People – Process – Technology

Welcome to the Roaring Twenties!  How else could we describe what has been the most unpredictable decade in nearly 100 years!  Not quite the Jetson’s with flying cars, but also not as dire as Bladerunner might have predicted, but we’re really close! 😉  The past 18 months have necessitated a renaissance in how businesses are operating.  The “pain” brought about by rapid and unending change has forced an evaluation of every aspect of operating.  The prism that has emerged as most essential is “People / Process / Technology.  This week let’s look at how each of these have changed and when aligned are the most powerful defense against the unknown.

People

Have you noticed the terms “Human-Centered” or “People-Centric” popping up more often?  One of the immediate effects of the pandemic was to have organizations see their employees not as “Human Capital” but as humans, you know, people.  Some of this occurred when Executives were thrust into the remote workplace or were faced with their own concerns regarding their health and safety.  Nothing like a crisis that doesn’t care about your station in life.  The outcome is actually a great wake-up call for how the employer/employee relationship is perceived.

This sea-change is now impacting the Management and Development of Employees.  “Self-Directed” or “Empowered” along with greater autonomy and focus on productivity are adjectives that now describe today’s workforce.  No longer able to “Micro-Manage” employees, Management must now Trust their employees to do the jobs they were hired to do.  What a concept! 

The beauty of all this is how it will impact numerous processes that at their core are essentially babysitting in nature.  As the crisis subsides there will be volumes written on the new Hybrid workplace as well as how employees and employers agree or disagree on how best to proceed in their relationship.  There is no doubt that personal safety and feeling at ease on the job will play a major part in how employees feel about their employers.   And likewise, employers may see new challenges in attracting and retaining talent if they don’t account for the human factor.

Process

This may be one of the least reported phenomenon’s to have happened in the past 18 months.  Let’s start with the most obvious, working remote.  It seems the dire predictions about how remote work would be a negative impact on productivity was quite off.  Timelines for “Roadmaps” that spanned months or even years saw completion times in days and weeks.  It’s amazing what can be done when the excessive steps and redundant approvals are stripped away. 

What’s interesting is that prior to the pandemic, most organizations probably spent little time reviewing their operating processes.  Most accepted them as they existed.  If the outcomes were predictable or measurable within acceptable timeframes, they didn’t rock the boat.  But when a crisis suddenly magnifies every aspect of a process, including the bloat, every step should be questioned.

With “normal” still being a ways off, many organizations have been placed in the reality of adapting and reviewing their processes.  If not already mapped, a good first step is to review as many of the processes in place as possible.  Start with identifying the inputs and outputs.  Then review any decision points that must occur.  Lastly, what is the end product or service?  This is just cursory, but any process of transformation or adjustment must come from a place of understanding.  The more familiar you are with your processes, the better you are to adapt them to the changing environment.

Technology

I was recently on a web event where one of the panelists indicated that 2020 was the year of “Firing Tech Companies.”  It was quite enlightening to hear this observation.  When you start to unpack it the rationale of whether tech helps or hinders is probably the easiest measure.  High expectations and demands were placed on systems last year with many that probably buckled under the pressure.  We’re in an agile society today that doesn’t have the luxury of waiting.  Tech these days needs to be purchased, acquired/installed/configured in speeds unheard of prior to 2020. 

As new expectations surface from the work from home generation, it’s easy to see how tech fits into the picture.  Coupled with our personal, consumer tendencies literally in the same space as our work platforms, there’s not much to debate.  Employees know what they need to get the job done, efficiently, and their employers are starting to finally see this.  Just consider the rapid turnaround from being sent home to darn near full productivity in a matter of weeks.

On the darker side of things, organizations that were not “digitally mature” or had robust cloud based applications and connectivity have had a terrible time.  When you consider that people are no longer co-located and still need access to data and information, technology is the way.  This is where the concept of overlapping People / Process / Technology starts to make the most sense.

The Sweet Spot!

Now that we have laid out the variables, let bring it all together.  When you consider a Venn Diagram like in the visual for this blog, there is a “Sweet Spot” where the three interact.  This is where one can see the benefits of an optimized process, aligned with a robust employee experience and delivered through a technology layer / application that borders on transparent.  But how does one get to this point?  Good Question!

It’s a matter of evaluating and aligning the three variables.  As we discussed with People, the primary factor to consider is Experience.  So, if we look at overlapping People and Tech, we would find an Employee Experience that rivaled consumer sites like Amazon and Facebook.  In order to hit the sweet spot, we would need to ensure a Process that supports data in and data out that are optimized for maximum benefit.

Now, what happens if we look at People and Process.  This is more difficult due to ownership and politics.  Not impossible, this combination just takes a bit more time.  The evaluation and commitment to changing a process can be tricky.  Thankfully there are times, such as right now, where the normal constraints are not an issue.  “Never let a crisis go to waste” is why so many are seeing success in revising their processes in the last year.  When the process is lean it is most efficient.

Finally, one area that has been a problem for both vendors and customers is aligning Process and Technology.  This is where most dissatisfaction lies with a technology platform or product.  Organizations look to and purchase technology to make things better, easier.  The problem lies with the inability to change and adapt a process to leverage the technology.  While many systems can be configured to align with various processes, it’s when a process (owner) is unwilling to change and leverage the technology as it was designed for maximum value and benefit.

As we continue to navigate uncharted waters in 2021 it will be important to keep People / Process / Technology in mind.  Hopefully this blog has given you some ideas as to where you can start to move all three to the “Sweet Spot.” When all three are aligned the value to each increase exponentially!