Why Processes Don’t Work

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Why Processes Dont Work
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Why Processes Dont Work

• NUGGET Processes can add immense value for the
  enterprise. But it still takes people to make
  them work. It matters how you implement and
  sustain them
• After many years working with people across
  industries, countries, and levels Ive come to
  what may seem like a blindingly obvious
  conclusion people resist processes
  step-by-step procedures, checklists, guidelines,
  creative problem solving, structured approaches
  to planning, goal setting, reviews, meetings.

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Why Processes Dont Work

• This is true even though many processes, when we
  follow them, noticeably improve output quality,
  save time and money, and lead to better team
  interactions. Think, for example, of the many
  (interminable) meetings we drudge through
  multi-tasking, rambling, leaving unclear about
  what next. There are good processes for running
  efficient, effective meetings where there is
  meaningful participation, appropriate
  decisiveness, deep creative exploration, and
  great follow through. But few people use them.
  Meetings continue to drone on, made worse for
  virtual teams by problems with technology, time
  differences. And this is only one example of
  failed process.

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Why Processes Dont Work

• Why dont we use the processes, procedures,
  checklists, guidelines we know can make our lives
  easier and our decisions more effective and
  widely supported?

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Reasons

• Here are some of the reasons Ive observed
• Many managers and technical people are primarily
  action-focused. It is easier (and perhaps more
  fun) to fix problems than it is to anticipate and
  prevent them (something that good process is
  often designed to do)
• It is easier to be conceptually lazy. It takes
  effort and planning to haul out a process,
  introduce it and get people aligned to use it,
  and then to actually use it.
• Some processes are just too detail oriented and
  constraining. They become the ends rather than
  the means. We spend more time and energy doing
  it right than doing the right thing.

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Reasons

• Nobody wants to take on the process
  facilitator/leader role. Of course, this role can
  shift among members of a group. But I think
  individuals are reluctant to take on process
  leadership for fear of being viewed as
  authoritarian or rigid. They are not clear about
  the difference between dominating conversation
  and ensuring that there is a working process.
• People are not skilled enough to use the process
  as a road to higher-level outcomes. The skills
  underlying important processes go beyond
  understanding the steps and tools. Real success
  often requires higher level thinking and
  interaction skills. After all, processes and
  procedures are often supposed to free people from
  the routine (and dangerous) so that they can be
  more creative and thoughtful.

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Reasons

• Related to the previous point, there is a
  misunderstanding about process and procedures. We
  often adopt them hoping that they will now do the
  work for us. The reality is that, while
  processes do automate our approaches, it is a
  big mistake to think that it stops there. Any
  process or procedure we put in place must receive
  continual energy to keep it alive. Processes,
  checklists, procedures can very quickly go into a
  kind of rigor mortis. Instead of unleashing
  higher thinking and creativity, they often have
  the opposite effect, lulling us into automatic
  behavior. We become less rather than more
  effective. This has happened with countless
  performance management systems, budget processes,
  meeting procedures. We follow the form without
  the benefit of the function.

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What to do? Here is a Checklist

• Dont implement a process that you are not
  willing to forever infuse energy into. Among
  other things, it means that leaders must
  themselves use it, expect excellence in
  implementation, keep refining it, and be willing
  to sunset it when the appropriate time comes.

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What to do?

• Keep the process at the highest effective level
  of abstraction with the least amount of paperwork
  or process tool guidance. People will use
  judgment anyway. Dont try to control every
  little behavior unless doing so is important for
  safety or other critical reasons.
• Be sure everybody knows the reasons and the
  personal/organizational benefits of using the
  process or checklist (etc.). Process rigor
  mortis, including playing games to get the most
  personal advantage, will set in when people are
  disconnected from the why (think about people
  setting low goals in performance management so
  they can get an exceeds rating at review time).

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What to do?

• Develop higher order skills  conceptual
  thinking, communication and collaboration skills,
  decision making, emotional intelligence. These
  transfer across all important processes and
  ensure that people stay in charge of processes
  vs. the other way around.

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• Process has gotten a bad rap, but lets not throw
  the good out with the bad. Todays organizations
  need software, guidelines, and routines that
  build in best practices and that everyone uses to
  accomplish more together than they could
  individually. There is a secret to good process
  it has to add value, be continually energized,
  and not become calcified. It has to unleash
  thinking and communication rather than replace
  it. And it has to be something that everyone uses
  and has the skills and information to use.

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• NUGGET Processes can add immense value for the
  enterprise. But it still takes people to make
  them work.  It matters how you implement and
  sustain them
• ________________
• We invite you to share this article with others
  in your network and increase your learning and
  development skills.

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THANK YOU!