Help Teams Manage Change with Rendered Process Maps

Process maps are tools for you in your role as data collector and analyst. Your role is to craft and communicate a story for change and improvement that people understand, accept, support, and will ultimately act on.

As you move from gathering data about the current process to improving it, you need more than a diagram of what happens now. You need rendered process maps that show relevant facts, explain the improvement plan, train participants on the new process, and make the positive future visible enough for people to buy into.

What Are Rendered Process Maps?

A rendered process map is a process map that has been shaped into a visual improvement story. It still depends on current-state facts, process flow, activities, handoffs, and waste, but it presents those facts in a way that helps workers and managers see what needs to change.

At the heart of your improvement plan should be a strategy. Rendered process maps can help you tell your story visually and represent that strategy. You are not just documenting a flow. You are painting an attractive picture of a better operating future and showing the outcome that people will buy into.

This matters because people rarely change just because a process owner says the new process is better. A classic Harvard Business Review analysis of transformation efforts emphasizes that change needs a clear vision people can understand and communicate. A rendered process map gives that vision a concrete operating shape.

How Did Rendered Process Maps Help An Aircraft Overhaul Facility?

We helped an aircraft overhaul facility, or MRO, cut the time required for major service on aircraft overhauls. Less time in the shop means operators get their planes back in service faster which, in turn, means they make money instead of spending it. That helped the aircraft overhaul facility garner a competitive advantage.

We mapped process flows and activities throughout the company. For example, we looked at how materials were specified, requisitioned, and tracked. Those facts mattered, but the facts alone were not enough. The team had to see how each activity connected to the larger turnaround strategy.

Why Does A Positive Future Give People A Reason To Change?

For example, we selected and illustrated how highly skilled mechanics were spending time and many footsteps getting parts. Everyone understood that if a wrench does not turn, the plane does not move, and turnaround suffers.

The current-state view showed mechanics’ walk and wait times in a way people could not ignore. Inefficiency and waste were readily apparent. Managers may have known these problems existed for years, but a rendered map made the waste visible to the people who needed to support the change.

In the future state, we instead showed parts being delivered to the mechanics. The picture was much simpler and, therefore, a marked improvement. As a communications device, it led workers to ask what would be required to achieve and sustain the improvement.

How Small Changes Flow

With our process maps, the client saw how small changes would flow through the system and have a big impact. Had you asked department managers at the time, they would have told you they were already aware of most of the improvement opportunities we identified. Certainly, the inefficiencies had been there for years, managers would have said.

Point solutions had been identified in some cases. But the eventual impact of small changes was unclear or unknown, so it was hard for them to justify the time and resources needed to effect change. The rendered process maps connected those point solutions to a positive future that people could discuss, challenge, and support.

Lighting A Fire For Change

So, improvement flagged. Lighting a fire for change meant we had to change minds. We illustrated an improvement story that showed certain small changes having a big impact. Using rendered process maps, we illustrated a strategy that was easy to buy into.

We also illustrated a number of systemic improvements that would help sustain the improvements. That distinction is important. A rendered process map should not only show a one-time fix. It should show how the new process keeps working after the initial push for change is over.

Visual Stories Help With Buy-In

It sounds simple, right? It was simple, and it tied in with the overall strategy of reducing turnaround. It made it a great story. Ultimately, it was the story that had been lacking in the past.

The visual story, told in rendered process maps, helped us get the buy-in that was essential to support the many process changes required to sustain change. Workers could see why the requested changes mattered, not just what management wanted them to do.

How would the runner know what part to deliver to the mechanic? When would the part be delivered? How would chain of custody be maintained? Many questions arose that, before, simply froze out improvement. By telling a story for positive change, the hard work of change became tenable.

Illustrating Specific Improvements

By virtue of illustrating specific improvements using these process maps, people could see exactly how a lofty strategy translated into their daily work lives. The story consisted of sufficient current-state and future-state improvement steps, along with concrete examples, to show that improvement was possible.

That is where rendered process maps are different from ordinary process documentation. A descriptive map may show the work. A rendered process map shows why the work should change, how the future state functions, and what people can do next.

How Do You Tell The Improvement Story?

Had we stopped at producing the descriptive process maps and left it up to the department heads to structure an improvement program, they surely would have made some incremental improvements in their system. However, their efforts would have lacked urgency and sustainability.

Change would not have happened fast enough to outpace the industry. Hungry competitors would not have been overtaken, and no sustainable competitive advantage would have been achieved. But it was achieved because the maps made the improvement story clear enough to act on.

As we learned, it is part of our job as leaders to tell the improvement story. Rendered process maps are a tool for telling stories of positive change. Fact-based, tangible, visual stories can illustrate a positive future and should be in your process mapping toolkit. So, tell the story. Complete the improvement journey. Use a rendered process map to tell your story visually.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Are Rendered Process Maps?

Rendered process maps are visual process maps that go beyond documentation. They combine current-state facts, future-state design, and a clear improvement story so teams can understand the reason for change.

How Do Rendered Process Maps Help Teams Manage Change?

Rendered process maps help teams manage change by showing how specific work changes lead to a better operating result. They make the improvement concrete enough for employees to question, test, and support.

Why Use Current-State And Future-State Process Maps Together?

Current-state maps show where waste, waiting, rework, and unclear handoffs exist. Future-state maps show how work should flow after the improvement, making the gap between the two states easier to discuss.

What Should A Rendered Process Map Include?

A rendered process map should include the work flow, key handoffs, visible pain points, and the future-state outcome the team is trying to reach. It should be simple enough for process participants to explain in their own words.

When Should Leaders Use Rendered Process Maps?

Leaders should use rendered process maps when a change requires buy-in across departments or job roles. They are especially useful when people already know there is a problem but cannot see how small process changes will create a larger improvement.