Design Thinking for Innovation_1

Reflection: Improving a critical HR process using Visualisation tool

Challenge and Selection

My company is a terminal plant specialist and hence we engaged and relied heavily on foreign workers for construction  and performed maintenance work of terminal plants for our clients. From time to time, our workers would take an  extended period of home leave (vacation) when they fulfilled certain length of contracture employment, 2 years and  after project completion.

The challenges faced by the HR were:

1. the administrative support for the sheer numbers of workers involved;   2. the collaboration with all the internal and external stakeholders (e.g. management, accounts, work permit,

lounging, flight arrangement etc) were massive;

3. the outdated processes;  4. the additional process taken by staff involved which contributed to confusion and additional time incurred;

I chose the visualisation tool to utilise visual thinking within my HR team to achieve a baseline in the understanding of  who were the stakeholders; what were the operation processes involved; what were system processes; what was  working and what were the challenges and to share any additional processes that were taken to work around any  obstacles they faced. I made use of a combination of questionnaires, graphical representation and Visio flow-charts,  to facilitate discussion within the team and to learn from each other; to demonstrate clearly the communication  channels between the stakeholders; the the scope, the processes, the system workflow, the pain points and  improvement areas

Application

I began by referring to the existing outdated HR process documents to gather an overview to understand; and  conducted meetings with the HR team, using the prepared questionnaires to learn from them about the scope, the  processes, the pain points, any additional processes taken and also to solicit their inputs for improvement. I conducted  an evaluation into the specific workflows of the HR system to understand if there was any bottleneck in terms of  workflow routing, approval cycle and any area for optimisation. When we uncovered areas within the processes which  were unclear, we noted down all these ambiguities for fine-tuning or sought clarification from the senior stakeholders  if necessary. I recorded all the discussions, new inputs, findings and challenges and combined with the findings from  the evaluation of the system workflows.

After the meetings, I created a high-level graphical drawing to depict the communication channel between the various  stakeholders involved. Next, I also created Visio flow-chart which showed the different sub-processes and the columns  for different stakeholders (see illustration below).

Design Thinking for Innovation_2

With the completion of the visual drawings which incorporated the shared and new inputs, feedback and proposed  changes that were agreed upon, final reviews were conducted with the team to confirm and eliminate any ambiguities  to arrive to the revised process which the team.

Insight

With this visualisation approach, I learnt that the graphical and flow-charts allowed the team to have a clear visibility  of the problems involved and to resolve. It allowed the team to share their perspectives, new insights, challenges as  well as ambiguities. It facilitated active discussion within the team to help identify what they did not know or  misunderstandings, assumptions in the HR process and at system level in a collaborative manner. The visual thinking  approach provided a more simplified approach for management to quickly provide their inputs whenever necessary,  as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand word.

Approach

This visualisation approach was well received by the team as it provided opportunities for shared inputs and  understanding, it also tried to eliminate any ambiguity. It allowed the team to quickly focus on the problems, to identify  problems, addressed the problems and brainstorm solutions. The revised graphics can continue to be revisited and  revised when necessary. As this is the 1st time the team utilise this design thinking tool and find it to be effective, I will  use this approach to improve any HR process for better efficiency and optimisation.


Design Thinking for Innovation_1 Reflection : Improving a critical HR process using Visualisation tool Challenge and Selection My company is a terminal plant specialist and hence we engaged and relied heavily on foreign workers for construction and performed maintenance work of terminal plants for our clients . From time to time , our workers would take an extended period of home leave ( vacation ) when they fulfilled certain length of contracture employment , 2 years and after project completion . The challenges faced by the HR were : 1 . the administrative support for the sheer numbers of workers involved ; 2 . the collaboration with all the internal and external stakeholders ( e.g. management , accounts , work permit , lounging , flight arrangement etc ) were massive ; 3 . the outdated processes ; 4 . the additional process taken by staff involved which contributed to confusion and additional time incurred ; I chose the visualisation tool to utilise visual thinking within my HR team to achieve a baseline in the understanding of who were the stakeholders ; what were the operation processes involved ; what were system processes ; what was working and what were the challenges and to share any additional processes that were taken to work around any obstacles they faced . I made use of a combination of questionnaires , graphical representation and Visio flow - charts , to facilitate discussion within the team and to learn from each other ; to demonstrate clearly the communication channels between the stakeholders ; the the scope , the processes , the system workflow , the pain points and improvement areas Application I began by referring to the existing outdated HR process documents to gather an overview to understand ; and conducted meetings with the HR team , using the prepared questionnaires to learn from them about the scope , the processes , the pain points , any additional processes taken and also to solicit their inputs for improvement . I conducted an evaluation into the specific workflows of the HR system to understand if there was any bottleneck in terms of workflow routing , approval cycle and any area for optimisation . When we uncovered areas within the processes which were unclear , we noted down all these ambiguities for fine - tuning or sought clarification from the senior stakeholders if necessary . I recorded all the discussions , new inputs , findings and challenges and combined with the findings from the evaluation of the system workflows . After the meetings , I created a high - level graphical drawing to depict the communication channel between the various stakeholders involved . Next , I also created Visio flow - chart which showed the different sub - processes and the columns for different stakeholders ( see illustration below ) . Design Thinking for Innovation_2 With the completion of the visual drawings which incorporated the shared and new inputs , feedback and proposed changes that were agreed upon , final reviews were conducted with the team to confirm and eliminate any ambiguities to arrive to the revised process which the team . Insight With this visualisation approach , I learnt that the graphical and flow - charts allowed the team to have a clear visibility of the problems involved and to resolve . It allowed the team to share their perspectives , new insights , challenges as well as ambiguities . It facilitated active discussion within the team to help identify what they did not know or misunderstandings , assumptions in the HR process and at system level in a collaborative manner . The visual thinking approach provided a more simplified approach for management to quickly provide their inputs whenever necessary , as the saying goes , a picture is worth a thousand word . Approach This visualisation approach was well received by the team as it provided opportunities for shared inputs and understanding , it also tried to eliminate any ambiguity . It allowed the team to quickly focus on the problems , to identify problems , addressed the problems and brainstorm solutions . The revised graphics can continue to be revisited and revised when necessary . As this is the 1st time the team utilise this design thinking tool and find it to be effective , I will use this approach to improve any HR process for better efficiency and optimisation .