The Power of Clarity by Ann Latham

Author:Ann Latham
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472987143
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

My IRS process

Now it’s time to examine another example of process clarity in action. Let’s start with a messy situation involving an abundance of cognitive objects, no process, and no recognition of a need for process clarity, other than by the man who hired me to establish one.

This case isn’t a special corporate initiative championed by a senior executive like Jane where the need for a process is generally understood. Nor is it a meeting where my injection of process clarity likely saved two hours for each of eight people. Nor is it a simple protocol to ensure people like Nancy can exchange important patient information accurately and thoroughly. No, this case involves dozens of employees led by several senior managers with their attention split over a multitude of issues spanning numerous projects and continuing day in and day out without relief.

When one of my clients took over a business with lots of challenges, he hired me to help them reduce surprises and improve their ability to anticipate and prevent problems. Every time a problem cropped up, it would spawn long email chains that copied many people. Important information was frequently lost. Problems fell between the proverbial cracks. Unclear responsibilities led to resentment, finger pointing, damaged reputations, embarrassment, and defensiveness. The mandatory firefighting was also accompanied by some pretty serious levels of despair because the senior leadership team knew that the immediate problem was just the tip of another iceberg. And they seemed to be surrounded by icebergs. Documentation errors were not rare. Corrective action backlogs wouldn’t be eliminated any time soon. Overlapping legacy systems made it ridiculously difficult to keep data up to date and know what data to trust. A whole new data management system was needed.

Working together, we injected both specificity and shared process clarity into this ongoing messy business. The benefits were tremendous. We defined three different levels of problems, using an easy to remember acronym: IRS.

First, there is the immediate (I) problem. One bad part. One broken machine. One missing customer phone number. One delayed shipment. One unhappy customer. In most cases, these problems demand immediate attention. What do we have to do to rectify this unfortunate occurrence?

Second, there is the recurring (R) problem. Will the next part like this one be bad? Will this machine break again? Are we missing other customer phone numbers? Will the next shipment be late? Will more customers end up unhappy for the same reason? What do we have to do to prevent a recurrence of this problem?

Third, there are the systemic (S) problems. Systemic problems are an extrapolation from a single issue to broader, related issues. Is the problem with this particular part number occurring elsewhere? Will other machines fail for the same reason?

[Note: When frustrated, we have a tendency to seek big game in the hunt for systemic problems. Look what can happen as you go bigger and bigger: ‘we seem to have a problem getting customer phone numbers on orders’ turns into ‘we have a problem

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