Whatever the business in question, describing and knowing business processes is essential to improving these processes - thereby improving business performance. Process Mapping is necessary for anyone who wants to be clear on their business, and in every instance of this exercise, the time expended on this mapping project will show as a result that very few people - if any at all, actually understand the full scope of the operation of their organization as it is currently being run.

When our business first engaged with clients to introduce Quality Management systems (ISO9001) it was common to advise clients to 'say what you do' - 'do what you say'. This theory was sound as long as the people talking about what was to happen, actually knew what should be done - although rarely the case, and the unfortunate result was a management system that hardly ever operated in the way stated by the procedural paperwork. Our method from the beginning was to 'map' the processes before documenting any of them - sounds easy enough you may think. We set about this activity by seeking as many views of each process operation as we could find, and developing the process map through individual interviews with these people. We identified one 'absolute of process mapping', the further you get from the people who actually perform the task, the less people really know about how the business works. We consider this method of mapping to be a key activity because it establishes what actually happens. From here it is possible to determine if that is what needs to happen, and can it be improved.

Process mapping since we first started to employ it has developed into what some might think of as a specialist activity, with articles, books software and courses being offered for what is essentially an information gathering exercise. Like so many management related tasks, it is more a social as opposed to a technical activity. Convincing people that you have an interest in their point of view regarding what is done and not attempting to catch them out is the way to success, and here we were obviously successful. This is not to say that the tools on offer today will not work, merely that in the absence of a culture of co-operation between the parties success will be more difficult.

Having created a process map that is a consensus of the points of view of every interested party, the opportunities for making improvements to the process or processes should be apparent, however, the way this is done is important. The views of all involved in the original information gathering should again be gleaned to ensure that the revised process can actually be operated in the manner intended, and not become another documented process imposed by management who have failed to understand the basics of the business.

The best advice to managers, here as elsewhere - be careful what you ask your people to do, they might do it!