Companies put a great deal of focus on goals and strategies and, often, less effort goes into the tactics and guidance for how work actually gets done. In reality, there’s a personal aspect to what we do that should be understood so that it gets done right and quickly. If you’ve seen the viral video for the Harlem Shake, it illustrates what too many companies look like under their corporate covers.
Doing the Harlem Shake
Enjoy this short video (you may want some sound):
Doing Your Own Thing
What makes the video so entertaining is that everyone is doing his or her own thing. Water cooler guy? …is that guy punching a giraffe? Some have great moves while others look like dancing isn’t really their “thing.” Just like how the company logo can be the only commonality, the beat is in this video is the only thing uniting this group of people.
If the analogy works, it’s because many companies haven’t figured out how to standardize the “simple moves” or complex orchestration that allow work to move efficiently from person from person and department to department. Like the crazy dancers, people are often allowed to pick and choose how to do their work, but this isn’t necessarily good for interaction and collaboration.
Now this doesn’t mean that every move must be prescribed like Gangnam Style (sorry, just couldn’t help it). There needs to be room for creativity inside of a structure that allows the team to excel in a coordinated way. In business, we call it process management, and it makes all of the difference in the world.
For more information on the pervasive adoption of business process management initiatives, check out our webinar.
