PMI is a registered trademark of the Project Management Institute Knowledge Exchange Forum October 28, 2003 Building Stakeholder Buy-In Through Strategic Process Visioning: Case Study Jeffrey Carpenter

Scenario: Four campuses in the University of North Carolina System wished to identity ways to improve student services. Their current student service model was organized in departmental silos. For example, the financial aid office managed services one set of systems and processes; the housing office used another; the admissions office used yet another. The departmental silos rarely talked to each other or worked to coordinate their processes, as a result, the customer (the student) bore the burden of navigating the maze of forms, systems, and processes to receive student services.

The Project Management Challenge: The provost wanted to create a one stop student services model that integrated student services to reduce student run- around. This would require major changes in the way the staff in each department would work. Their processes, systems, and organizational structures would have to change. Building stakeholder buy-in was critical to the success of this change effort.

Recipe For Success: Wall Mapping With Cross Sectional Group of Stakeholders We used process wall mapping as a way to quickly identify current state processes and brainstorm future state processes. We found that wall mapping was not only useful for efficiently documenting processes, but had the added benefit of being a powerful tool for gaining stakeholder buy-in.

The Methodology: Don’t interview staff solely within departmental silos to map the current state and brainstorm a future state; instead interview a cross functional group that includes the key stakeholders and influencers. Change management occurs when staff in one department are able to see how their processes relate to processes in other departments and the inefficiencies that can occur when these processes happen in a vacuum.

The Methodology Continued: Use movable process tiles when mapping processes rather than flip charts or dry erase boards so that the process team can physically move and adjust processes as you go. Identify efficiencies with your team as you go so that the entire team can “discover” opportunities for improvement throughout the process rather than in a report that is delivered at the end.