There is a phrase that I have been hearing over the last few weeks that has left me a bit mind-boggled…
“Process for process’s sake.”
This phrase actually came up in a workshop I was leading for a corporate client around optimizing time. I heard teams saying, “I don’t want there to be process for process’s sake,” or, “It feels like this is just us thinking of new processes for process’s sake.”
I was sitting in this workshop like, “What the actual beep do people mean by this?” And after thinking about it for a bit, I think I finally understand…and I want to talk about what it means for us as managers, because it’s a sign that there is some major miscommunication going on between us and our teams.
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Clarifying The “Why”
As someone who has spent their entire career simplifying new processes and helping people optimize their time, the idea of teams thinking that we introduce new processes for no reason is pretty alarming.
If people are feeling like we are asking them to do something just for the hell of it, we’ve got a real problem… and we have a real opportunity. Because if we can shift that perspective in our team members, everything is going to become simpler and smoother almost immediately.
Once we recognize that our team members don’t understand the “why” behind process shifts, it’s actually easy to amend it. All we need to do is personalize the “why.”
Change of any kind tends to be perceived as a difficulty. If you don’t explain why new processes are being introduced—and the ways they will benefit your team members—it’s easy for them to assume that you’re just trying to make their life harder.
If you are hearing any kind of resistance to new processes or systems or anything that you feel is needed, and it’s being implied that it’s just process for process’s sake, this is our opportunity to reframe it.
For example, let’s say that when we ask people to do something new or do it a different way, we don’t sit down and explain it to them—we just send out an email that says, “Hey, everyone. Emailing you new processes for this. Please update all your things in the system by Friday. Let me know if you have any questions,” and that’s it. We just make some broad announcement without any context.
When we do this, a lot of times there’s some dragging of feet afterward. And it’s not because people don’t want to try the new processes, but because they don’t get why they have to change them at all.
We’re no longer living in a time where just because we as the boss asked our teams to do something, they’ll do it right away without questioning it. That’s just not where we’re at. So instead, we have to bring people along. We have to explain what’s in it for them, and actually communicating that is a really easy shift that we can make right away to simplify our shifts in process.
A Framing Example
Here’s an example: when I talk about new processes or systems, I always like to frame it as, “Hey, I was thinking about how we could make work easier on the team, and this is what I came up with,” or, “I was looking at the beginning of the year, and I was really thinking about how I can make sure all of you are set up for success.”
So first we communicate that we thought about them and that this change is in their own best interest…then we share what that is.
For instance, maybe you’re introducing a time-tracking system. You could say, “Hey, when the team was smaller, we could track work on our own, and that was working pretty well. But with the growth we want to have next year, we need to reassess our pricing model and what we’re offering, and we’re going to want an easy way to make sure you’re getting paid what you should be. That’s why we’re tracking time.”
This way, I explain the “why” before I even drop the information about the new process.
In addition, I always like to frame the new process as a pilot. So I say, “We’re going to pilot this new system for a few months, ask for feedback as we go, and make sure that it’s working for everyone.”
This is another simple way to get folks on board fast, because they have reassurance that they’ll be given the opportunity to offer feedback. If it’s too cumbersome, they can let us know.
(However, you need to make sure that you follow through—remember to actually check in and ask for feedback when you say you will!)
Lower Turnover, Higher Participation
When we use this framework to introduce new processes, it’s pretty unlikely that someone on our team will believe that this process is just here for the hell of it.
So I know you’re not making processes for process’s sake—Lord knows I’ve never made processes for process’s sake—but the best way to make sure your team knows it too is to make sure they see that you’re invested in them. You care about their success. You want it to be easier for work to get done.
I have used this method to literally get design teams to shift from writing their tasks on Post-its to using a complicated engineering task-tracking system. So do not think that you have a team that this system won’t work for.
Give it a try. And if there’s still a lot of resistance, try thinking of ways to simplify that new process even more.
And if you don’t know how to go about this, great news—this is one of the things that I support folks with. So if you have an idea and you’re not really sure how to communicate it, or you want some information regularly from your team but don’t know how to request it, schedule an SOS call with me using the link below!
On that SOS call, we’ll talk about what challenge you’re really having. It’s an hour-long conversation. We dive into wherever you’re getting stuck and figure out together what little shifts you want to make in that communication to make sure that it really lands with your team!
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