Handoff Like a Team

Do you have handoffs in your company?  A handoff is when one group transitions work-in-progress to another.  For example, your awesome sales department has signed a specific contract or scope of work with a client, and now it is time for the project execution personnel to deliver.  Or Engineering has designed a terrific product and now Manufacturing has to produce it.  Perhaps a diligent pre-construction group has procured all materials and prepared a construction site for the build crew to begin work.  Whatever the situation, handoffs occur all the time, and ensuring they happen smoothly for the whole team is critical for business success.

Having established that most companies have handoffs in one form or another, let’s consider the very simple flow diagram below:

Figure 1: Basic Order Fulfillment Process

Represented here is a basic Order Fulfillment Process of many companies.  Design may be swapped out for preparation, and sometimes is combined with execution, but the steps will still be applicable.  In a small company, the same person may be doing one or more steps, but for AJC clients, these basic steps have generally been divided into different departments.  The trick is, how to ensure that the knowledge learned in each step is effectively handed off to the next?  Especially when one group may have incentives to merely “throw [the work] over the fence,” as is often said when complaining about how ineffective handoffs can be.  Wouldn’t it be better if groups handed off like a true team?

Here are three steps for ensuring effective, team-oriented handoffs.  Note that the assumption here is that the basic process has been defined at a high level.  Since this is how to ensure robust handoffs from one group to another, the processes to list are the ones handled by each department.  Inter-departmental steps are better described via Process Maps.

1.   Define the information required for each departmental step of the process to be effective.  One tool that can be used is a SIPOC.  SIPOC stands for Supplier, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customer and can be used for one or more processes and to varying levels of detail.  Remember that a SIPOC may have internal suppliers and customers as well as external!  The example below shows one step, but rows may be added for subsequent steps.

Figure 2: Example SIPOC for a Sales Step

2.   Ensure alignment across all departments on the requirements at each stage, and who is responsible to provide each.  This can mean getting alignment on the SIPOC.  During this step, emphasize teamwork –overall business success depends on all groups acting as one team.

3.   Utilize standard tools and processes to transfer information.  Document applicable tools and processes/procedures and store them in a designated storage area with universal access like a Document Management System.  Ensure that all team members are trained on procedures and tool use; get buy-in from everyone.

a.   Examples of tools that help with handoffs: Checklists, Forms (with only useful information, see previous article “What’s in a Form”), holding handoff or “kick-off” meetings with standard agendas, and schedule templates.

The most important thing to remember is that relevant information needs to flow from one group to the next accurately, thoroughly, and right the first time.  Any gaps with these items likely will result in rework or an extended duration to complete each step and begin on the subsequent one, not to mention people getting disgruntled with each other.

Finally, I would urge everyone who is involved in handoffs to be patient with each other.  As one of my valued clients likes to say, no one comes into work intending to do a terrible job and undermine their co-workers.  Sometimes things may seem that way, but with a little respect and consideration, nipping these concerns in the bud with timely face-to-face discussions can really go a long way.  Be willing to work with each other, agree on what is needed and what will be done. Follow through on the needs of the downstream team, and to hold upstream teams accountable for what they promised to deliver.  Ask questions when you are unsure, and communicate the answers to the wider team because if one person has a question, chances are someone else could also benefit from the answer. After all, most people want what is best for the customer and the company, and everyone truly is on the same team.

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The Tuckman Model: Forming Storming Norming and Performing are Normal

After the "Storming"

As a consultant, I often find myself in the position of working with new teams.  In general, I love this aspect of my chosen profession.  Meeting new people, learning new things, hearing new perspectives, and being in a position of service to help others achieve their fullest potential; all these are positive aspects about working with teams.

There are definitely some drawbacks to constantly forming new teams, however, and that is where today’s topic comes into play.  The Tuckman Model, coined by psychologist Bruce Tuckman in his 1965 article entitled “Developmental Sequence in Small Groups” describes “forming, storming, norming, and performing,” as a typical path that most teams follow as they work together.   As would be expected, the “Storming” part of team interaction is not always sunshine and rainbows. *Reference: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_86.htm  

However, rather than eschew or deny the natural progression of the Tuckman Model, it is quite helpful to embrace it.  Merely knowing that it is NORMAL to “Storm” at some point helps to give perspective and provide assurances that we are just like everyone else.  This awareness can alleviate some of the emotional response which inevitably follows the “Storming” phase, and offers the light at the end of the tunnel that the “Norming” phase is coming soon!

