Helping a team get unstuck with their future state mapping

Many years ago I helped a team with their future state mapping problem.

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They had mapped out their current state and highlighted a few issues that needed resolving. However, they were stumped by the request to 'create a future state map'. The senior management team wanted something revolutionary that would really change the performance of the function they were mapping.

I'd seen this problem quite a few times before. The team gets a big challenge with no real plan and they end up being paralysed. I knew the team from a previous project and I was keen that they won, so I offered them a step by step process to follow.

We therefore didn't have to rely on flashes of inspiration to create a future state map. I was able to support them through a series of questions that led them to solving their challenge. They avoided having an empty presentation to the senior management team and managed to slash around 80% of their lead time and associated costs from the process.

This experience inspired me to write down the approach, which later became the book Optimised Future State.

But, the point of this article was to help you get you unstuck should you find yourself in a similar situation. Keep narrowing your focus until you get to a problem that you can solve and then work your way back up, like building blocks, until you can solve the original problem.

Procrastination that comes from feeling overwhelmed about the size of a problem cripples projects. It lowers the morale of the team and doesn't often lead to success. A narrower view, combined with guiding questions, is a great strategy if you find yourself in this situation.

Giles

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About the author:

Giles Johnston is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in helping businesses to grow and improve through better business processes and embracing Kaizen.

Giles is also the author of Effective Root Cause Analysis and 'What Does Good Look Like?'.