Processes are often undervalued. I have always been a process consultant yet I found out that I undervalued my value when it came to processes – if it can happen to someone who talks about processes continually, it can certainly happen to anyone. And it does! I find that my clients often overlook the value of processes.
When I was brainstorming my four service lines, I happened to be with a group of high-quality consultants. Two just so happened to be recent executive refugees from top Fortune-rated companies, and they both set me straight. Process review, documentation and improvement is not only important but valued in top organizations. Thus, why continue to overlook my strength; instead, the systems pragmatist service line was born.
This recently came to light again as one of my clients was going down the lean path. They discovered it is hard to improve a process that doesn’t exist. Certainly, it seems obvious; however, if it was obvious why do at least 70% of my clients undervalue processes?
Typically I find that my clients don’t think they have time to review, document, provide training, continually improve and even radically update processes. Yet they have the time to “do it over again…multiple times”. Stop the madness! Start at the beginning with processes – you’ll find that success will follow.