How to Facilitate a Process Mapping Workshop in the NHS

Imagine a future where your processes flow seamlessly, where every step adds value, and where your team operates like a well-oiled machine. A future where you’ve reclaimed the time and resources once lost to Process Waste, allowing you to reinvest in what truly matters – delivering exceptional patient care.

In this comprehensive guide ‘How to Facilitate a Process Mapping Workshop in the NHS’, you’ll discover the art of facilitating a successful process mapping workshop. This blog The NHS Professional’s Guide to Effective Process Mapping in 7 Steps gives details about the overall process mapping approach and steps involved to have a successful session.

8 Steps – How to Facilitate a Process Mapping Workshop in the NHS

1. Define the Scope
2. Identify the Process Steps
3. Arrange the Steps
4. Add Details
5. Identify Pain Points
6. Validate the Map
7. Distinguish Between Steps
8. Document the Map

As an NHS manager, you wake up every day to fight the same battle. An insidious enemy lurks in the shadows, draining your organization’s precious time, capacity, and resources. Its name? Process Waste. This invisible force manifests in countless ways – poor quality, inefficient workflows and communication breakdowns. It’s a silent killer, slowly but surely draining personal energy, costs and potentially compromising patient care.

But what if there was a way to unmask this enemy and confront it head-on? A powerful tool that could shine a light on the areas where Process Waste is holding your team back?

Enter the process mapping workshop – a transformative experience that will equip you with the knowledge and insights to identify and eliminate waste from your operations. By bringing together your team’s collective expertise, you’ll create a visual representation of your current processes, exposing the bottlenecks, redundancies, and pain points that are draining your finite resources.

As a busy NHS manager, you may find yourself needing to map out a process to identify areas for improvement. Process mapping workshops are an effective way to engage a team and create a visual representation of a current process. In ‘How To Faciliate a Process Mapping Workshop in the NHS’, I’ll guide you through the steps involved in running a successful process mapping workshop, sharing tips and tricks that will have your team engaged, energized, and ready to tackle inefficiencies head-on.

1. Define the Scope: Clarity is Key

Before diving into the nitty-gritty, you must establish a clear scope for your mapping exercise. Gather your team and collectively agree on the start and end points of the process you wish to map. This crucial step ensures everyone is on the same page, preventing scope creep and keeping the workshop focused.

Top Tips:

• Clearly communicate the start and end points of the process to be mapped. For example, when mapping the patient journey for a hip replacement, clearly define the scope as starting from the initial GP referral and ending with the post-operative follow-up appointment.
• Encourage participants to agree on the boundaries upfront. In a recent process mapping workshop for an NHS outpatient clinic, the team spent valuable time aligning on whether the scope should include the patient’s journey from home to the clinic or just the in-clinic experience.
• Consider breaking down a complex process into smaller, manageable chunks. An NHS Trust mapping their discharge process found it helpful to separate the exercise into three parts: in-hospital care, discharge planning, and post-discharge follow-up.

2. Identify the Process Steps: Sticky Notes Galore!

Now, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get those sticky notes ready! Encourage your team to think through the actual steps involved in the process, not just what should happen on paper. As each step is identified, jot it down on a sticky note – a separate one for each process step. This hands-on approach keeps everyone engaged and fosters a collaborative atmosphere.

Top Tips:

• Emphasise capturing the actual steps, not just what should happen. During a process mapping session for an NHS ambulance service, frontline staff revealed that the documented protocol for responding to emergency calls often diverged from reality due to resource constraints.
• Use sticky notes to encourage participation and flexibility. In a recent workshop mapping the patient journey for knee surgery, the use of sticky notes allowed NHS staff from different departments to collaboratively build the process map.
• Probe for details like systems used, handoffs, and exceptions. When mapping the blood sample collection process, an NHS lab team uncovered crucial details like the use of different IT systems by phlebotomists and lab technicians, leading to potential communication gaps.

3. Arrange the Steps: A Visual Masterpiece

With your sticky notes in hand, it’s time to create a visual representation of the process. Arrange the notes chronologically on a large sheet of brown paper (stuck to a wall), leaving ample space between steps for additional process steps to be added. This spatial arrangement allows your team to see the process flow, making it easier to identify bottlenecks, redundancies, and areas for improvement.

Top Tips:

• Arrange the sticky notes chronologically, left to right. This visual representation aided an NHS mental health team in identifying bottlenecks and delays in their patient referral process.
• Consider using different colors or symbols to distinguish between roles, departments, or step types. An NHS acute care team used colored sticky notes to differentiate between nursing, medical, and administrative tasks, highlighting opportunities for task redistribution.
• Encourage participants to rearrange steps as needed. During a process mapping session for an NHS community nursing team, the initial arrangement of steps was revised multiple times as staff shared their real-world experiences.

4. Add Details: It’s All About Details

Once the basic process flow is established, dive deeper into the details. Encourage your team to ask clarifying questions and provide additional information for each step. Who is involved? What systems are used? Are there handoffs between departments or roles? Capturing these nuances will paint a more accurate picture of the current state.

Top Tips:

• Appoint a dedicated scribe to capture all details and ideas. This allows the facilitator to focus on guiding the discussion.
• Ask probing questions to uncover the “who,” “what,” “when,” and “why” behind each step. Details are crucial for identifying improvement opportunities.
• Encourage participants to share real-life examples and pain points. Personal experiences add valuable context.

