"A key priority this year was to operationalise the business to better facilitate scale. While establishing processes was a core element of this I had put this off for too long – I had worked in companies where I essentially felt ‘handcuffed’ to SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and they limited my ability to do my best work – I didn’t want to inflict something similar on my team, but bottlenecks and errors were starting to creep through under pressure. I definitely had a disempowering story about processes, but Hay Lam provided a really helpful reframe: SOPs are about safeguarding the things that are important and impacts the customer.
 
From there, Hay Lam set out a framework to help identify which processes would have the great impact/highest priority. First we plotted the key bottlenecks/errors that were occurring across two axis – the likelihood of it happening and the impact of it on customers, both rated as low, medium and high. When we isolated a focus point, we then used the Red Bead Experiment to explore how the design of the current system might be impacting the team’s ability to get the job done. In doing this, I was able to map the entire journey and apply a ‘red bead’ for every activity (or lack thereof) that was contributing to that bottleneck. Doing this exercise helped to identify 17 different moments that were contributing to the bottleneck.

This visibility has been a gamechanger for our business and has created major momentum in ensuring that our overall system of working is designed in a way to maximise our team’s success and performance."

John Bevitt – Managing Director of Honeycomb Strategy

"Participating in the red bead game helped me, and in turn my team, to see the real problem we were facing in customer service wasn’t the team (although they were the ones being blamed). The game highlighted that trying harder, different techniques, rewards, motivation etc didn’t make a difference when the design of the system was always going to produce the red beads.

From the 'a-ha' moment of clarity, we begun to see the issues in a new way and actually work on prevention rather than the cure. In a customer service team, we took the approach of reducing the input of support tickets into our pipeline as our number one mandate."

Scott Fox – Head of Operations OrderMate

"The process allowed me to really assess the issues and bottlenecks within the business and by addressing the issues in our process, this created improved efficiency in our work, better recoverability across our services and reduced stress levels across different levels in the business."

Nidal Mazloum – Partner Matthews Steer

"My personal sprints with you helped to shape a component of the business that was completely out of control. Bottlenecks were identified and not only addressed but workshopped, and over a few weeks, SOLVED! The principle behind ‘invisible pinch points’ changed my perception of what could be achieved in a day or a week. I was able to design a 2 hour block where I could meet a client for the first time and deliver a first draft concept. This generally took up to a week to collate. Productivity went up and then we found a new bottleneck…and so the process continues. With a bit of streamlining and identifying the lag, my world was changed."

Elias Stavridis – Director of Lights Lights Lights