Maps help businesses get to their destinations
When setting out on an unfamiliar journey most people will rely on maps of some sort. The appeal is in the visual presentation of the data. A sequence of directions might have the same content but for all but the shortest of journeys is impossible to remember. A map sticks in the memory. Similarly think of the wealth of content that can be represented concisely in this ancient pictorial format. No wonder businesses faced with similar communication challenges are harnessing the power of mapping. Broad direction and fine detail made memorable.
Growing a business can be an unfamiliar journey for most management teams, so why do so few map the route to their desired destination.
Maps work:
- They give the full picture of a complex system or situation, showing all the inter-related elements. This allows people to make sense of the whole situation much more easily than from written or verbal descriptions.
- They underpin effective planning by enabling you to pinpoint where you are, where you want to go and what you need to do to get there.
- They make it easy to communicate –everyone can read a map!
Everymind uses mapping to help its clients in three ways:
Reality mapping
Reality maps help managers to tackle the root causes of issues rather than the symptoms. The mapping process involves capturing the issues facing a business, linking them together to determine the cause and effect between them and, as a result, unearthing the root causes. Consequently action plans can be put in place to address root causes.
Reality mapping helps most when:
- Managers disagree on the causes of issues.
- Multiple issues are occurring but the causes are not clear.
- The causes are known but there isn’t a clear plan for tackling them.
Process mapping
Process maps help managers to make informed decisions on how to reduce costs, restructure and improve their operations. They do this by providing a clear picture of how things really get done in your business opposed to how people think they get done.
They help most in:
- Identifying inefficiencies and duplication of effort, which, when tackled, can lead to significant cost savings and increased speed and productivity.
- Identifying root causes of problems, which, when tackled lead to quality improvements.
- Assessing operational and compliance risks stemming from potential process failures and gaps in controls.
- Clarify how things should be done which helps in restructuring, scoping system requirements and training staff.
Situations where process mapping is most powerful include:
- When you want to take an informed approach to cost cutting and organisation restructuring.
- When a new manager or leader comes into a business and wants to know exactly how things get done.
- When processes are clearly not running well but it is unclear why.
Strategy mapping
Strategy maps provide a picture of how your business will get to its goal. It documents the overarching success factors from your various business units and functions and links them together into a coherent whole.
Strategy maps are effective at:
- Clarifying the strategy in a way that can be communicated to all staff.
- Ensuring management focus on the right things to do (success factors).
- Making sure that the business is performing well in respect to its success factors.
In each case the magic is as much in the process of drawing the map as it is in the map itself. It gets managers and team members working together to come up with an agreed route to a common destination.
"By working with Everymind to map our processes we quickly identified and agreed on the improvements we needed to make to our business to improve customer experience.”
Mary-Anne McIntyre, Head of Customer Services, Fidelity International
For further information, contact Malcolm Locke on 0870 242 1987 or malcolm.locke@everymind.co.uk
