//The difference between process and people

The difference between process and people

2018-06-14T21:07:52+00:00

There's a big difference between process and people. It's absolutely vital that you know the difference so that you can manage them better.

Quality & Me

Subir shares short stories about what people do to make a difference everywhere they go. We can make huge contributions to the way we function as a society by standing out as an example within our own community: at work, at our places of worship, among our colleagues, friends, and family. All it takes is the courage to step up and being straightforward, thoughtful, accountable, and resilient.

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Books by Subir

The Power of LEO
The Ice Cream Maker
The Power of Design for Six
The Power of Six Sigma
Organization 21c

Books read by Subir

Mindset matters.

When it comes to quality, mindset is the difference between short-term results and long-term success.

What I’ve discovered during my work with organizations of all sizes is that you can install the best processes, and they will probably work. You may even get some decent results.

But why would you settle for “decent” when you can have extraordinary?

Here’s the secret ingredient in the difference: people.

Real, sustainable quality involves both process and people. People who have a caring mindset.

When you have a caring mindset, there is literally no end to the levels of success you can achieve.

Don’t get me wrong. Having strong processes in place are important to an organization’s success. But they are only part of the equation. Without “people” your numbers will never add up.

Even the best processes lose their power and their efficiency if the people enacting them don’t genuinely care about what they are meant to produce.

If just one person lacks a caring mindset, the dominos start to fall. A bad apple can ruin the entire bunch.

Mindset influences how we think about things. It’s that little voice inside your head that guides everything you do and say. Having an open and caring mindset is an important facet of what makes us human.

Unfortunately, not everyone has a caring mindset. I bet you know someone who can’t be bothered to understand someone else’s point of view. Or someone who gives in only because they’ve given up. Or someone else who is always blaming everyone else, never taking responsibility.

Sounds ugly, doesn’t it? You can have the best systems in place, but if people don’t care, your organization – and everyone in it – will suffer.

I once heard a CEO comment that it was important to care about customers, but that first we need to care about each other. In other words, we all need a caring mindset to fire on all cylinders.

Without people, no amount of process will improve your quality.

Making Choices

Subir reflects on his arrival into the United States with the promise of a job, only to find that the promise is broken. Practically penniless, Subir searches deep into his soul. Undefeated and undeterred, Subir pursues professors and department heads until he meets one who asks: You went to 20 departments, and now it is the 21st one; if I say no to you what you would do? Subir tells him, "I will go to the 22nd." This is Subir's story, not of conquest, but of perseverance in the face of making difficult choices.

How to make everyone a S.T.A.R.

One company had a return that equaled 5 times the cost of their investment in the program. Another company had a return that equaled 100 times the cost of their investment! It’s a true story. I know, because both companies were clients of my firm. Both companies got a return on their investment, but I still felt both frustrated and perplexed that one had done so much better. The reason for the difference kept puzzling me—why would one company do so much better using the same processes?

Have you gotten the “Wake-up” call to be straightforward?

A director I was consulting with always expected people to come to him. This guy really believed that no news was good news. Like a lot of senior level executives, he expected people to come to him, not vice versa. The problem was, no news wasn’t good news—it was the opposite. Problems weren’t getting resolved.

Do you work in a fake culture?

If you are not being true to yourself in all aspects of your life, you’re living in a fake culture. As a leader, a fake culture makes it impossible to develop a caring mindset. Without a caring mindset, you’ll never make a difference, or be the difference.