The overview generated by Event Mapping of a complex problem enables the organization to eliminate the root causes and to solve the problem in a sustainable way. On the other hand, it enables the organization to simultaneously control and reduce the most important negative consequences. An ideal situation for an acute problem: in anticipation of the operation of the drug, the plasters prevent further damage!

Suppose you are the manager of a well-running logistics department. In recent years the turnover figures have increased and last year you have expanded your team with a number of new employees to handle this growth. Turnover and employees are on the rise: everything is progressing well and the goals of this year - including increasing sales, increasing customer satisfaction and delivering products on time - seem to be easily achieved.

Until the first complaints come in from customers. Products are not delivered as agreed or are incomplete. Customers are not used to this and are making a call. Fortunately, loyal customers accept this, but this also explains why some new customers place few orders. You want to counter this decline in performance, but find out that the root causes of the problem are not easy to trace. Clear turning knobs to reverse the course are missing.

The above situation is so complex that many organizations struggle to provide structured insight into the root causes of the problem. A number of causes have been found quickly, but these do not appear to be at the root of the problem. The remediation of this does not take away the problem, it moves it at most. Moreover, the first consequences are already clearly visible, but it is still unknown what further consequences this will have.

Analyzing cause and effect

Situations where both the (root) causes and the (end) consequences of a problem are unclear, whereby the connection between causes is not clear, ask for a smart analysis method: Event Mapping.

With Event Mapping you go with a group of experts in the process looking for the relationships between all the different variables, both on the causes and the consequences side. The starting point is a key moment in the process, for example 'receiving a customer complaint', and in a number of sessions you look for all the elements that are related to it. Initially, you step back step by step in the process, looking for an ever deeper root cause. Secondly, you progress step by step in the process, looking for the further consequences of a customer complaint.

Both the medicine and the patch

The overview generated by Event Mapping of a complex problem enables the organization to eliminate the root causes and to solve the problem in a sustainable way. On the other hand, it enables the organization to simultaneously control and reduce the most important negative consequences. An ideal situation for an acute problem: in anticipation of the operation of the drug, the plasters prevent further damage!

Want to know more about event mapping?

Do you have a complex problem and do you still feel in the dark what the causes of this can be? Do you want to minimize the acute damage of this problem as quickly as possible, without losing sight of the sustainable solution? Do you want to know if Event Mapping could help to map the problem with causes? Download our full whitepaper below  which discusses the Event Mapping method or contact us directly via office@supplyvalue.nl or 088 – 0555 999.