People, Process, and Leadership

Last month Dan McCarthy posted “Great Employees Trump Perfect Processes” on his Great Leadership Blog. Dan took on the people who claim some variant of “There are no bad employees, there are only bad processes.”

Anyone who has managed for any length of time will be able to tell you that there certainly are “bad employees.” Sometimes they’re people who aren’t willing to work. Sometimes they’re people who are perfectly competent, but poison the atmosphere. Sometimes they’re people who simply don’t fit in the job or company where they’ve landed.

But that’s not the whole story. It’s not “great employees” or “perfect processes,” both people and process determine the outcome. And there’s a third component: leadership.

Imagine that you want to prepare a great dinner. You’re most likely to succeed if you have a good recipe (process) and great ingredients (people) and a competent cook (leadership). If any one of those components is bad, the dinner will probably not turn out well.

When you’ve considered that, consider this: most of the time we don’t get great or perfect, we get average. That’s how life is.

So what do you do? Start with the people and find the best ones you can. Consider attitude and cultural fit in addition to skills. Do not mistake brains for the ability to perform.

Turn your people loose on your processes. We know that good process can make teams and armies of ordinary people capable of extraordinary performance. But we also know that the people wrestling with the process usually are the best at figuring out how to make it better.

Pay attention to the process you use for selecting leaders. Choose first-time leaders for their demonstrated ability and willingness to succeed in the job.

Wally Bock

Wally Bock is a coach, a writer and President of Three Star Leadership.