Processes Enhance A Culture

by Jonathan Jones

Structure gives team members guidelines. It helps an organization establish best practices to meet the objectives of an organization, especially satisfying the needs and expectations of the customers.

You should ensure that you are explaining the purpose of your processes and connect the purpose to your company mission. If you can clarify the “why,” people may need fewer step-by-step details.

For instance, Southwest Airlines has a process that is required for every flight. This is the safety talk at the beginning of each flight. The flight attendants know “why,” and they know every element that has to be communicated to passengers. They also have a value of “fun.” So most preflight talks are different, and many are funny.

Did you notice how the flexibility of Southwest also engages the employees’ creativity in improving the processes? As a leader, getting employees involved in developing processes and improving processes helps them create the environment where they work. Moreover, most of the time the employees have better ideas than management. When you have a process improvement process, you give employees the tools to systematically improve the business.

For processes to work, they must be reinforced. Encourage employees when they have a successful experience or achieve positive results. Ask how the process helped and even how the process can be improved. If nothing can be improved, the process may be working. When mistakes happen, it is time to look at the process and not blame the person. This is an opportunity to reinforce your culture.

 

 

Jonathan Jones (Jonathan.jones@vistagechair.com or 314-608-0783) is a CEO peer group chair/coach for Vistage International.