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Operational Excellence Program Management

There a number of management processes that make up an Operational Excellence Program (OEP). The Program Leader will be responsible for managing the program and making sure these processes are executed effectively. The processes are listed here with the main work products that they produce. Effective business planning will determine the requirements for all subsequent processes, so it is the most important "to get right" when starting or restarting a program. OEP management differs from traditional program management because you are not simply managing a group of projects. As the Program Leader for an OEP you are managing organizational growth. Building a foundation through governance, business practices, and training is critical, and a robust change management strategy is typically required.

This is a comprehensive but not complete list. There are processes and sub-processes not listed, and every program will be different. If your program is missing one of these processes or deliverables you should not immediately add it but you should question why it's missing and make sure your program is not at risk.

OEP Processes and Key Deliverables

1. Business Alignment and Planning: The development and maintenance of key decisions for managing the program.
   1. Vision Statement: If the OEP is successful, what is the organization going to be like? How will it operate? What key behaviors will people have? The vision statement illustrates this, and is critical for stakeholder alignment, employee empowerment, and change management.
   2. Success Measures: There are a number of ways to measure progress depending on the nature of the organization. Having a measure allows tracking progress over the course of the program.
   3. Roadmap/Journey Map: Based on the vision and expected timing, a roadmap outlines year-to-year expectations.
   4. Goals and Objectives: Typically an annual process, the roadmap/journey map identifies near term goals. Objectives are then the actions required to meet those goals. Goals and objectives should be set for the program and then cascaded down in the organization.
   5. Budgeting/Resource Allocation: If the program is being initiated/defined by a major project, then that project’s budget may be more applicable. Regardless of ownership, a budget must be allocated for making improvements. In addition, people’s time must be allocated sufficiently for training and completing improvement efforts.
2. Governance: Putting tools and structure in place to ensure the program is effective.
   1. Process Model/Division of Work: A Process Model allows separating processes into manageable groups. Ownership can then be assigned to each group. Some form of ownership assignment is required to ensure accountability is cascaded throughout the organization.
   2. Process Council: The process council is a group of senior leaders that ensures OEP goals are being met and that the work is staffed, sequenced appropriately, and integrated.
   3. Program Guidelines: The OEP should establish rules and/or guidelines for completing process improvement work. Guidelines ensure the efficacy of the program and that work meets minimum standards.
3. Capability Development: Making sure OEP participants have the knowledge and skills required to do the work.
   1. Skill Gap Assessment: Identify what is required to meet OEP goals and then determine capability gaps. This allows tailoring content and delivery of training materials.
   2. Securing/Maintaining Quality and Process Improvement Experts: Does the organization have improvement experts on staff? Is it using consultants to provide expertise? Having access to experts is required to make sure concepts are applied correctly as the organization develops capability with these concepts.
   3. Capability Development Plan: How the OEP will combine tools, training, and experiences to close the organization's skill gaps.
   4. Knowledge Management Solution (KMS): Capability is built through experience and information sharing. A KMS provides the capability to capture insights and institutionalize the work, enabling year-over-year growth. A KMS can also help enforce desired business practices.
4. Plan Execution: Managing activities required to meet business objectives.
   1. Training: Schedule and tracking against the plan.
   2. Projects: Project management practices and compliance with the organization’s other governance practices (e.g. approvals).
   3. Events: Coordinated activities to ensure process improvement and capability development. Improvement events help process teams allocate time to improvement efforts.
   4. Continuous Improvement: Encourage and capture daily activities that drive process improvement.
5. Performance Monitoring: Tracking progress against objectives.
   1. Program Tracking: Progress towards goals and objectives.
   2. Process Scorecards: Ensure processes have sufficient visibility on their performance. Data collection, reporting, and monitoring activity need to be in-place for processes that warrant it. Since processes are often cross-functional, performance needs to be tracked objectively in minimize infighting. Data driven metrics allow for this.
6. Change Management: Leading the organization through the changes that an OEP requires.
   1. Stakeholder Management: Builds alignment for the program. Identifying key stakeholders and their predisposition to the work allows for preventing resistance at critical times for the program.
   2. Communication: Consistent messaging, and a plan for communicating, adds clarity for people that are not close to the program and decreases their resistance to change.

OEP Process Owner Processes

While the Program Leader sets up and manages the OEP, Process Owners play a critical role in making sure program is executed and their processes are managed. There are a few key processes that Process Owners need to execute to make sure their processes operate effectively.

Next

Review considerations that strongly influence an OEP design.

The Poet-Net Solution

Poet-Net is designed to support any size Operational Excellence Program. It is methodology agnostic, focusing on proven best practices and allowing organizations to set their level of engagement. We provide tools to support large improvement projects and a knowledge management solution that allows cost effective training and continuous improvement efforts.

One of the challenges with starting any OEP is the upfront costs and resource commitment. Training, full-time staff, and consulting costs can add up quickly. The Poet-Net solution allows a program leader to engage his or her organization at a fraction of the cost of a single FTE, and then grow the OEP as employees gain experience with the content and tools provided.

Learn more about the poet-net solution and how it can help your organization jump start its Organizational Excellence Program.