Optimising processes

In every organisation it is always known who reports to whom and that people are the main source of an organisation's success. However, successful organisations think in processes not functions. In simple terms processes are how we do things. For example a recruitment process is how recruitment is done. Therefore, to be a leading organisation it is essential to have the best processes and the best people.

Our experience at TQMI often sees organisations where people are well managed or over managed, but processes are under managed e.g. for the people it is often the case that;

• we know how much each one costs
• we appraise their performance once per year
• we assess competence
• we create a development plan for them

But for process often we do not;

• know their cost or value produced
• appraise them (though we often firefight because of them)
• measure capability
• have a plan for developing or improving them

In a world of constant change we see organisations becoming more able at engaging their people in change, but at the same time persisting with bureaucracy which makes changing processes slow or difficult. Looking ahead organisations will continue to achieve even greater engagement of their people. What is required, however, is to also quickly set up a mechanism for continuously, significantly improving or changing all processes.

Our experience at TQMI over the last 20 years has seen that organisations now generally recognise their processes, but many have much more work to do and future benefits of at least 25% from improving process are still possible for many.