If you have a deep understanding of the concept of BPM (Business Process Management), you will recognize that it was not designed to thrive within a culture of improvisation, even though some organizations still insist on it.
BPM, or Business Process Management, is a discipline primarily aimed at optimizing organizational workflows through the mapping, analysis, modeling, automation, and continuous improvement of processes.
In this way, it contributes to operational efficiency, cost reduction, greater visibility and control, and ensures compliance and quality in deliverables. However, all of this is only possible due to standardization.
Some organizations adopt the methodology to meet certification requirements and best practices, yet keep their processes informal, allowing a culture of improvisation to prevail whenever minimum requirements are enforced.
What many fail to realize is that this approach can produce the opposite effect, creating chaos and even impacting operational costs.
Impacts of Improvisation in BPM
Although it may appear to be a more practical alternative when facing unforeseen situations, improvisation in process management affects all areas of an organization and can even lead to structural issues.
In general, the most common impacts include:
- The lack of standardization can result in repeated tasks and recurring errors, leading to increased operational costs and rework;
- By relying on improvisation, organizations are unable to scale their operations, hindering business growth;
- The absence of documented processes leads to inconsistencies in quality, resulting in customer dissatisfaction and reduced trust;
- In the absence of standardization and documented processes, improvisation causes managers to lose valuable time. Instead of focusing on strategy, they must dedicate their efforts to putting out fires on a daily basis.
The best approach is to face the challenge directly rather than trying to avoid or mask it, as the longer it is postponed, the greater the problem will become.
Improvisation must be the exception—not the method.
4 Tips to Leave Improvisation Behind
1. Start with Organizational Culture
Any change that involves people within a business environment must begin with organizational culture.
If things are done in a certain way, it is because the company’s culture supports it—it defines behavioral and operational standards.
Organizational culture consists of a set of values, beliefs, norms, rituals, stories, and taboos that shape a company’s identity and guide employee behavior.
Therefore, to change it, it is necessary to conduct a diagnosis to understand the current state and then develop plans to reach the desired future state. For more information, see the article “How to Build an Organizational Culture.”
2. Standardization Is the Key to Success
Begin effectively implementing the BPM methodology in your organization. Map current processes and document procedures as they are currently performed. This will help identify bottlenecks and rework.
You will not be able to fix everything at once. Our recommendation is to prioritize the most critical areas—those that directly impact the delivery of products or services. As progress is made, expand improvements to supporting areas.
Standardize and document all processes, ensuring that guidelines are clear and objective so that everyone performs tasks as planned.
It is also essential to define roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders, clearly identifying who approves, who executes, and who must be consulted. This will enable processes to flow more smoothly and efficiently.
3. Automation Can Simplify Daily Operations
Once the previous step is completed, it is time to leverage technology through automation.
Automation allows systems to perform repetitive tasks efficiently and consistently, freeing employees to focus on strategic and analytical activities that truly require human involvement.
Other artificial intelligence tools also contribute to time optimization and can improve the analysis of large volumes of data.
4. Continuous Improvement Must Be Part of the Process
Once processes are mapped, documented, and automated, BPM does not end there. It continues throughout the organization’s lifecycle through constant monitoring and continuous improvement.
To support monitoring, define indicators and metrics to evaluate whether processes are performing as expected.
To promote continuous improvement, adopt tools such as the PDCA Cycle, the Five Whys Analysis, Kanban, and the Ishikawa Diagram to streamline the process.
Extra Tip: Rely on Tools That Support You at Every Stage
Using software and tools that support BPM implementation at every stage, promote continuous improvement, and facilitate integration with the company’s strategic planning can make the process easier and help prevent a return to old habits, such as improvisation.
Interact Suite, for example, offers the Interact BPM methodological solution to promote alignment between organizational strategies and operational technologies.
This disciplined approach promoted by Interact enables organizations to plan, document, analyze, model, design, execute, measure, monitor, control, and continuously improve their processes.
In addition, it establishes a direct link with strategic planning, with the goal of driving business performance through intelligence, automation, and robotics. Its features reduce total process execution time and increase productivity.
The solution also incorporates artificial intelligence through its assistant. With a simple interaction in the chat, users receive intelligent suggestions to improve workflows. Among its capabilities are identifying steps that can be eliminated, suggesting opportunities for improvement, and generating a complete model based on a simple title and description.
