Three desperately ill people enter the hospital emergency room. Fourteen hours later, each has traveled a mile to have tests, complete the necessary forms, etc. Only one patient has been admitted to a bed after all that time. Now, even more exhausted and sick from the experience itself, the other two continue to wait in the emergency room.

"It's literally taking numbers like at Baskin Robbins," says Ken Somers, senior vice president of Human Capital Associates, a Colorado-based consulting firm hired to review the hospital's procedures and suggest improvements.

Instead of satisfied customers, the patients feel more like herded animals. "(The staff) are all very busy doing incredibly unnecessary steps.

"They're very busy shooting themselves in the foot."

Discharge is no better—200 steps to follow when only seven are truly needed, Somers says.

That painful strategy, though, is not unique to the medical profession. Cumbersome, non-responsive processes are followed daily by many companies—and, perhaps more importantly, are encountered by many clients and customers who can be turned off by the troubles.

What course must your clients travel? Do your employees work together to make the experience as easy, effortless and most helpful for your customers? Does your company's bottom line feel the effects?

Imagine an organanization where employees in one department know what their co-workers in another department are doing. Instead of operating like separate islands, they cross the invisible bridges back and forth—talking and sharing information when (and sometimes before) the need arises. As a result, the connected internal map focuses on the company's value streams—enabling customers to find better service, products or assistance at your business. The company is committed to its own strategic INTERNAL alliances.

"It's how business ought to be done," Somers says. "Why don't we all do it?"

Client satisfaction as your ultimate goal

Businesses often forget who the customer is. Typically, the bigger and more traditional the corporate structures, the more likely they are to forget. As they operate, they ignore the end game—to make and keep customers happy, Somers explains.

"When you lose sight of the ultimate goal, you're more self-serving," he says. "You build structures and systems. Workflow is difficult and bureaucracy is worthless."

Allan Steinmetz, founder and CEO of Inward Strategic Consulting, says more effort should be exerted to create and encourage strategic internal alliances.

A concerted effort, though, can be difficult, he explains. Existing internal structures, corporate culture, in-house politics, jealousy among employees or departments and an overall lack of a comprehensive corporate strategy are just some of the hurdles, Steinmetz says.

Many companies, for example, still follow the 1950s and '60s militaristic structure where decisions come from the top and are implemented by the lower ranks without question, Steinmetz says.

"People are not working as allies—they are adversaries within the business," Somers says. "People work hard at not looking bad."

Those insular approaches and views cannot work for internal alliances (and ultimately the company) to be as successful as possible—a collaborative environment is more beneficial.

"Unless strategic alliances are treated as a process and you work hard at them, they fail," Steinmetz says.

So how do you make the process worthwhile? Somers says you should ask these questions:

• Who are the customers?
• What are all the steps we do to create value for them?
• How do we align our steps to make value for our customers?

All three focus on the ultimate customers who will decide whether to continue working (or start in the case of prospects) with your company—yet answering them also makes the process easier for the whole "production" line.

Consider Somers' questions in this example. A financial department of a midsize auto parts manufacturer each month creates reports that are sent to the C-level executives. Years ago, the reports were used by upper management to make decisions about how to staff various product lines. But with automated systems, staffing decisions are now made long before these monthly financial reports are ever created. However, no one bothered to tell the finance department to stop taking the time to build and send the reports.

After asking the three questions detailed by Somers, the company discovers that invoices are being sent to customers with mistakes—requiring the frustrated customer to request a corrected invoice. What if the company opted to refocus the finance department staff's energy—eliminating the time spent building those useless monthly reports and spending it to review invoices carefully for accuracy before they are sent? Sending a correct invoice the first time could have a great impact on keeping clients more satisfied and collections current.

When you ask, "who is the customer," Somers says, continue the questioning. Don't settle for the one-word answer. Ask related questions: What do they have to do to work with us? What are our roles? Help staff understand that simple, convoluted responses are not as helpful.

When questioning what steps can be taken to add value for the customer, Somers says consider cross-functionality. For example, how hard does the sales department have to work to obtain data from finance to include in their client proposals? Is it like pulling teeth to have the finance department share that data? How long does it take to get the information? Can the sales staff respond quickly to prospects' inquiries? How accurate are the data received?

After asking these questions, the company realizes that the finance and sales departments aren't operating together strategically. The company realigns the process and designates finance staff to put together the financial sections of any client proposal. That cross-functional approach enables the proposals to include the most up-to-date financial data and decreases the confusion possibly created when the salesperson worked alone to translate the financial information. In turn, the client receives a well-thought, well-researched proposal that accurately details the company's position.

Conduct an ongoing or planned periodic review of all processes to ensure they are as lean and focused as necessary in the current climate, Somers advises. As businesses grow and evolve, processes too often remain the same. "You'll suddenly become comically inefficient," he says. Tweaks or dramatic alterations may be needed. And when constraints arise, implement workarounds—consider changing the normal way of doing business.

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