In Article 1 of the Process Management Series, we highlighted the importance of treating Process as an organizational asset. These assets require managers to develop, operate, maintain, revise and retire them as necessary. To encourage clear accountability, we consider these managers to be Process Owners.
Process Ownership entails the requirement that a single person be accountable for the efficient operation of each process that the organization uses to manage itself or to deliver its product or service. A Process Owner who “owns” a process is accountable for the inputs to that process, the integrity of the content flow from end to end and the output that the process delivers. Process Owners, with guidance from the organization’s executive, also ensure that interfaces and boundaries between processes are clean and functional – that there are no overlaps or gaps to cause unnecessary friction. Thus, Process Ownership becomes a top condition for successful Organization Development, that is to say, the Organization’s management of continuous change.
Clearaccountability requires clear delineation between process and content. Functional (content) managers retain their accountability for content, e.g. Finance or Operations. Process Owners have accountability for the processes used. In some cases, due to regulatory or other requirements, the Functional manager may need to specify significant elements of a process; the Process Owner is still accountable for the smooth operation of the total process in its organizational circumstance.
Process Ownership also implies a cascade of accountabilities, where the top-most owner is accountable for all processes and delegates them according to the organization’s needs. Once someone has been named a Process Owner that person (and that person alone) is delegated accountability as well as authority to manage the process from start to finish. And no, there can’t be more than one owner for a single process: this diffuses accountability and drives inaccurate and inappropriate behaviours at the line level.
Process Owners do well to retain and make use of Process Leaders. While Process Owners are accountable for the quality of “their” process, Process Leaders have the knowledge and the skills assist with identified issues. They can provide coaching and assistance on how best to sustain and improve processes across the organization. Process Leaders also help resolve the points of friction – positive or negative – that occur inevitably at the junction between processes. For example, what are the necessary linkages between Financial Management and Project Management processes? Many project managers find the financial side of their projects problematic, erratic and time consuming. Ensuring harmony between these two large processes as well as their dependent workflows is essential for effective management of both.
By having Process Owners, the organization rapidly discovers which of its processes are functioning well and which need to be updated or scrapped. The results can be: decreased bureaucracy, lower expenditure of energy, less money spent on sustaining obsolete or inadequate processes and sharply reduced work-arounds and waste.
Meanwhile, for more information, please be in touch withRANA, the Process Leadership Company.
