The Power of Processes

I love processes. Processes help you to go faster and make improvements. This means you can go quicker the next time you undertake the same task and are even better or more effective.

I have a process for everything. From getting ready in the morning to doing laundry to creating PowerPoint presentations. As soon as I do something once, I immediately start thinking about how I can improve.

Let’s consider laundry. Do you do all of yours unsorted in one load on the cold-water setting? Do you divide it up based on colors, whites, and specialty items? Or do you tackle the hamper of individual family members separately? Each option has its benefits and potential hazards.

If you can fold and sort with the speed of Hermes, then the first method may be your preference. Are you more concerned about whether your new cashmere sweater will come out fitting you or your toddler? The second option may be optimal then. Or if you find that switching up how you do laundry keeps you on top of your washing game and out of the malaise of the laundry room, then a rotation of ways may be your thing.

Both process and repetition sound the same by definition. Repetition is “the action of repeating something that has already been said, written, or done.” While a process is “a series of actions, motions, or operations leading to some result.”

You hear athletes talk about the advantages of repetition all the time. No matter the sport, true competitors are willing to do a movement over and over again so that their body seems to memorize it and repeat the motions on its own until a personal level of perfection is reached.

Getting back to laundry, repetition is synonymous with grabbing a filled basket of clothes, opening the washer door, putting the clothes in, latching the door closed, opening the detergent drawer, filling it the drawer with detergent, considering whether to add bleach or fabric softener, closing the detergent drawer, powering the machine on, selecting the desired water temperature, and touching the start button. Yadda yadda yadda. (I bet I started to lose you there for a second.)

Repetition is great when you are trying to master something—like performing a double axel on skates. It’s also great, when doing something rote. When you have a repetitive process for doing laundry, you won’t forget to put the Tide in the machine before you hear the spin cycle taking off like an airplane.

But here’s where repetition can take a wrong turn: It happens once you have learned how to do something well. If you keep just repeating what you know, you are never going to be able to execute a triple axel or business plan. That’s were processes take over. You must understand all that you did to learn the double axel to begin doing actions that will take your leap to the next level.

In business, both repetition and processes are worthwhile. If someone doesn’t get to work early and repeat the process of turning on the lights on every day at 7:45 a.m., the place will seem dark and uninviting at 8:00 a.m. when the full team arrives. The result will be that it will take team members twice as long to get revved up and going on their day’s tasks. And the sales pitch will tank, if the proper processes are not followed in its development to maximize team involvement and buy-in, ensure market conditions and current stats are analyzed, strategize the best path forward, and finish in time for the client presentation.

Why shouldn’t you promise a report to your manager or a client because it met with approval and appreciation the first time around? The answer is hidden behind the joy of kudos or the cover it gave for a decision made.

Things can and will take a disastrous turn when process and repetition are confused for one in the same. Just because you have a great process for completing reports beyond expectations might not necessarily mean that a data sheet should become a repetitive deliverable. Just because something is done well and well-received once a week doesn’t necessarily mean it should be done four times in a seven-day period. Why shouldn’t you promise a report to your manager or a client because it met with approval and appreciation the first time around? The answer is hidden behind the joy of kudos or the cover it gave for a decision made. It is that the weight of repetition could affect quality, novelty, interest, innovation, and your ability or that of your team members to produce.

So, when considering whether to turn that repetition into a process, carefully weigh your options. If something is truly special, keep it special: Don’t be a repeater. If it will tip the scales in your favor and not overwhelm you or your team in executing it, figure out how to be a processor.

Your power and that of your team lies in the correct choice.