Process Improvement Certification Training

Mere Mortals Outperform Superheroes?

Practically every organization has at least a few fiercely determined, talented workers. Like superheroes, they will run through walls to get a job done. However, if walls were not there in the first place, ordinary folks could get the same job done. Probably faster … and with less drama.

Over the long haul, superheroes slowed by a bad process will be outperformed by mere mortals assisted by an outstanding one. This is not meant to say top-flight individuals are not important to an organization's success. They are. No doubt about it. But the sad fact is that only the top 5% of performers are going to be in the top 5%. The good news is that everyone, both the best and the rest, can deliver stellar results … with the help of well-designed processes.

In the Process Improvement Certification Workshop, Rummler-Brache™ consultants teach managers how to redesign cross-functional processes so employees can achieve stronger results with less effort. This makes success less dependent on a few heroes, who, by the way, are more likely to stick around when senseless barriers are removed from their work.

Managing Sideways Brochure

A Training Program that Sharpens Management’s Peripheral Vision

 

Most people think of management in the vertical or hierarchal sense. For example, boss to subordinate … supervisor to employee … top executives to middle management to lower level personnel.

Managing in a process-centered organization calls for a new point of view. We’re dealing with work from a different slant. It is no longer simply a top-down, task-specific exercise. Management now involves broad responsibility for facilitating the flow of work from left to right. The old north to south style of management is too one-dimensional. Too localized. It had managers looking at their duties in a narrow-banded way, like a snapshot focused purely on our particular department or function. The rest of the organization was left out of the picture.

Rummler-Brache™ consultants show professionals how to improve their decisions by viewing their companies through a wide lens that cuts west to east across functional boundaries.

Register early and save.

 

Process Improvement Workshop Brochure
 

 
March 4-6, 2024
Central Standard Time
The start and end times for each day of the workshop:
10:00 AM to 1:00 PM and 2:00 to 4:00 PM

Each Attendee Receives Full Access to our Software

Rummler-Brache delivers open workshops for individuals (next on March 4-6, 2024) and corporate workshops for companies. Call for pricing on corporate workshops.

13 Reasons Why Our Methodology and Workshop Are So Powerful
 

  1. Strategic
     

    Organizations can eliminate waste and minimize low-value-adding work. Yet, they can still fail miserably if their processes are misdirected ... disconnected from the company critical objectives.

    An efficient process is of questionable value if it is off target in serving the organization’s higher level goals. Our methodology tightly aligns individual and project goals with strategic ones. We ensure both people and processes are pointed in the right direction.
     

  2. Realistic
     

    Process re-designers often run into implementation problems because they follow the field of dreams approach: “Build an intelligent process and they will come.” When this sort of flawed, wishful thinking prevails, the process architects are banking on the idea that everybody will buy in to the changes just because they make good sense.

    But that rarely happens. People don’t automatically fall in line with a new process, even if it’s brilliantly designed.

    Our training equips attendees to deal with resistance to change which can be every bit as important to address as technical aspects. In fact, how well behavioral issues are managed can be the make-or-break difference in determining success at process improvement.
     

  3. Customer-Driven
     

    We define a process as a series of related steps or tasks that together create value for the customer. The most important word here is customer.

    We believe the prime responsibility—the overarching assignment—of leaders is to make sure that the organization creates value for customers. To achieve that over the long term, management must pursue process improvement. That’s necessary because customers get served through processes. And the best opportunities for performance gains often lie in the interfaces between departments that are working on the same process. These gaps—this white space—is where the baton is being passed from one function to another. It’s right here that things so often get bogged down, screwed up, or lost altogether. Our workshop explains how customer value can be created simply by eliminating fumbled, cross-functional handoffs and the delays and poor quality that accompany them.
     

     

    Dollars
  4. User-friendly
     

    The Rummler-Brache™ approach is straightforward. Not over-engineered. Everything fits together nicely. Each step naturally follows the next. We have perfected the “process” of process redesign by making it easy to learn and do.
     

