RandomCrates

If you believe what Dan Pink is selling, as managers and process creators we have a lot of work to do. Motivation, it seems, has little to do with carrots and sticks and more to do with autonomy.

We can’ t forget that we are leading people. We must keep in mind that business process management is more than flow charts. We aren’t leading monkeys or robots, but people who want to enjoy what they’re doing.  I’ve talked before about creating business processes and consistently re-evaluating business processes.  When defining the work instructions It’s important to focus on the non-negotiable tasks of the process. Does everyone need to do everything the exact same way? Probably not.

As Dan points out, the carrot rewards do work for simple tasks. If a task or process is repetitive it probably makes sense to use a carrot reward. Things along the lines of, “If you sew X number of bags, you’ll get Y bonus”. These simple tasks that have prescriptive instructions can be “carrotized”. However, these carrot rewards do not work for complex tasks that most of us do everyday. Telling your staff, “Figure out this problem that we’ve never seen before by X day and you’ll get Y reward”, produces poor results. Dan relays that this scenario has the potential of causing a tunnel vision. The focus is on the reward, not the result. Imagine the implications this has in Sales organizations.

So what can we do for our processes?

• Build in autonomy where appropriate. Are all tasks time or location dependent? Probably not. Look into a Results Only Work Environment.
• Focus on the results not the specific actions that everyone takes to get there.
• Ensure the inputs and outputs are solid, and the hand-offs defined. For the most part, your people should be smart enough to figure out the tactical execution.
• Set Expectations. Make sure everyone throughout the process understands their responsibilities and time lines. Nothing will break sabotage a process more than unclear expectations.

Treat people as people and you’ll be surprised how they respond.

Check out Dan’s TED talk below.

I’ve seen many people who pride themselves on being process oriented, as I do,  get stuck thinking the process is set in stone. The current process is not gospel. If the process isn’t working it’s usually not the people (unless they weren’t trained), it’s usually the process. Unless there is some constraint that cannot be adjusted, people should rarely be adjusted around the process. The process should be adjusted around the people.

Many managers have their head stuck in the sand, and can’t see the actual issue. The process is inefficient because the real world is never as nice as our flow charts, documentation, and PowerPoints. The real world is iterative, complicated, and ever-changing. We need to monitor the processes and adjust to match the real world.

Process Improvement Cycle

When designing a process, we have to use all the tools available to us, but the job doesn’t end when the new process is implemented. It’s a constant cycle of Problem > Adjustment > Stabilization > Problem > Adjustment… If we aren’t proactively adjusting and improving the process during this cycle, the process will begin to fall apart, we will lose buy-in and trust. A process is only as good as the people, make sure you don’t forget them.

Flow charts are one of the many weapons for the project management ninja, but like a samurai sword, can be dangerous if not used with caution. When used properly flow charts are an excellent tool to document processes, identify inefficiencies, and improve communication. Unfortunately, if they are not clear or the audience is not kept in mind flow charts can cause confusion and provide little value.  I’m going to explain the format, software, and uses that have proven successful for me.

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While working on various projects I’ve learned that when exploring process improvements most people tend to jump into the details. Getting straight to the specific tasks and activities causes many issues, most serious is the tendency to get stuck doing things the way they always have been. How many times have you asked “why do it like this”, only to get the “because that’s the way we’ve always done it” response. When looking at processes and efficiency improvement it’s important to look at it from a results oriented perspective defining inputs, activities, and outputs.

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