A few more considerations for each stage, based on personal experience.  “Forming” a team is often an exciting time, where people are happy to get to know each other, and everything is fun and new.  Then as reality sets in, often accompanied by ambiguity and feelings of being overwhelmed, the “Storming” ensues.  The speed of this transition seems to depend on the frequency of interactions.  If your team interacts less frequently, it often will take longer to hit “Storming.” 

Last year I began working with a new client on a particular project and things seemed to be going great for several weeks.  We were only meeting once per week, though, and it became obvious around the 6-week mark that some team members were not performing the responsibilities we agreed they would perform given their role as described in our Charter.  Storms ensued!  Another time, I was working with a project team more than full-time on a two week fixed duration project.  We started storming around Day 3 when personality conflicts arose and a few too many “cooks” appeared in the kitchen.

In both cases, however, the teams moved into Norming, again at different times.  In the case where the team was meeting weekly, we actually had to re-evaluate the goals of the project as well as the roles and responsibilities, and unfortunately that project was shelved in favor of another one that benefited from the team’s better understanding of each other’s personalities and strengths before beginning.  In the two-week blitz project, we divided task ownership and moved on within 2 days to leave a full week of truly productive work (norming to performing!) before finishing. 

In Norming, teams are productive and work together to deliver results, but there may still be some hiccups in knowing who is most proficient at what, and who to ask for certain types of help.  However, if your team ever gets into Performing, it feels like a well-oiled machine; I recall one project team that definitely experienced all phases, but the project endured long enough to get to the point where we could count on each other for specific types of help or results, and it felt like we were just knocking balls out of the park every day! 

Sadly, a final drawback of a Consultant’s life is that consulting engagements often end before the team really hits its stride in Performing.  However, AJC hopes to leave teams poised to move into this phase internally, and hopefully there will be opportunities for future engagements with many of the same team members.  This does not eliminate going through the Tuckman Model stages all together, but definitely helps increase the pace from Forming to Norming and sets us up for achievement of the coveted stage of Performing!

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Why Pareto Should Be Part of Your Lexicon

According to the Wikipedia, “A Pareto chart, named after Vilfredo Pareto, is a type of chart that contains both bars and a line graph, where individual values are represented in descending order by bars, and the cumulative total is represented by the line.”  A related Wikipedia article on the 80/20 Rule states that “It is a common rule of thumb in business; e.g., "80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients." 

AJC maintains that “Pareto” should be part of your lexicon.  And, despite that dictionary.com only has “Pareto” in as a noun or modifier, I often use the word “pareto” as a verb, as in “pareto that out”- meaning chart the data by category and plot it in order.  It is a terrific way to see where the “biggest fish” in your business are, as in what are the greatest few items to prioritize.

This way of considering items is helpful in so many ways as it can be used to indicate the greatest profit drivers, greatest volume of sales with which subset of SKUs, greatest defects, greatest WIP in a process, etc.

To illustrate, consider the following examples:

Company wanted to start an online distribution channel, but was unsure which of their 655 SKUs to put on it to start.  Turns out only 12% of their 655 SKUs (about 80 products) were making up 80% of their sales volume.

Blown up to show just the top 80% of SKUs: 80 of the 655 SKUs. Recommendation: Put those 80 products online first!

 

This company wanted to know in which category to focus their initial sales efforts when expanding to a new geography.  Looking at their historical sales, it appears that only 2 of their 6 categories drives 80% of their volume.

 

Here is a final example to show where Work-In-Progress (WIP) is located in a multi-step process.  The company needed to know where WIP was building up in order to assign more resources to the steps most in need.  Although the 80/20 rule is not perfectly followed here, it is obvious that about 4 of the fifteen steps in the process have the majority of the volume of WIP; a good place to begin assignment of additional efforts.

As can be seen, once data is “pareto-ed out,” it becomes visually obvious where the greatest opportunities lie.  It is a great idea to make Pareto part of your company’s every day lexicon, and get to charting!