  5. Unmatched Digital Toolset
     

    Each attendee of our Process Improvement Certification Workshop receives free online access for three years to Rummler-Brache’s eProcess Improvement Project (ePIP) cloud software. There is nothing else like ePIP. It shows what the deliverables for a process improvement project should look like, who should create them, how to create them, and in what sequence.

    ePIP Content:
     

    Define a single process improvement project

    • 8 Steps, 41 tasks
    • 27 tools

    Analyze the current “IS” process

    • 11 Steps, 24 Tasks
    • 42 Tools

    Design a new or improved "SHOULD" process

    • 15 Steps, 50 Tasks
    • 37 Tools

    Implement "SHOULD" process

    • 13 Steps, 50 Tasks
    • 52 Tools

     

    The rich, digital toolset and insightful examples in ePIP help teams quickly learn our intuitive, coherent approach for process analysis, design, and implementation.
     

  6. Holistic
     
    Organization Chart

    We teach our workshop participants how to improve all Three Levels of Performance:

    - The Organizational Level (where strategy is established)
    - The Process Level (where workflows are streamlined)
    - The Job/Performer Level (where individuals do the work)

    Typical improvement campaigns (i.e. customer focus, process redesign, TQM, cost reduction, cycle-time reduction, Six-Sigma) focus on only one level. As a result, these efforts do not optimize overall results. In fact, they can do more harm than good if the “fixes” in one area create unintended, negative side effects elsewhere.

    Breakthroughs occur when leaders address all Three Levels of Performance and manage the whole system, not just tinker with a few of its parts.
     

     

  7. Integrated
     

    The Three Levels of Performance constitute one dimension of the Rummler-Brache framework. The second dimension—Performance Needs—is comprised of three factors that determine effectiveness at each level (and the effectiveness of any system).

    At each level:

    • Clear, linked goals ensure alignment
    • Robust design maximizes efficiency
    • Good management systems facilitate continuous improvement

    Together, the three levels and three dimensions from the Rummler-Brache Performance™ Matrix:

    Performance Needs Levels

    The nine questions in our matrix, when properly addressed, can help a business transition from a collection of functional silos into one efficient “process-managed organization.”
      

  8. Profit-Focused
     

    Many organizations become preoccupied with goals such as customer satisfaction, quality, cycle time, innovation, and employee empowerment. While these goals can lead to higher performance, they should not be taken as ends in themselves—improvements in these areas do not automatically translate into financial gains.

    The Rummler-Brache™ methodology links key metrics together to show the cause and effect between decisions and economic outcomes. The linkage enables leaders to manage the system and the bottom line.

    Metrics Chain

  9. Sustainable
     

    Beware of programs. By definition, programs end. Process improvement, by contrast, should never end.

    Too many organizations fail to move from programs to process improvement. The Rummler Brache™ methodology helps companies build systems of leading and lagging performance metrics that trigger actions for continuous improvements. We know when done right, carefully chosen measures serve as the single, most powerful driver of an organization’s effectiveness.
     

  10. Revealing
    Human Performance System

    Assuming defective people are the source of all performance problems is as illogical as assuming that a bad battery is at the root of all car breakdowns. While the battery may be at fault, a good mechanic realizes that it is just one part of a system.

    Even if the battery is performing inadequately, it may be because of another component; the root cause may lie elsewhere in the engine. Similarly, we believe that individuals are one part of a “performance engine”—the Human Performance System (HPS)—that has many factors that influence performance.

    The Process Improvement Certification Workshop teaches attendees how to analyze the HPS and identify where changes will provide the greatest benefit. For most companies, over 80% of improvement opportunities in the HPS are located in the environment. And less than 20% of opportunities are found in the areas of individual capacities and knowledge/skill. These numbers suggest organizations tend to over-manage their people and under-manage the environment in which they work.
     

  11. Thorough
     

    A business isn’t just a collection of people. It’s also a collection of processes. And in most organizations, many of these processes have never been deliberately managed. They just sort of develop over the years. Nobody ever took responsibility for designing them. And nobody’s making sure they perform like they should. Chances are you’ll find no particular person is in charge of a process. Lots of people have their fingerprints on it, but no single individual is accountable for overall process results.

