Rebranding process excellence as process enablement

In October 2021 social media giant Facebook changed its name and entire brand to Meta. In one of the most dramatic rebrands of this century, the organization completely reinvented itself to focus the world’s attention on their new strategic direction – the establishment of the “Metaverse” where social media connectivity became unbound and immersive.

The success of that new vision remains to be seen, but there’s no denying the impact of such a rebrand. Numerous other high-profile businesses in recent years have made more subtle adjustments to how they’re presented in the world in order to recapture the imagination of their market and grow their customer base. It’s no surprise, either. Rebranding renews interest in a business, repositioning the company or product in the market and engaging with new audiences. It reinforces the organization’s values, or reshapes them, and increases the perceived relevance and value of what they do.

When we think about the perception of process management initiatives within many organizations, that sounds like exactly what they need. Process excellence is key to improving the operational effectiveness of a business, reducing and managing risk, increasing efficiency and improving customer outcomes. No one would argue that those are great things, but for many, the sticking point is the word excellence. We all want to strive for such a lofty goal, but it can feel unattainable, reducing motivation by its distance and perfection. That’s why some enterprises have rebranded their efforts to improve process management. Rather than establish a Center of Excellence to focus their initiatives, they have created a Center of Enablement.

READ: 5 hot takes on process excellence, AI and big data

The power of one word

Enablement is a great way to describe a well-executed strategy for effective process management. It captures the need for the entire organization to be engaged in identifying and improving processes and risk management, actively empowered to make changes that add value business-wide. It doesn’t shift the goalposts of excellent processes. Still, it creates a culture where, instead of a few ‘experts’ driving towards a distant goal, the entire company has a stake in improving things through continuous incremental improvements.

Enabling process improvement

That’s the first element that a Center of Enablement unlocks – continuous improvement at the grassroots level. Process management teams have long struggled with bringing change to operations where the staff haven’t been engaged in developing those changes. There can be a distrust of the ‘external’ authorities, or approaches that aren’t well understood or communicated. Oftentimes, that communication breakdown is two-way, with critical operational insights being held by department staff and never shared with those who are trying to take a more technical approach.

Enabling those practitioner-experts to become part of the process improvement cycle immediately unlocks that hard-won experience. By creating channels for suggestions and process reviews, teams can own the improvements that are developed and become invested in their success. By creating a culture of collaboration on technical process improvement, everyone becomes a stakeholder and feels empowered to contribute to the pursuit of better ways of working.

READ: What’s your process language?

Enabling risk management

Risk and compliance management is seen by many as a management responsibility, but by framing it within a Center of Enablement, people can begin to understand the part they play in maintaining uninterrupted business operations. A good process management platform allows for risk management at every level, with key individuals responsible for reviewing their processes and ensuring mitigation practices are being kept up. 

When risk management is enabled organization-wide, teams can start to think in terms of safety and compliance in their own procedures at every level. Giving staff permission to identify risks and raise them allows for a more robust risk management environment, and more comprehensive coverage. Those teams will be more likely to embrace the steps needed to reduce or eliminate those risks too, which can only further safeguard business practices.

Enabling smart automation

The rise of robotic process automation (RPA), automated workflows and most recently the use of AI and generative tools has been something of a revolution for process management. However, much of this technology remains firmly anchored in the IT department, and while the tools show great promise, a limited understanding of their real implementation strengths can create frustrations on both sides of the equation.

Enabling effective automation involves utilizing low-code and no-code solutions to democratize the implementation of solutions. By allowing teams to develop their own workflows and automation, they can explore effective ways of using the tools, reducing the IT bottleneck and allowing technical staff to focus on providing and supporting effective platforms for use. That pays dividends in educating staff on the real value of automation and helping them identify real opportunities to employ it rather than being distracted by idealized scenarios that reality can’t support.

READ: 6 things intelligent automation can’t do for your business

Enabling excellence

Process excellence must be a value embedded in the culture of any organization hoping to practice continuous improvement and see real results. Every person in the business needs to understand that they’re not only expected to engage with their processes, but have the power to make real, meaningful changes. For some companies, that might mean they need to rebrand their efforts. Reframing process excellence as enablement takes the work of ‘specialists’ and puts it in the hands of every person in the company, offering them the chance to engage in the pursuit of better ways of working for themselves. That’s real enablement, and it can make a real difference.