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The Power of Talking Face to Face

free clip art courtesy of https://clipartfest.com/

Last summer, I read the book “Your Brain at Work” by David Rock and took copious notes.  One note was “It is easier to work with people face-to-face; less uncertainty, clearer map."  (page 122)

In this day and age, we are so fortunate to be able to communicate in a myriad of ways: email, phone, texting, facetime, skype, shared chats, online forums, cloud-based tools, live networked meetings, and tons of others that I probably don’t even know about.  However, there is still something to be said for the face-to-face meeting.

As David Rock explained in his book, our brains want to be “certain” of things.  The more information we have, the more comfortable we become.  Imagine the thought of calling someone about a job possibility whom you have never met before on the phone.  The thought is daunting; what will they say to me?  Will they even listen?  What if they are mean, rude, obnoxious, or just plain disinterested?  Now consider calling someone whom you have met before face-to-face about a job possibility.  It is so much less stressful to think of how you will introduce yourself, probably by recalling whatever the situation was when you met them face-to-face, etc.  This is the certainty of which I speak.

A specific example of how using face time has benefited me personally.  As a consultant, I have always tried to meet with a prospective client in person for the first time.   When I was getting started, however, if the client requested a proposal, I would submit it over email then wait for a response.  For the most part this worked fine, but a few years ago it backfired. I had what I thought of as a great first meeting with a prospective client.  We talked for over two hours.  He gave me a tour of his facility we discussed opportunities for working together.  He asked for a proposal and I promised to deliver it via email on a certain date.

A few days after sending the proposal, this person had not responded.  I tried emailing again, calling, and even asking a mutual colleague to ask personally on my behalf.  He never answered either my email or calls, and was noncommittal to my colleague.  The stress and uncertainty was so frustrating that I brought up the issue with my professional group who made the recommendation that I start delivering proposals in person.  AHA moment for me.

In that particular case, I really had no recourse but to give up (I’m not the type to beat down doors!), but since then I have tried very hard to always deliver proposals in person.  Even when a client offers to have a phone meeting to discuss a proposal or important aspect of a project, I make every effort to meet in person when possible.  It is so much easier and more productive to ensure clear communication, that I have found it to be worth it.  And this is not limited to client/consultant relationships either.  When possible, face-to-face communication about important topics is best.

I’m not going to say that we should abandon all modern technology.  All I’m saying is that when possible, talk face-to-face, especially when the outcome is important.  You might be surprised by how well things turn out.

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A Crash Course in Process Mapping

One of my potential clients asked for a reference on how to do process mapping last week, so this article offers a crash course on the subject.  This will describe how AJC does Process Mapping.  Though the method is relatively standard, everyone will have different flavors or techniques.  Also, it should be noted that either Process or Value Stream Mapping can be done on something which already exists, usually starting with the Current State, then moving to a Future State if one wishes to improve or change things, or on something which does not yet exist and therefore is being designed.  In this case, the only map is the Future State, but the execution steps for mapping are the same.

First – is it a Process Map or a Value Stream Map?  The former can be used for any process.  The latter refers to the specific activities required to provide a particular product or service into the hands of the customer, which technically means it “goes all the way,” if you will, to when the customer receives whatever it is they are buying.  These tend to be higher level, as in the basic example below:

Figure 1: found on http://www.scaledagileframework.com/value-streams/

In a Process Map, however, the focus is on the specific flow of tasks and handoffs required to move from a particular starting point or trigger, to a particular end point.  The first thing to consider are what I call the “bookends” of the process.  As in, what is the start and what is the end of the process?  For example, in providing a Request for Quote, the start is the customer asking the company for a quote, and the end is the company delivering the quote to the customer.  Sounds pretty basic, yes?  The real trick is in articulating the particulars. 

How does the customer request a quote?  Email, phone, F2F, letter, online request, (does this still happen) fax?  Who at the company is the first one to receive the request?  Sales, Account Managers, Engineering, Administration, Help Desk?  What information is needed for a complete request?  Budget, quantity, timeline, design details, user requirements, sketches, drawings, CAD files, technical specifications, size, quality, dimensions, the list can go on and on, depending on the product or service.

