Our friends at Wikipedia do a much better job defining process maturity:
The term "maturity" relates to the degree of formality and optimization of processes, from ad hoc practices, to formally defined steps, to managed result metrics, to active optimization of the processes.
Using a process maturity matrix allows me to identify what level of improvement a client can realistically expect to make. I use a five level maturity matrix to do this from level 0 to level 4.
Below is the high level list I use for assessing the strategic position of the entire WFM process. This list adjusts a little for the size and complexity of a center but in general this is how I define WFM maturity Play along and assess your center…
Of course there is a lot of variation around these levels, and a lot more detail- I have these for each process step. They act as a guide to help formulate findings and develop relevant action plans, not a hard line checklist. Which brings me back to the question about bad advice…
Probably the best example of my “sorta bad advice” is my recommendation around a company’s service metric. In a high functioning WFM environment I will recommend using Service Level if they are not already doing so. But in an organization where WFM is new and trying to build its processes, I will educate about the different service metrics, but not make changing the metric a critical recommendation (unless there is a strong cultural reason to). We can always calculate back to whichever service metric the client is using. And their time is better spent implementing strong forecasting and other processes than arguing about Service Level versus Abandon Rate.
*Remember: Your process maturity level is not a reflection on you as an employee. It is simply a way of categorizing where your processes stand and what opportunities are within easy reach.
Probably the best example of my “sorta bad advice” is my recommendation around a company’s service metric. In a high functioning WFM environment I will recommend using Service Level if they are not already doing so. But in an organization where WFM is new and trying to build its processes, I will educate about the different service metrics, but not make changing the metric a critical recommendation (unless there is a strong cultural reason to). We can always calculate back to whichever service metric the client is using. And their time is better spent implementing strong forecasting and other processes than arguing about Service Level versus Abandon Rate.
*Remember: Your process maturity level is not a reflection on you as an employee. It is simply a way of categorizing where your processes stand and what opportunities are within easy reach.
