Employees follow a process when four things happen after it is written down. They are trained on it. Someone measures whether it is followed. A manager acts on what the measure shows. And the process is updated when the work changes. Most companies stop at training. The other three steps are where a process sticks.
Four steps that make a process stick
- Train the people who do the work, with their manager in the room.
- Measure one thing. Is the process followed, how often, and with what result?
- Manage it every week. The manager reviews the measure and acts on it.
- Update it when the work changes, and at least once a year.
Keep the document short. Process! puts a documented process at one to five pages (Lisa Gonzalez, Process!, p. 85).
“A process nobody follows is a leadership problem before it is a training problem.” Lisa Gonzalez, EOS Implementer® and co-author of Process!
The full guide, with a seven-step training plan and how to measure adherence: How to Get Employees to Follow Your Processes