Let’s take a quick step back before moving forward.  Process Maps are usually not created in a bubble.  Usually, and this tends to be very illuminating, they are performed with a group of people – all the people who do or will participate in the process in some way, including the suppliers of inputs or customers* of outputs of the process, when possible. 

*It may not be possible for the customer to participate, so people who deal directly with the customers should represent their needs.

Someone has to be designated as the Facilitator, often an outsider like a Consultant, but always someone who can remain objective about the process and will keep the group on focus.  It is a good idea to have a “Parking Lot” listed somewhere, for ideas or actions that come up which are not directly related to the process, and someone designated as “Scribe” (can be the Facilitator) who will note these and distribute them appropriately after the Mapping session.  The Scribe will also note any Waste, Ideas, Opportunities, or Enablers as they come up, for future reference.  Finally, materials – it is helpful to use a big roll of butcher paper (which can be purchased on Amazon.com) and multi-colored sticky notes for writing. 

After the first step of defining the bookends of the process, articulate “what comes next.”  The Facilitator will help the group identify the activity, who performs it, what information is needed to do it right the first time, what the specific output of that activity is, where relevant information is saved, and how it passes to the next step.  If there is a decision to be made, that is also described, and the resulting options are also mapped.  It is very important to drill down on exactly HOW the next group learns that they need to begin their work; a frequent problem that I have seen is that there is no systematic way of informing a downstream step that – guess what?! – it’s your turn!  Whether a system is used (ERP, MRP, cloud-based workflow or task management tool), or the handoff occurs via email, physical flow, or F2F conversation – it is CRITICAL that everyone agrees on how information or materials move from one step to the next.  As each activity is articulated, it is written on a sticky note and put up on the butcher paper.  You can designate what you want the sticky note colors to mean (some have yellow for activities, blue for decisions; others will color them by department).  No lines are drawn until the very end, because there is a pretty good chance things will move around before the session is over.

Figure 2: Current State Process Map using different colors representing different Departments - intentionally fuzzy

Now… here is the “Crash” part of this course.  For those of you who have participated in a Process Mapping session before, you realize that detailing out each activity is time consuming, sometimes confusing (“You do what? Why?  I didn’t know that!”), and all together pretty exhausting!  Lots of groups will do these as full-day events for a full week to go through Current State, Future State, Enablers, and even get started on the execution – commonly called a “Kaizen Event.”  This is terrific, if you have the ability to pull everyone off their day jobs for a week.  However, most of AJC’s clients can’t afford that kind of time away, and quite frankly, our prefrontal cortexes are pretty zapped after 4-5 hours of straight mapping.  I typically hold one or two 4-6 hour sessions (including lunch break) for the Current State, another one or two 4-6 hour sessions for the Future State, and a final review session for all the Enablers and assignment of actions.  Clients often prefer to space these sessions out over a few weeks, so they can still perform their duties in the meantime. 

Logistics for the sessions are up to you, but at the end, you should have a Current State Process Map for how things are done today – even if it is convoluted and complicated; a Future State Process Map which has cleaned up the process to get rid of all waste, confusion, misunderstanding, waiting, with improved flow, full utilization of the bottlenecks, etc. (for a newly designed Process, this is all you will have), and a list of “Enablers” which include all the things that need to happen in order to realize the Future State.  Sometimes these require a lot of investment – like automatically informing one group when a certain something has been done.  If you don’t yet have an automated workflow, this may be something for which a standardized work-around must be developed (i.e. always email the next step when you’re done with XYZ).  This should not be considered make-or-break, however, as we all know that you can go back to the process and revise it again once your company has outgrown the old method and/or has additional resources to invest in system upgrades.  The one piece of advice, of course, is to document the process flow BEFORE you buy some software that claims it will give you everything you need… make sure you know exactly what it is you need first!

So, what are some other things an objective Facilitator can do for you in Process Mapping besides facilitating the sessions and ensuring all relevant details are discussed, documented, and enablers/parking lot items written down and assigned?  Well, hopefully the objective Facilitator will also be your sanity check on why you do things a certain way, and help you whittle out all the unnecessary waste in your process.  If you’re serious about mapping, using a strong Facilitator can be a very useful way to get everyone on the same page and improve a process relatively quickly. 

