5 Steps to Ensuring Process Enables Not Stifles
Organizational structure implies and demands process. We organize ourselves through adherence to rules. We are taught to comply through these official rules. It brings accountability and a safety net for employees who are afraid to mess up.
Strict adherence to processes can however stifle creativity and create a culture where we focus on the tasks not the underlying objectives. We go throughout the day ticking the tasks off our list instead of working towards our goals.
Here are some thoughts on how we can encourage people to use process to enable them to be smart about the way they work versus resenting their list of tasks to get through.
- Before you hand a person a task list, ensure they understand the objectives behind the tasks. What are they trying to achieve? What does success look like? How does each task contribute towards that success? Who are the stakeholders? Who do they need to work with?
- Ask them to participate in structuring the process. This will empower them, give them a sense of ownership and control, allow them to incorporate the tools and processes that fit their learning styles and show you how well they understand the task.
- Make it understood that the task list is part of a fluid process. It is not rigid or inflexible. Concentrating on the objectives and understanding the route to success will allow the flexibility to shift focus, direction and to trouble shoot when necessary.
- Trust them to do the job. If the objectives are clear, and the process is set to enable, then empowering them to make decisions is much easier to do. This does not mean you do not support them. Having an open door policy and being available to answer questions is part of the process. It is far better to have someone ask the right questions than have people second-guessing themselves.
- Measure and report against objectives and how close you are to reaching those objectives. Incorporate in that measurement process where the roadblocks to success are and where gaps are appearing. This will allow a refocus and re-evaluation of process. Tick off the objective milestones, not the individual tasks.
How do you structure your process? What works for you? What does not work for you?
What a great blog post to get back into the swing of things! My absolute favorite line is:
“Strict adherence to processes can however stifle creativity and create a culture where we focus on the tasks not the underlying objectives.”
I have found this statement to be completely true from my previous experiences at various jobs.
Well done Alasdair, I look forward to more posts in the future!
I really enjoyed this as “process” was part of my New Year’s resolution and to make sure that while there should be one in place there are many factors to a process like you listed above. Trust is a big one for me as I tend to just do things myself without asking or explaining because I think it might be easier when in turn if everyone understood the process and was asked to participate all would be better. These are great reminders and a fantastic read. Thank you!
I almost wrote myself a To-Do list last night, but I couldn’t bring myself to it. I like the flexibility not having a To-Do list brings. Thank you for the suggestion to “Tick off the objective milestones, not the individual tasks.” I’ve always felt more empowered when I have a goal in mind, although there also is something appealing to concrete tasks.
Thanks for posting! It was a great read.
I found the easiest method is to have the list of goals you need to accomplish in front of you. As long as you know that something needs to be done, you’ll consider if and it won’t fall by the wayside.
Great read. As always thank you. As we dicsuss social media with each and every client and SEO becomes something that anyone with a firefox plug in thinks they can do, I find myself as a lone cheerleader for integrated marketing instead of the often preached abandonment of traditional marketing. I’ve also come from a world of print media as well as radio and the measurement of success and ROI wasn’t as clear as internet marketing has become today. However I think the reason so many people embraced it was that it was easy to wrap your brain around and feel good about it even if you weren’t sure if anyone saw it or heard it or read it. You could put your ad on a rotation and be mixed in with the big boys and as Mr/Ms. business owner, beat your chest and say look at me . It’s that almost primal gratification coupled with an overall lack of a clear understanding of the power of the internet that keeps many CEO’s, CMO’s, and traditionalists saying there there . In my opinion that is.