Being Process Driven Squeezes People Out #management #peopleskills
by Kate Nasser | 2 Comments »
Being Process Driven Squeezes People Out & Away
Being Process Driven May Squeeze People Out Image by: Mike Bierschenk
Processes are filters that funnel what is acceptable and reject what isn’t. Many leaders and managers tout the benefits of being process driven. It facilitates metrics and reduces errors. It prevents chaos and increases consistency.
The Dark Side and Downside of Being Process Driven
But being process driven often makes process more important than people. It blocks engagement and the input of those who are creative, results driven, or relationship focused — i.e. not process driven.
This downside may be the downfall of your employee engagement efforts, customer satisfaction, and your business growth.
This downside is more likely to occur when …
- Your personality type craves order and consistency
- The organization’s culture is hierarchical, un-empowered and highly risk averse
- You lead from metrics
- Proving results is more important to you than engaging and improving
- Build emotionally intelligent processes. Being process driven can honor people’s input and diverse perspectives.
- Moderate your need for control. Processes aren’t rigid; some people are. They rigidly enforce processes. Ease up on your need for control and you won’t squeeze others out.
- Make process a flow rather than a constrictive funnel. As rivers flow they make twists and turns and the water still reaches the mouth.
- Remember, that proving results need not stop change, growth, and improvement.
Being process driven can be deceptively comfortable. Consistency often feels better than change.
Yet being rigidly process driven is based on the risky assumption that nothing is changing around you. New business opportunities, evolving customer expectations, available talent, and cultural differences are just some of the changes that processes often shut out. Don’t let this happen to you.
From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™
Related Posts:
Persistence vs. Resistance to Change
Leaders, 5 Times When Logic Will Fail You
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It is not clear on what processes this text refers to, because people are integral part of processes and are allowed to give their opinion regarding process improvement. And, for example, in service industry human factor is something that adds extra value to process success. Therefore, in serious process-driven companies human factor is already inevitable part of processes.
Hi Zmarx,
I wish I could agree that in the service industry human needs are considered. Unfortunately not universally true. In some of the great service orgs. like Ritz Carlton and Nordstrom’s, people and good judgment are considered. Bravo to them.
Yet not so sure that both of those are process driven. Nordstrom’s primary rule is “Use good judgment” not strict adherence to process.
What I’ve seen is that being heavily process driven can lead to adherence to process not consideration of the dynamic changes going on and adapting to them.
In so many customer service environments, CSRs are required to read scripts and are dinged if they don’t. Inside companies, there are employees strictly adhering to processes instead of thinking through how the process may or may not apply to each situation.
These scenarios were the inspiration for my post!
Many thanks for offering such a great hope that someday human needs and input will always count.
Kate