How can you map and model cross-functional processes?

What value is the business aiming to add or unlock in order to meet business outcomes? In my experience, it is useful to know any IT /technology enablers are being used/considered and what the standard functionality business processes are available. Consider master data source/data flow. Elicit functional SMEs’ input such as pain points, continuous improvement or transformation project in the pipeline and opportunities.

It is true that the 'Intent' and 'Repeatability' drives the need for a process. It is the 'Outcomes' which decide the effectiveness. If cross-functional teams are focused on the overall outcomes, a higher operational efficiency can be achieved. 'Version control' of the artifacts that constitute those outcomes potentially locks down the quality aspects and drives the differentiation between 'value added' and 'necessary non-value added' steps in the process. Spreading approval authority amongst key decision makers ensures the process is made safer from the perspective of eliminating spurious and unintended decision making.

Identifying the scope, strengths and limitations of each of the functional team, bridging the gaps and tackling the overlaps is of prime importance. This requires skills clubbed with patience and resilience. An overview of the process is must for a leader to kick start and drive the cross-functional process. It is indeed of crucial importance that sufficient time is allocated in planning phase, mapping SIPOC (supplier, input, processes, output and customer) while modelling cross functional processes.

Make sure everyone's bought in to the process and understands why you are wasting your time. The goal should always be process improvement or else you just need an intern to document current state and call it a day.

I like Chad’s comment, but I really like to start with the executive sponsor and capture their “this is what success looks like”. Ensuring the initiative is aligned to the sponsor helps with the rest of the collaboration details and mini-objectives that need to be accomplished.

With cross functional teams (CFT) and processes, the first action should be to define the process owner. Someone from the business should own the process, else, the future is bleak. Thereafter, the respective process owners, should have a dotted line to this CFT process owner. Co-locate and bring together the team and process owners. Mapping should start with the first input task or activity and follow it through till the end defining the input - output relationships and responsibilities. Swim lanes give a lot of clarity and the AS-IS, TO-BE mappings give a sense of gap analysis and derive actions from it. Systems and Tech can be overlayed on swim lane for better clarity

This is when you identify the person who has a strong opinion about how to create the map make the decision and take on being the scribe. In the long run the format or technology used really doesn't matter. Make it efficient and easy to share with your bosses who you will probably be asking to fund this exercise or at least pay for lunch.

The interesting thing about process flows, verses PROCEDURE flows, is that once produced, the process flows are rarely used actively in the work. Staff don’t do process, they do procedure. Process flows become essential requirements for when automation toolsets are brought in. Having a good definition between the process flow (roles, states, transitions) and the data model is essential for the automation stage.

For any logic tress stryctures I feel Miro and Visio are easy to creTe and help build multi dimensional structures and logics.

Make sure you talk to the people that actually do the work and not their manager or supervisor. Senior Manager Sally is too busy going to middle management strategy meetings or circling back on deliverables to really understand the day to day. Find the person making it happen and document the real process and then the trainers can update their documentation.

Facilitated discussions with staff and how they start their work, what they accomplish in their work and to whom they pass off their work is essential to building a bridge between PROCEDURE and PROCESS. I also like to keep a separate list of unattributed quotes and pain points for presentation of the AS-IS model of work.

Ensure you get a view from all country representatives within the functions which may have legitimate regulatory compliance cultural requirements resulting in localisations.

I usually release the flows in 3 baselines. I often find that, while there maybe some comprehension of process notation, staff require a greater amount of elaborations initially. I use the baselines to confirm the elaborations while improving the flow details. As I get to baseline 3 the intent is to have the minimum number of elaborations as possible. I find this also increases the staff’s approval of the flows.

Carrying out the base state mapping help identifying the key lows and high points for the process. Once the target is set its necessary to know what is the present state and then build a framework to address each of the demanding areas. In short this give better visibility in terms of project timelines and deliverables.

Buy the data analyst some pizza and ask him to pull data on the process and tell you everything he knows about the backend technology.

Complete the first part of the process as quickly as possible. If you take too long the process will change again by the time you are done. Or the department will be reorg'd or the VP will decide they want to integrate automation or AI or some other software they saw at the last conference they went to. Figure out what's broken, why the people dislike the process, and focus on changes that will save money and help fund the work that will be needed.

To succeed in cross-functional issue-solving, the key factors involve clear objectives, identification of key stakeholders, a thorough understanding of roles and responsibilities, well-established communication and honest collaboration, a problem-solving attitude, documentation, and leadership support.

A cross-functional process approach requires people and talents with the right mind-set. Identification and development of talents that are sufficiently cross-functional in their thinking and holistic enough to enable a cross-functional approach across the organization is a key task from senior leadership.