What characterizes good process management?

Processes are just as present in the private sphere as they are in the business environment, albeit perhaps less formalized. Take, for example, the“vacation process” in a family:

Planning a vacation often begins months in advance, with each family member having their own ideas and wishes. It starts with choosing a destination, followed by booking transportation and accommodation, planning activities and finally the actual trip itself. This requires coordination, communication and often a little willingness to compromise to ensure that the vacation is enjoyable for everyone involved.

Similarly, a company ‘s strategy is implemented via defined processes. projects can be used to improve processes. In the end, however, it is always the processes that achieve the company’s goals. The aim of process management is to optimize processes so that they contribute effectively and efficiently to achieving the company’s goals.

5 key principles of process management

To make the most of the benefits of process management, these five key principles are helpful:

1. Stakeholder orientation: Process management should be geared towards meeting the needs and expectations of all relevant stakeholders in a balanced manner. Customer orientation is of course a central aspect in all processes. 

2. Holistic thinking: Processes must always be considered as a whole or in their entirety. In order to To ensure smooth implementation, you should think everything through from start to finish (end-to-end). This means that you should involve all departments, divisions and partners that are affected by the process. It is often not the processes themselves, but the interfaces between the processes and those involved that lead to high costs. 

3. Continuous improvement: Process management is a continuous improvement process. You should therefore regularly review and optimize your processes in order to achieve a high level of efficiency and productivity. This also includes standardization, which is a prerequisite for cost-effective automation.

4. Measurability and transparency: Processes should be measurable so that their performance can be evaluated and improved. You should therefore define suitable key figures and metrics to monitor the effectiveness of your processes. Ask yourself the question“How can we tell that we have really improved“?

5. Collaboration and accountability: Process management requires close collaboration and communication between the various departments and employees involved in the processes. Transparent communication and a regular exchange of information are important. 

To apply these principles, you should start with processes where you can achieve the greatest benefit with process management. You should appoint a responsible person and a deputy for each process. You can concentrate on those points that have not worked well so far.