Tuesday, September 9, 2014

What’s more important – good processes or people?

It is one of the best problems to solve in business – having too much of it!

You really learn the strength of the team and processes in your organization when you are fortunate enough to win the confidence and business of customers.  After a week helping a client build and deploy the methods, tools and processes to maintain customer expectations, the question seemed very reasonable.  “John, which is more important, having good people or good processes?”  We were so focused on getting the processes right that the question made me sit back and think.

Of course they are both important, but that does not answer the question.  In most organizations, the most talented 5% of the team can accomplish the assignment with no defined process.  They are just so good they develop tools along the way to achieve the task.  The same organizations typically have the other 5% that will not or cannot follow the best defined processes.  Then there is the 90% of the team that really want to do a great job, are fully capable and want to support their teammates.  They want to do the right thing and want to be consistent.  They deserve proper support and direction from leadership.  They want and will follow well thought out and defined processes.  They would like to participate in the development of the processes and will likely make them lean and doable. 

So, assuming your organization has the 90% capable and well intentioned team, well developed processes seem pretty important.  What have you found to be the most important in your organizations?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear John,

Very nice article. Appropriate for our organization to reach the next level. Thank you for your support.

With kind regards,

VS

Unknown said...

Fascinating discussion. Eric Stein is a professor in the business school at Penn State who has spent the last several years researching creative behaviors, teaching business students how to express creativity in the workplace, and identifying critical success factors for innovation.

The bottom line is that many schools and companies are just not doing a good job at nurturing creativity. However, his work indicates that creativity can be fostered. Check out ericwstein.com for more info.

FMCG Book said...

So many interesting facts on "FMCG: The Future of Fast Moving Consumer Goods".
By the age of 12, Henry John Heinz had bought himself a horse and cart and expanded their garden to three and a half acres to accommodate his best-selling line, which was his mother’s prepared horseradish.
Check fmcgbook.com for more details.

John Bishop said...

Thank you for the great insights and reference locations.

I continue to find consistency and creativity an challenging balance.

acorbalan@bancociudad.com.ar said...

Hi,
Please let me know the basics/origin of the next sentences:

...." Of course they are both important, but that does not answer the question. In most organizations, the most talented 5% of the team can accomplish the assignment with no defined process. They are just so good they develop tools along the way to achieve the task. The same organizations typically have the other 5% that will not or cannot follow the best defined processes. Then there is the 90% of the team that really want to do a great job, are fully capable and want to support their teammates. They want to do the right thing and want to be consistent.".....

Thank you.
Adrian

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