Process optimization for advanced users? This is the right way!

What is actually the ultimate goal of process management? While there would certainly be many possible answers to this question, one of these options always stands out from the crowd:  

The goal of any process management is to optimize the totality of one's work processes based on an analysis of the potential of current processes towards an idealized target vision of a fully efficient version of these processes.

Or, for those who found this explanation(which may have beenintentionally complicated by the author) too long: the ultimate goal of process management is classically process optimization.

‍

The rational behind this is quickly explained: What is one of the most essential virtues in today's economic landscape? That's right, efficiency - be it in terms of cost, time, consumption of resources or other determinants. How do I achieve an efficient (or at least more efficient) state? By identifying gaps (and thus potentials) in my processes and trying to close them. Incidentally, this also explains the growing interest in process management systems in general: nowhere is there a better alternative for revealing precisely one's own optimization potential and then systematically implementing it. Process optimization is thus based on the possibility, provided by process management itself, of being able to understand and analyze one's own company processes. Who would have thought that the presentation of one's own company processes in a clear system that can be viewed by everyone (and of course everyone) could have so many benefits?

Well, you may be asking yourself "When is he going to get to the point? How do I implement this as a professional???" Patience, young padawan, I'm already at it....

‍

Process optimization for winners

Sounds lurid, but it's not that bad. Because there are also differences in approach and implementation when it comes to "process management" and "process optimization". In process management, for example, it is not uncommon for the processes currently stored in the system to be more an idea of the manager responsible than a representation of the reality of the process. Why this can lead to problems is, I think, clear: what good does it do you in practice to optimize a purely theoretical construct of the process? No, in order to really succeed in optimizing your processes (and consequently with your entire process management!), you have to constantly improve the REAL process. At first glance, this may sound almost antithetical to the catchy definition of "development towards an idealized target conception of the process", however, it is also important to consider the current conditions and, above all, the path towards optimization (or the process towards the process, if you will!) when developing this ideal conception. The biggest mistake in process optimization is therefore to disregard the real conditions of the existing processes and thus not to further improve the company, but only the ideal of the company. What do we do about it now?

Process optimization as part of the corporate culture

Let's put it this way: it helps if your process management system is not only DATA-driven, but also FEEDBACK-driven. The combination of real employee feedback, coupled with the power of the data stored in the system, makes your system an absolute optimization machine! So, in summary, here are the most important attributes that you can use to start your process optimization:

• A process management system that records the processes of your company, including all associated information, and presents them clearly for you and your employees.
• The implementation of this system as a feedback-driven tool for optimizing the company in order to always document the actual state for all processes.

Such a system, which requires a certain process-related corporate culture of continuous improvement, ultimately helps you and your company to do exactly what you purchased it for: to improve your processes. Data and feedback driven.  

‍