1. 30 minutes with your Executive Sponsor every week
Get Executive Support with 30 minutes Every Week
Strong, visible sponsorship is essential for an initiative of this nature to succeed – you will require time and effort from a large number of people across the business. This weekly meeting creates a definite time commitment on the executive’s schedule, keeps them engaged, and is essential to the initiative’s success.

Each week, you will get push back from groups who are busy “fighting fires” and may not want to prioritize your process documentation initiative. Utilize this meeting to place executive pressure on those groups to ensure commitment is kept. The meeting agenda should be limited to the number of completed processes vs. goal and the support needed in the upcoming week. Do not show process maps or workflow diagrams – this is too much detail.

Clearly & Regularly Communicate with Senior Management
Clear, regular communication with senior managers in the business unit should be established early. These people will have the power and influence to allocate the resources you need and to support your overall initiative.

The initial communication should clearly state the benefits they will receive as a result of this initiative. When possible, take the extra 15 minutes to identify each major groups current process pains and show how this initiative will help support its improvement. Talk to someone who has “been around” – you don’t necessarily need management input for this. On going communications should state progress (number of completed processes vs. goal) and identified opportunities when available. This open two-way communication will promote trust and a cooperative environment and identifying potential opportunities will get your emails read.