwhile: what would you do with an extra 5+% throughput? What difference would it make to your profitability? Even if you can’t find the time to do it yourself, engage someone who will deliver you the benefit – it will be an investment that repays many times over.
And, no, I am not going to use any of the obvious images for this post…!