RANA’s previous articles on Process Leadership deal with: process as an asset to the organization; the ownership of processes; process integration; the skills needed to work with processes; and the role of Process Leadership in transformation and change. Now, we ask, “What is the cost of building the organization’s Process Leadership capability and what is the return on the investment?”
We say: “Build the strength to change”. Accepting that change is needed constantly in any organization is key to understanding the Cost-Benefit of developing Process Leaders. An obvious example of needed change in the past 3 to 5 years has been the need to adjust organizational strategy and operations to the world-wide pandemic, including its aftermath.
Some organizations thrived, other organizations survived and still others disappeared; they either closed unceremoniously, were bought out by a competitor or simply petered out through lack of sales. Pandemics, ice storms, wildfires, acts of terrorism, wars and other natural and manmade disasters are not the only causes for needed change in organizations. The rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence, changes in the marketplace, the actions of competitors, a decline in employee morale; in fact, virtually any transformation in the environment of an organization precipitates the need for change. One of the wise sayings around change is: “You can either drive change or you can suffer it.”
So, driving change costs cold hard cash, i.e., an investment in the organization’s future. Since we know that it’s not the organization but its people that change, the place of Process Leadership becomes a lot clearer. Process Leaders build the strength to change. As an organizational executive with decision making authority, you don’t have any spare cash to spend on change actions that don’t work; what you want is to invest in those that do. Process Leaders help the individuals and groups in the organization to understand and engage in the change process. Therefore, the organization is investing in needed change by investing in its people.
Change does cost money. Spending it on purely organizational solutions, such as technology, infrastructure, adjustments to hierarchies and down-sizing may be useful. However, in no way will such expenditures equal the benefits accrued by enlisting the organization’s people in a meaningful change process. Investing in and supporting Process Leaders as they engage the organization’s people in change provide a “big time” pay off. That’s because after all is said and done, the organization IS its people…