Questions to the audience: Have you used Process Mapping as a tool?  If so, for what?  Did you have an outside Facilitator, or was this role performed by someone in house?  How did it go, regardless?  What are the best things a Facilitator has done to help your group?

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Data: The Chicken or the Egg?

This is a common topic right now with AJC clients; do we need data first, or can we take action first?  In a metaphorical sense, is data the chicken or the egg?  Specifically, do we need data before we can make decisions, or do we decide first then collect data to see how our decisions are working out?

It has been said that “you can’t argue with the data!”  While this statement is not universally true, most people would agree that data is helpful in many cases, especially in a business sense.  The problem, however, is that we do not always have the required data at hand when we need to make decisions.  What we can consider up front is our well-informed hypothesis; what must we know to consider our decisions successful?  Whether it be to launch a new product or service offering, to demonstrate operational process improvement, institute an organizational incentive plan, make a channel platform decision, or whether to utilize a new service provider, we must identify what future success looks like, and compare the future reality state to this expectation.  Data is often a key contributor to this process, but is it the driver or the result?

To illustrate, let’s take a case study from a client project AJC worked on last year.  The problem statement was that Inside Sales was unable to keep up with exponential growth of incoming clients to be onboarded to the company’s service platform.  Good problem to have, for sure, but a 7x increase in one month was straining existing processes and causing extreme stress for staff.  After dealing with it for several months, the client asked AJC to help them figure out how to improve.  In this case, success was an improved process that could accommodate the higher client volume Inside Sales now had to accommodate. 

The first step was a Needs Assessment of Inside Sales and their supporting team members, and the first Chicken in the metaphoric case study.  This particular Needs Assessment included a Current State Process Map for each of the process steps within the overall value stream of bringing a new client onboard.  There were several low-hanging fruit opportunities highlighted for quick improvement, but one task in particular stuck out as a huge risk factor in the overall onboarding value stream.  This was a gating training session conducted on a one-on-one basis with the client. 

With only a handful of qualified trainers able to complete that task, it was likely that this was where the current onboarding process was breaking down the most.  At that time, we had no data, but the Needs Assessment articulated our hypothesis.  Next, we needed to collect data proving or disproving that this step was or was not a true process bottleneck.  Our Chicken was about to lay an Egg.

Luckily for us, this data was actually available to be mined in the form of historical timestamp information in the company’s workflow software.  Not every company will have this data right away, and if that is the case, this is when we take the time to collect as much data as possible to give us a good baseline of the current situation. *  In our study, we were able to calculate how many clients passed through each process step each week for over 20 weeks.  We were also able to show where all currently active clients were currently backlogged in the overall process. 
*Anecdotally, minimum sample size is often suggested to be 30 data points, though this is subject to many conditions; for the sake of getting anything done in this lifetime, my recommendation is to just go with as many as you can get, and stop at 30 if it is extremely painful to collect more!

Below is a chart depicting this data.  Actual values have been changed, but the trend is representative.

Figure 1: Volume Data by Process Step: Completion, Backlog; Cumulative

It was pretty obvious to everyone reviewing this chart that Step Four (the aforementioned one-to-one training step) was the bottleneck.  Not only did the second fewest client volume pass through this step on a weekly basis, but also the average and actual bottlenecks at this step dwarfed all the other steps.  We easily made our decision:  The Fourth Step had to be re-evaluated.  The next step was to figure out how, and continue measuring the flow and backlog at this step to prove that we were successful.  This was done by effectively doubling capacity at Step 4.  It actually represented a one-on-one client training session, which was easily transitioned to a two-on-one client to trainer ratio, immediately doubling capacity.

In the case study, we did not start with the data.  We had a problem statement that instigated a Needs Assessment which defined a hypothesis for the strongest driver of our probable cause.  We then gathered and analyzed data to prove the hypothesis and help us make an informed decision for action.  To follow our metaphor, the data was the “Egg.”  However, once we had the data, this Egg hatched into a new Chicken, which drove us to define strategies and implementation plans to improve this particular step, which became our new Egg.

Is Data the Chicken or the Egg?  The best answer truly is: both.

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