Process Consulting: Getting Customer's or End User's Buy-In

I have seen process definition or improvement initiatives fail because of the lack of desired level of support from the customers or end users. Some of the reasons for the same includes:

• Fear of job loss
• Poor perception of the process
• ‘Just another’ initiative

Customer in this scenario are not only the sponsors or the people who are going to pay for your service but includes the sponsors or the stakeholders, internal and/or external customers and the end users of the process.

It is very important to get customer buy-in for any process consulting initiative. Process consultant should ensure that the customer understands and sees the benefits of the initiative. Answering the following questions will help a process consultant to be prepared to handle such situations.

• Why would the customer need the process?
• What does the customer expect from the process?
• What is the customer’s view of the process?
• How will the process benefit the customer?
• How is the process performance from customer’s perspective?
• What are the customer’s measurement criteria for the process?
• What can we do to improve the process?
• What performance levels does the customer expect from the process?
• What is critical to the quality of the process from customer’s perspective?

A kick-off workshop focusing on the benefits covering points from the answers to the above question enables the consultant to break the ice and build on the confidence level of the customers. During future process definition workshops, consultants should stress (but not beyond a point) on the benefits of the process and how it can simplify customer’s way of working. This would help in getting full cooperation from the process owners or customers and would help in making the initiative a success.

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