People without Process

Have you heard it from the boss? "We're not adding a bunch of bureaucracy to this organization...nothing will ever get done!" or "That will just make things too complicated" or "Can't we just let our people figure out how to communicate? They're good folks"

I'm a huge fan of hiring good people and letting them do their job. But - do they know what their job is? Do they know what others in the organization are expecting of them? Do their peers know what the boss is expecting of them, or are they already set up to fail by lack of clarity.

Let's take a look at this football play as it unfolds as an example.

That's a pretty amazing play - wish it was a Texans' play, but at least Charles came out of Texas in college.

So what's the point? How does that have anything to do with processes in my organization?

How is a football team put together? Well - the General Manager (usually with the help of his head coach - or just Jerry Jones for the Cowboys) has a team of people he works with to determine who is the best talent likely to be available to them when their turn comes up in the draft. They spend months assigning all sorts of grades for speed, agility, skill, strength, leadership and personality to all of the players that will be coming out of college who have signed up to be eligible for the draft. Interestingly, they generally take into account the playing philosophy/style of the team when they analyze the talent (which we could also discuss), but for now let's just talk about how they look for "good people". There is a huge amount of resources spent on finding the best people they can get.

So they end up drafting folks they have clearly identified as the "best people available" and spend further time trading, recruiting free agents, etc. to find a highly competent team of players. What then? Do they allow the highly talented people to go on the field during a game and just..do whatever they want? Based on the management philosophy I've lined out, that should be the plan right? We have excellent people...let's just put them on the field and let them do whatever they think is the right thing to do. Doesn't really sound like the best game plan does it?

No, what actually happens is that every highly skilled individual on the team is assigned a very specific task on every play. The plays are selected by one of the coaches depending on what's happening during the game. If a quarterback is respected by the coaching staff, he may have the authority to change a play to another play where every person on the field has a specific role and responsibility. So the question is, does that environment quell the players' exceptionalism? Anyone who knows anything about football or any sport knows that clearly defined roles allow exceptional players to demonstrate their excellence by performing their assigned tasks better than others in their field.

The same holds true at your company. Clearly defined roles and processes allow people to perform to and beyond expectations. Having to be creative to solve routine tasks is inherently inefficient and inconsistent. Without clearly defined roles and processes, duplication of effort occurs as frequently as failure to perform necessary tasks assumed to be other's responsibility. In the football analogy, two or three blockers on one defender, leaving two guys unblocked who make the tackle in the backfield. Process and responsibility empower people to excel.

One of my cohorts frequently quotes a former manager of his. " The three P's of success are People, Process and Productivity. If you have the first two, the third happens automatically." It is clear that how you apply this is critical to success and certainly it is possible to make processes too cumbersome to be effective. Even then the answer isn't to eliminate process, but to streamline and simplify. Clearly define expectation, put systems in place that empower people to achieve and be disciplined in the administration of established process. It's the only way to achieve scalability in growth and/or to sustain long term success.