John wrote in LO7941 "Rol Fessenden and Joan Pomo were talking about
whether there should be a commitment to outcomes or process".
Is there a choice ?
What is the purpose of process ? Isn't it to reach desired outcomes ?
What is the purpose of process improvement ? Isn't it to reach our
outcomes more easily, elegantly, with less waste, . . . ?
I agree with Ben Compton (LO7968) and Julie Beedon (LO7954)
Process only exists in the context of an outcome -- and ultimately the
purpose(s) of the organisation. So for me the primary committment is to
corporate purpose and the outcome(s) that flow from it; the secondary
commitment is to process. It is secondary because I will change (c.f.
improve) the process if I believe that will help me achieve my outcome.
On vacation I may prefer to travel rather than to arrive; generally I want
to arrive; travel enables me to do that. Committing myself to travel
alone enables me to avoid failing to arrive. Commiting myself to be in
Des Moines by next Thursday fortnight gives me the opportunity to succeed
(and to fail). Knowing my goal I can PDSA the process -- and the
meta-process.
John says "work does get done by processes". What is the work ? Is it
delivering outcomes ? Then he says something that puzzles me "successes
and failures are always value judgments rendered after the fact". Maybe
that is true if your commitment is to process. A useful outcome includes
the measures of its successful attainment - i.e. it includes an
operational definition of the desired result. At the end of the day
either the criteria are met or thay are not. There is success or there is
failure.
In general I agree that "no one intentionally fails, and (2) that
successes and failures are always temporary and arbitrary stopping points
on our journey."
I think Robert Fritz explains the importance of setting up a hierarchy of
goals and making process subservient to goals in very clear terms in the
second edition of "Corporate Tides" published in the US last week by
Berrett-Koehler. He also says lots more that is relevant to developing
organisations and people that learn. I'd love to develop a dialogue
around the relationship between Fritz's and Senge's ideas. Has anyone
else read it ?
(For those of you that do not immediately recognise the name, Fritz was a
co founder of Innovation Associates with Peter Senge and Charlie Kieffer
and did much of the work behind the first of the five disciplines which
Senge calls Personal Mastery and Fritz calls the creative process.)
Alan
--Alan Mossman e-mail 100733.3202@compuserve.com The Change Business Ltd voice (+44) 01453 765611 19 Whitehall Stroud GL5 1HA England fax (+44) 01453 752261
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>