If you take a few minutes to google “Why process management matters” you’ll be presented with search results like these:
- The Harvard Business Review reports better processes led to better executive decision-making, and that led to better business outcomes for the organizations they spoke to. A focus on improving processes will have a consequential impact on business outcomes.
- Gartner suggests business process management is “a discipline that improves enterprise performance by driving operational excellence and business agility.” This offers businesses the opportunity to respond to customer needs and market shifts efficiently and effectively.
Why do processes matter to frontline workers?
Often referred to as frontline workers, these are those essential employees that have hands-on experience of the business and its products, and are often closest to the customer. Day in and day out they are at the coal face, meeting your customers’ needs, representing the face of your company’s brand…. And are pivotal to your company’s success, or failure.
State of the Deskless Workforce 2022 report states that 90% of businesses rely on this group of deskless workers to keep their businesses running. This group includes manufacturing staff, salespeople, customer service and call center staff, healthcare workers, security, service technicians, processing plant staff, and many, many more.
Unfortunately, one of the key voices often missing from the process management conversation is that of the essential frontline worker. While process excellence is championed by management, process excellence does not always reach those working at the very forefront of an organization – and those that can benefit the most from this support.
So it isn’t surprising that in the State of the American Workplace report, Gallup suggests, that manufacturing-type workers are some of the least engaged in the workforce. This matters because lack of engagement impacts your bottom line.
What is the impact of this lack of engagement?
Workers want to be recognized as the subject matter experts for their roles. Process excellence author David Hutchins states “Humans seek recognition, want to be involved, and are motivated by a desire to be recognized as a contributor to the success of the community to which they belong.”
The previously mentioned State of the American workplace report also reveals that frontline workers are 8% lower than the U.S. average in terms of engagement. This indicates a significant disconnect in people on the frontline and results in employees losing their sense of belonging.
And disengaged workers quickly detach from the culture and strategic vision of the business. Then motivation wanes and the organization loses a wealth of potential process performance – not to mention risking the great migration.
How to engage your frontline workers with best practice process management
Frontline workers are reliant on easy access to clear and effective processes. Unfortunately, most procedure manuals rarely make it out of the administrative offices, and those that do are usually gathering dust somewhere.
Online process management tools are the obvious solution to empower, engage and enable frontline workers. But even with these sophisticated tools, many still struggle to get their modern-day knowledge repositories into the hands of frontline staff who aren’t spending their days in front of a monitor.
Nintex identified an opportunity to better serve this essential group of frontline workers, and recently launched the Nintex Promapp mobile app.
Nintex Promapp and the new mobile app helps:
Frontline workers:
- Get an ‘in-your-pocket’ process companion, removing barriers to adoption and ownership, and increasing process efficiencies
- Access your processes, even offline when you don’t have internet access.
- Encourage easy in-the-moment process feedback online, or offline by syncing back later.
Leadership teams:
- Ease of use and access (via tablets or mobile phones) removes any barriers to the adoption of the technology, and process excellence ambitions.
- Achieve end-to-end process improvement, even in the most regulated and compliance-driven industries.
- Reduce your governance overheads – the mobile app does not require all frontline workers to have Promapp user accounts, and sharing links are also supported in the mobile app.
- Promapp mobile app is free to all current Promapp customers and is offered at no additional cost to new customers too.
C-suite:
- Increased process adoption and excellence will deliver high quality outcomes, increased speed and volume, with fewer defects and safety issues, boosting your overall profitability. See an example of what Coke Florida has achieved.
Want to learn more about process management on the go? Download the eBook ‘Why process management is vital for frontline employees’ here.
