Scar tissue

Processes are designed to help define outcomes, engagements and compliance. But processes, break.

Someone goes around the process.

A detail is missed in the process and effects escape.

Time, money, and effort are wasted.

So we put fixes in place…a little minor process surgery. Corrective actions are typically quickly put in place, and rightfully so, to ease the concerns of customers and our leaders. At the time, we put the best solutions in place we have available. But over the time we add more controls, more signatures, more checks.

Adding processes or at least not revisiting earlier corrections are a little like the buildup of scar tissue over time. And then we audit ourselves to a process, rather than solutions. But we can do better. We can utilize lean principles, design thinking, and six sigma to see a way to solve the challenge of total customer satisfaction with the optimal controls and intervention. The tools our organizations have today to address process issues are far more advanced than they were ten years ago, or even two years ago.

We owe it to our clients and our teams to align on solutions, to reevaluate the old surgeries and potentially remove some of the scar tissue of old band aid processes without compromising our commitment to the users. We can streamline without sacrificing quality. We can enable speed and accuracy if we are willing to dive into a process and fix it from the inside.