    Organizations that follow the Rummler-Brache™ methodology assign the responsibility for each key process, including each cross-functional one, to a “process owner.” When people are held accountable for specifically what happens between the boxes on an organization chart, system performance tends to improve, often dramatically.
     

  12. Inclusive
     

    The Rummler-Brache™ Group does not come with all the answers. Instead, we teach clients how to apply our methodology with rigor and discipline so they can find answers themselves. Our training helps organizations become less consultant-dependent and more self-sufficient.
     

  13. Proven
     
    Improving Performance
     

    Our training expands upon the guidelines introduced in the best-seller, Improving Performance: How to Manage the White Space on the Organization Chart. This was the first in-depth piece written on the mechanics of process improvement, the nuts and bolts of how you actually do it. The methodology in the book was so embraced by readers that Rummler and Brache became the godfathers of process improvement. They helped spawn a cottage industry of BPM analysts, software vendors, consultants, authors, and conferences.

    Today, there are dizzying numbers of process improvement methodologies and technologies competing with one another. But in the light of day, none have demonstrated they can generate more sustainable, system-wide improvements than their predecessor, the Rummler-Brache™ methodology. While our consultants frequently tweak techniques, the Rummler-Brache™ core approach has never changed. It is battle-tested. It has the kind of tough durability that comes from surviving trial by fire.

 

Workshop Exercises

Attendees examine case studies and acquire hands-on experience creating maps that answer the why, what, who, and how of process improvement:

Workshop Excercises
 

Workshop Topics

Our training teaches participants the six phases of the world-class Rummler Brache™ methodology with an emphasis on Phase 0: Performance Improvement Planning, Phase 1: Project Definition, and Phase 2: Process Analysis and Design.

RBG Methodology

 

Participant Materials

Managing Sideways Improving Performance Book RBG Cover Epip
 

Certification

Participants who attend the workshop and pass the online exam will receive the credential, Rummler-Brache Process Management Professional (RBPMP) designation.

