Which Came First? The Process or the People?

I talk a lot about process and people, but which came first?  You can’t have process without people.  And there’s no point to having people without a process.  The two are inseparable and they need to be thought of as integrated rather than separate entities.  Your business cannot run without people, and it can’t run without processes. 

What about having good people and good processes?

Or better yet, have the right people and the right processes.  Take it one step further and have the right people in the right roles using the right processes for the right results. 

Too complicated?  It’s not though.  Start at the end – what results do you want?  Then think of all the ways you can get there.  Visualize (or write down) every potential process, tasks and the people who could handle them, your current employees and their skills (even the ones you haven’t tapped yet).  See it all as puzzle pieces that you can move around.  It isn’t as though you have to move everything around to make it as complex as possible, but in my experience, businesses aren’t willing to move the pieces around enough.  This is the time to be creative.  If you don’t feel free to move hypothetical puzzle pieces, then you’ll be stuck with what you’ve always gotten because you will be stuck doing things the way that they’ve always been done. 

In moving the pieces around, you should come to the realization that each piece is vital and equal in importance.  If a piece or two is not, then you might want to get rid of them or move them to a different puzzle.  Each piece must fit in a certain way with the rest of that puzzle in order to make the whole operation run more efficiently.  You may even find that the puzzle piece that doesn’t fit is you, and that’s ok.  Don’t be afraid to uncover the fact that you are unnecessary for that project or this organization.  If you’re not needed, you’re not needed. 

No matter what insights you uncover, walk through the processes and the people involved to make sure that it is the best possible strategy.  Think of it like a stage manager or director would think of a play or movie.  Or a writer with a book.  Or a painter with an empty canvas.  What results do you want at the end?  What are you currently working with?  What’s the best way to get there with what you have?  Do you need to hire more people?  Do you need your current employees to be doing something different than what they’ve been doing?  Don’t be afraid to ask these questions.  The answers may not be what you want to hear, but it is what you need to hear.

Neither process nor people happen individually, but they also don’t happen side by side.  They are interconnected.  A tangled web.  But if you weave it properly, it’ll be strong enough to give you the results you want for your organization.  All you need is to know is the right pattern.