Your Organization's Future Lies In Its Processes

Tomorrow’s results will be determined largely by today’s approach. By the way we tackle our work.

Sure, our strategy must be solid. Our people must be capable of performing. But that won’t make us competitive if our processes are clumsy. To succeed in this demanding and chaotically changing marketplace, we have to accelerate our output. Slash costs. Bring higher quality and better value to our customers. But how do we achieve this competitive triple play of “faster-better-cheaper”?

The most promise will be found in process improvement.

If we scan the competitive landscape, we’ll see old competitors who relentlessly keep improving. We’ll be shocked at the new competition springing up from innovative outsiders who come from other fields. And we’ll note that customers keep upping the ante by always expecting more.

So take a hard look at how your company does things. Should it stick with the same old habits and techniques? Or decide to start doing things differently?

Processes are the windows into the way an organization operates. If we look there, we’ll find many hidden opportunities, new passages that promise far more powerful performance. If we dig deeply into our existing methods, we’ll discover the routes to dramatic breakthroughs.

So go look at your processes. Like how you develop products. The way you serve customers. Your approach to selling, staffing, and so on.

Do these processes have real muscle? Do they cut smoothly across the different functions and work powerfully for the customer? Do they most effectively engage the time and talents of your people? Do they come together as a dynamic, cost-effective system that creates impressive shareholder value?

The sooner you examine your processes, the better. Because to a very large degree, your processes determine your company’s destiny. Managing them is the shortest route to success. It offers the most direct pathway to becoming a dominant player in your field.

Managing the organization, in its truest sense, comes down to managing our processes. Day in, day out, making sure they’re performing up to their potential . . . constantly trying to make them even better . . . changing them as necessary to fit our rapidly changing world.