The secret of a sound management organisation

Do you recognise this? The plans are on paper, the goals have been set and the agreements have been worked out to perfection. The project can begin! Everyone involved moves in a different direction and decision-making stagnates. The opposite also happens. Everything is running smoothly, there is energy and your colleagues manage to inspire each other to experiment, resulting in great results. In both cases, it is difficult to pinpoint what exactly is causing the stagnation or flow.

Curiosity is then the key to exploring this. When does a new plan appear in someone’s eyes? How can someone properly apply the new agreements made to their own work? And how do we prevent colleagues from falling back into old habits? A good structure between people, organisation and associated tools, is therefore hugely important.

Managing processes is people work

A process always originates from a question. After all, input is needed to get a process started. In addition, there is always a goal (the output) so that there is something to work towards. Between input and output are all kinds of steps that need to be taken to make the process run smoothly.

For many organisations, using time and resources as efficiently as possible is a goal in itself. Despite the fact that there seems to be a limit to the efficiency of how a process is set up, there is often a lot to be gained. For instance, your software may be completely clean and set up to perfection, but the tasks still need to be performed by people. A well-run process is not just about tight schedules and budgets that employees have to stick to. It is precisely your colleagues’ curiosity and eagerness to learn that should get a process going. After all, these are the emotions that drive them to take the right steps and make decisions. The strength of a good management organisation is that ‘the system’ continues to be managed in the longer term as agreed during implementation. It also requires continuous monitoring, analysis and improvement by enthusiastic colleagues who know exactly what the system’s capabilities are. Smart software can help automate and streamline these processes.

Organise your management

But what does a solid management organisation actually look like in practice? Within a management organisation, you have several roles:

• The user; this is the end user of the software. They use it, for example, when consulting the most up-to-date information, making reports in case of (near) incidents or when walking a safety round for an evaluation.
• The key user; key users bridge the gap between the end users and the administrators. They are often team leaders, department managers or senior staff.
• Functional manager; the functional manager ensures that systems function optimally and are further developed based on organisational and user needs. He also helps colleagues use the software correctly by answering questions and providing documentation. You may also train them in its use.
• Application manager; the technical manager is generally an ICT employee. Together with the functional manager, they are responsible for the availability and proper functioning of the system.

You don’t optimise process management in a day. This costs time and money because process optimisation is also a process. It is smart to involve functional administrators when putting the implementation and optimisation on paper. Functional administrators are the point of contact for questions and/or comments during optimisation. There is no success formula for process optimisation, but we will try to make it a little easier for you with some tips;

1. As a functional manager, act as a reference point for your colleagues. Clearly communicate your role in this to the organisation. To do this intelligently, you can use a workflow. You can then automate this easily.
2. Write a management plan in which you describe who performs which role and how the process should run.
3. Periodically schedule a meeting with (key) users and co-managers to go through the requests from the organisation.

Our consultants can help with the technical set-up of your software environment. They are also available to provide guidance and advice on assigning the right roles and rights, and can assist staff to ensure everyone has the right knowledge about the software. Moreover, we offer standard training courses on the software in cooperation with IV experts. They also help with staff turnover by asking the right questions so that it becomes clear what should or should not be transferred.

The role of software

Despite our belief that people are central to process optimisation, software is an important factor in process optimisation. Especially to track the status of process steps. The power is to make software match the desire of employees. Combining people’s curiosity and eagerness to learn with a clear overview in steps. It avoids wasting time because you can respond to deviations and/or bottlenecks in time. This way, you get the best out of your employees and organisation.

Setting up a sound management organisation motivates employees to dare to do business out of curiosity instead of “having to”. That curiosity makes people dare to get off their own island and work more efficiently with colleagues. Combined with specialised software, we take your company’s management organisation to the next level.

Striving for operational excellence

We believe that a solid management organisation ensures striving for operational excellence. This means getting the best possible result from a process in the most efficient way. To achieve this, three success factors are important;

• Intrinsic motivation
• Ambition
• Practice and repetition

Why Zenya as an optimisation partner?

Are you curious about how Zenya software can help your organisation on its way to a sound management organisation? Take a look at the cases of az Vesalius and Kela.