Process orientation — why is everyone fighting back?

Let's now take a closer look at why initiatives for more process orientation are often rejected in companies.

But who is interested in more process orientation? Three parties are typically interested in this:

1. the customer

2. anyone who is interested in adding value to the organization

3. those whose personal challenges/wishes are addressed through process orientation.

The quiet voice of the customer

The core message is well known: The customer is king. But his opinion often remains silent in internal discussions and only becomes clear when he chooses a competitor. And by then it is often too late: Winning back a customer once alienated by process errors is known to be harder than not losing him in the first place.

Understanding and optimising value creation

In simple terms, the added value of an organization is the external willingness to pay minus internal process costs (including everything):

Added value = realized willingness to pay — internal process costs

In order to achieve sustainable optimization of value creation, those involved must actively address business processes, as process orientation has a decisive influence on both factors. Efficient value creation therefore requires a strong understanding of business processes.

• Litigation costs Holistic optimization only works if I look at and coordinate all activities from customer inquiries to service provision. In other words, from end to end.
• Supply and demand are decisive factors that determine willingness to pay influence. The offer is determined by our own processes.

In the best case scenario, all parties involved are interested in optimal added value. In larger organizations in particular, however, it is clear that many employees see no connection between the organization's added value and their personal situation.

The individual challenges faced by employees

Especially in larger organizations, there is often no connection between the company's success and the individual situation of employees. It is then absolutely not obvious what employees personally get out of it when the organization acts in a process-oriented manner. This is exactly the question that must be asked if you want to bring “more process orientation” to an organization. A deeper understanding of personal challenges would make it possible to make the added value of process orientation transparent to each individual.

The key questions:

• What specific challenges faced by employees can we solve through more process orientation?
• How can I better represent the relationship between process orientation and personal wishes (happiness/success/satisfaction)?

A path to sustainable process orientation

It shows that process orientation is not only a company-wide concept, but also creates individual benefits for customers, organizations and employees. If the decisive questions can be answered tangibly, you have a good basis for more process orientation. If they cannot be answered, it will be a battle with headwinds. The conscious questioning of individual needs builds the bridge between abstract process optimization and personal happiness, success and satisfaction.

The answers are often found in

• reduced error rates through standardization (“Can't do it wrong”).
• Reducing disputes through clear responsibilities (“having clarity about who is doing what”).
• less friction through efficient communication at interfaces (“knowing what who needs when”).

Process and quality managers are therefore well advised to ask themselves and those involved in the process specifically: How can we ensure that process management is not only perceived as an organizational necessity but also as a personal asset?