Ruth and I can see them instantly in a room full of people. A little like an oasis in the middle of a desert. The way they talk about problems. The way they describe a process. The way they doodle in their meeting notebook trying to talk about their pain point at work. I’m pretty certain there is even a special twinkle in their eye. It is thrilling and exciting. Total #MCM (Man Crush Monday) or #WCW (Woman Crush Wednesday) when I meet someone with process aptitude.
Want to be our #MCM or #WCW?
Learn and use the 3 habits of “Process People”
#MCM for process people
1. Be a doodler:
Process people get the concept of visually representing a process. People process visual information much faster, and processes can be complex and difficult to explain with words. Getting to the root of an issue by quickly doodling that part of the process is a great way to start articulating the problem. It doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t even have to use the right shapes, just get your view of the process out on paper while you are chatting with someone. Process people’s meeting notebooks are filled with diagrams and scribbles – all a way to distill information to someone else who might not be as close to the process as they are.
2. Talk Data:
Process people understand the importance of data to baseline the performance of an existing process so that you can compare it o the new process. Make sure that you understand the impacts and details of the current process problem, and can you set targets for your future state. What are you trying to improve, reduce, or eliminate? Improve turnaround time? Reduce change requests? Eliminate errors? Where do you want to get to? By when?
3. Know the Players:
Process people understand that people have a huge impact on a process. Understand all the touch points, people, positions, roles, or departments touch a process. Then you can use our free process mapping template to take your doodles and take them one step further by using the swimlanes.
Just bringing these habits into your every day life can make you someone with “process aptitude” and that’s a great thing!
Tell us about your process #MCM’s and #WCW’s on Twitter @whiteboardcons.
Until next time,
Nicole