Prioritizing People Over Processes: A Useful Guide

There’s a lot to say about the importance of social value and building meaningful relationships with stakeholders to encourage sustainable growth within the industry when it comes to business resilience. Whether with clients, partners, or your employees, an organization is only as good as its most loyal and resilient team members. People over processes have always been the epicenter of Agile, which is why human resources has become a crucial business function.

Processes have always superseded the business framework in the past, especially when it comes to team management and coordination because they help in a myriad of ways:

– To reduce repetitive tasks

– Improve communication

– Cut-down complex tasks s

– Complete larger projects on time

They streamline the way forward for teams, whether the marketing department or software development because multiple team members can get tasks done following a unified roadmap. However, there’s a crucial difference between being process-driven and fixating on the process because the latter can often be counter-productive.

Over the past two years, as businesses succumbed to innovating new ways of working, several leaders had to take a step back to re-evaluate whether some processes were even worth keeping. As priorities change for global leaders and adaptability becomes crucial, investing in the right people helps businesses function efficiently.

Here are a few key benefits of prioritizing people over processes:

1. You’re investing in your vision

Processes are efficient, but you need people whose goals and vision align with the organization to implement them and push them toward the right direction. When you invest in your employees’ training, development, and growth and give them a space to learn and grow, they are more likely to give back to your company. Even if you want to change the processes, you need the right team to make it happen.

2. Highly motivated teams deliver more

Hiring and recruiting top talent is easy, but you get the most value when you retain an employee in which you’ve invested time and money. When you trust employees, they trust you back, invest in your vision, and they are more likely to stay with you in turbulent times. As market conditions change rapidly, loyal employees motivated to help you grow are your most significant assets.

3. People drive innovation

When you create an environment conducive to learning and growth, you enable your employees to tap into their creativity and become out-of-the-box thinkers. You don’t want to get stuck in a rut of repetitive processes as this will only hold you back, and to keep up with changing consumer needs, you need people who are willing to take ownership of new initiatives. This is why it’s also important to set precedents to encourage people who go above and beyond to meet your goals instead of staying stuck on falling processes.

4. You boost productivity levels

When you engage employees in the decision-making process and involve them before implementing significant structural changes, there are two positive outcomes:

– Employees are more productive

– The change will be more effective

Self-motivated employees are more effective team leaders and set a positive example for other team members. When they drive the department to be more focused, you get a more productive team and, more importantly, employees who have a sense of achievement and purpose.

5. Processes don’t leave legacies. People do

As an organization, you want to make an impact. You want people to remember you for your contributions with the initiatives you took in whichever capacity. Remember, it takes a whole team to make a difference and incite change. While processes may be the mechanism to achieve your goal, it’s people who will be able to execute it and perhaps even carry forward your legacy.

Ultimately, finding the perfect balance between processes and people is crucial to your business’ success to ensure your team members are productive and not facing any roadblocks. The first step is to get feedback from your employees to gauge their priorities. Prioritize people over processes to boost job satisfaction and meet your business objectives faster.