5. Identify Pain Points: Where Does it Hurt?

As the process map takes shape, keep a keen eye out for pain points – those areas of frustration, inefficiency, or challenge that in and around process steps. Use a different coloured sticky note or symbol to mark these on the map. Identifying these pain points early on will help prioritise improvement efforts later.

Top Tips:

• Encourage open and honest discussion about frustrations and challenges. Creating a safe space fosters candid feedback.
• Avoid getting bogged down in solving issues during this stage. The goal is to identify pain points, not fix them yet.
• Use a different color or symbol to highlight pain points on the map. This visual cue draws attention to areas needing improvement.

6. Validate the Map: Reality Check

Before moving forward, ensure the group agrees that the map accurately reflects the current reality. This validation step is crucial, as any inaccuracies or omissions could undermine the entire exercise. Don’t be afraid to make corrections or additions to the map based on the team’s feedback.

Validating the map is crucial because it ensures that the subsequent analysis and improvement efforts are based on a true understanding of the current state. It is important to encourage open dialogue, and consider interactive approaches to uncover any blind spots or inaccuracies. A validated map lays a solid foundation for meaningful process improvement.

Top Tips:

• Ensure the group agrees that the map accurately reflects reality. It can be helpful to ask colleagues from other areas to be part of the validation process after the initial mapping workshop.
• Encourage participants to speak up if they notice any omissions or inaccuracies. Fresh perspectives can catch blind spots.
• Consider walking through the process as a group to validate the map. This interactive approach can uncover missed steps or details.

7. Distinguish Between Steps: Colour Coding for Clarity

To enhance the visual impact of your process map, consider using different colours or symbols to distinguish between various aspects of the process. For example, you could use one colour for value-added steps and another for non-value-added steps, or differentiate between electronic and manual steps, or even highlight the involvement of different departments or roles.

Keeping things visual makes the process mapping exercise more engaging and impactful. The key is translating the sticky notes into an actionable roadmap for improvement.

Top Tips:

• Use visual cues like colors or symbols to differentiate between value-added and non-value-added steps. This highlights potential areas for streamlining.
• Separate steps by department, role, or system using “swimlanes”. This clarifies responsibilities and handoffs.
• Highlight manual vs. electronic steps. Automation opportunities may become apparent.

8. Document the Map: Preserving the Masterpiece

Finally, once your team has crafted a masterpiece of a process map, document it for future reference. Take a clear photo or digital capture, ensuring all sticky notes are legible and the full scope of the mapped process is captured[1]. This documentation will serve as a valuable resource for future improvement efforts and training purposes.

Remember, process mapping is an iterative journey, and as you continue to refine and optimize your processes, you may find yourself revisiting and updating your maps. Embrace this cycle of continuous improvement, and watch as your department transforms into a well-oiled machine, delivering exceptional patient care with efficiency and excellence.

Top Tips:

• Take clear, high-resolution photos or digital captures of the final map. Ensure all details are legible.
• Share the documented map with all participants and stakeholders promptly. This reinforces transparency and accountability.
• An excellent way to communicate the outcomes and insights from your session is to take stakeholders through the physical map, pointing at specific stickky notes to emphasise value added steps or pain points.

Summary

Running a successful process mapping workshop requires careful planning, facilitation skills, and a collaborative mindset. By following these steps, you’ll not only engage your team in a meaningful exercise but also lay the foundation for identifying and implementing impactful improvements.

Running an effective process mapping workshop is a powerful way for NHS managers to combat the relentless enemy of Process Waste. By following the step-by-step guide outlined in this post, you’ll be equipped with the tools and techniques to unmask the inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and redundancies that are draining your organisation’s time, capacity, and resources.

From defining the scope and identifying the process steps to arranging them visually and adding crucial details, each stage of the workshop is designed to foster collaboration, engagement, and a deep understanding of your current processes.

But the journey doesn’t end there. By documenting the final process map and sharing it with stakeholders, you’ll create a roadmap for continuous improvement, empowering your team to streamline workflows, eliminate waste, and reinvest those precious resources into delivering exceptional patient care.

Remember, process mapping is an iterative journey, and as you continue to refine and optimise your processes, you may find yourself revisiting and updating your maps. Embrace this cycle of continuous improvement, and watch as your NHS organization transforms into a well-oiled machine, leaving Process Waste in the dust.

So, take up arms against the enemy that’s been holding your team back. Implement the insights and best practices from this guide, and embark on a journey towards Leaner, more efficient, and more effective processes and pathways – one where every step adds value.

So What Now?

Here are a few suggestions for immediate next steps; 1. Whilst this blog has gone into depth about the ‘how to’ faciliate a process mapping workshop, The NHS Professional’s Guide to Effective Process Mapping in 7 Steps gives details about the overall process mapping approach and steps involved to have a successful session. 2. Having a good grasp of the 5 Lean principles will be incredibly useful, 3. Read How To Do A Waste Walk in Healthcare: 10 Step Process Guide For NHS Professionals.

Almco – We help busy professionals enhance operational performance by providing process improvement expertise to optimise their processes and maximise productivity.