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.

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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