Previous Participants (Partial List) More Compete List   Comments from Attendees

360 Networks
3M
Abbott Laboratories
Academic Partnerships
ACI Worldwide, Inc.
Advanced Bionics
AES Corporation
Agilent Technologies
Akamai Technologies
Albuquerque Police Department
Alcatel-Lucent (AUS)
Ameren
American Airlines
American Bank Of Commerce
American Electric Power
American Shipping and Logistics Group
Aphria
Apollo Group
Applanix Corporation
Applied Materials
Aqua Source
Archbright
Arco, Ltd.
Autodesk Consulting
Axtel
Baird Kurtz & Dobson
Bank Intesa
Bank of Oklahoma
Bayside Motion Group
Bell Canada
Bell South
BenefitMall
Bernicks Management Company
Biovail Pharmaceuticals
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Boston Scientific
Brigham Young
Bryce Industries, Inc
Campbell Soup
Cardinal Health
Case
Caterpillar, Inc.
CDI Computer Dealers
Celanese
Charles Schwab
Chemetals Inc
Chevron
Chicopee, Inc.
Christian And Missionary Alliance
Christian Copyright Licensing
CIA
City Of West Palm Beach
City Public Service
Clorox
Coca Cola
CODA, Inc.
Colorado Casualty
Compania Global de Pinturas
Compaq
Conoco, Inc.
Conoco Phillips
Consolidated Nuclear Secuirty
Covance, Inc.
Crossville Inc
Crossville Porcelain Stone
Dentsply Sirona
Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services
Department of Homeland Security
DFW International Airport
Diebold, Inc.
Digex Incorporated
Discover Financial Services Inc
Dole Food Company Inc
Dow Chemical Co.
Dow Jones & Co Inc
Duke Energy
DuPont
Duty Free International
Electric Lightwave
Eli Lilly And Company
EMC Corporation
Ensco International
Enterasys Networks, Inc.
Ericsson
Exelon
Exterran
Federal Reserve Bank
Fidelity Investments
Fidelity National Title
First American Title Insurance
Flexible Learning Ireland
Flowserve
Fort James Corporation
Freddie Mac
Fres-co Systems USA
Fuegotech
Genentech
GlaxoSmithKline
Great Lakes Chemical Corp.
Great-West Life
Halliburton
Health Markets
Hewitt & Associates LLC
Hewlett-Packard
Hyundai
IBM
Illinois Power Company
Imation Corporation
IMPERIAL Irrigation District
Imperial Water District
Information Resources Inc.
Innopath Software
Integrated Supply Network
Integrated Trade Systems, Inc.
Intel Corporation
International Flavors & Fragrances
International Rectifier
Inversiones Mundial, S.A.
Investors Group
ISO New England
Jewelers Mutual Insurance Co.
John Deere
Johns Hopkins Univ Applied Phys
Johnson & Johnson
Juniper Networks
Jyske Bank A/S
KATERRA
Kimberly-Clark Corp
King Fawd College
KONGSBERG INTELLIFIELD
Kraft Foods
LDS Social Services
Long Island Rail Road
Longaberger
Lonza Biologics
Louisiana Dept of Economic Development
Louisiana-Pacific
LyondellBasell Industries
Mallot Creek Group
Mass Mutual Financial Group
Medtronic, Inc.
Mentor Graphics
Merisol
MetLife
Metro North Railroad
Michelin
Micron Technology
Microsoft
MISO Energy
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Morgan Stanley
Mosaic Company
National Oilwell Varco
Naval Service Training Command
Network Associates Inc
Neustar, Inc.
New York Power Authority
Nike
Nortel Networks
Northwestel
Nova Southeastern University
Novartis Nutrition
Nuclear Fuel Services
Oceaneering International
Ontario Energy Board
Oregon Department of Human Services
Output Technology Solutions
Owens Corning World Headquarters
Pacific Gas and Electric
Pactiv Corporation
PDA
PEMEX
PepsiCo
Perdue Farms
Philips Health Care
Physicians Pharmaceuticals Limited
Phoenix Park Gas Processors
Pilkington
Plastic Packaging Inc
PMI Comercio Internacional S.A.
PointClickCare
Polycom
Polymer Group, Inc.
Potlatch Corporation
PRG
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Production Operators Inc
PZ Cussons(Uk) Ltd
Reyes Holdings
Rich Products
Robert Half International Inc
Ryder
Safeco
SAIC
Sav-mart Supermarkets
Schlumberger Offshore Services Mexico
Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
Scottsdale Insurance
Shell
Shopko Stores Inc
Siemens
Society of Petroleum Engineers
Solvay
Sound Community Bank
South Texas College
Southern California Edison
Southern Imperial Inc.
Sprint Corp.
Star Refrigeration Ltd.
State Farm
Steelcase
Sterling Bank & Trust
Sun Life Financial
Suncor Energy
SuperValu Inc
TD Williamson Inc
TECO Energy
Teletech UK Ltd.
The Church of Jesus Christ of LDS
The Clinkard Group Ltd.
The Egyptian Company for Mobile Services
The Lettershop Group
The Quaker Oats Co
The Standard
Tower Group Companies
Toyota Motor Sale Inc
Tribal Tech
TSI Terminal Systems, Inc.
TXU Electric
Unifi Inc
UPS
US Bancorp
USAA
USAF Eglin ARB
USDA Forest Service Human Resources
Verizon
VIASAT
Wachovia
Walmart Stores
WarnerMedia
Washington Gas
Wellmark International
Williams Communications Group
Wine.com
Wineshopper.com
Workplace Safety Insurance Board
Xerox
York International Co
Youth Service USA

 

 

Fees

$4,495/Person for 1 Attendee
$4,195/Person for 2 Attendees
$3,895/Person for 3 or more Attendees

Full onliine access to ePIP software for three years plus materials are included in the fee.

Register early and save.
 

 

March 4-6, 2024

Central Standard Time
The start and end times for each day of the workshop:
10:00 AM to 1:00 PM and 2:00 to 4:00 PM 

The workshop is delivered online via Zoom.