Kindness & Processes ?

What do you mean by poor processes and the 'human -factor'?

Processes are at the heart of how an organisation is run. 

No matter what a leader thinks about their organisation, if it isn't written down, there isn't a commitment. This is a poor process. 

A process is also poor when it is written down but then it isn't carried out. For example if an employer says there are regular salary-reviews, but then those reviews don't take place without reminders. In simpler terms, a promise was made and then broken. This is a poor process. 

Finally some processes are poor processes because they don't help the employee or the employer/organisation. For example some processes (such as remote working expense policies) focus more on preventing one rogue employee from shirking or skimming than enabling the majority from doing their job well. 

Defining the the human-factor.

The human factor refers to processes or policies that deal with intangible or uncountable aspects, like feelings. Processes or policies are there to help manage work situations that they deal with these messy human aspects. They include social-constructs like trust or loyalty. As well as complex psychological concepts such as pride and work-ethic. 

To get a better idea of what's going wrong inside organisations I 'asked' the people on the ground; employees. I looked for research that showed me the common problems. I looked for surveys that were carried out with robust numbers (several thousand respondents) and across organisations and time periods. This way we can be confident that these are common issues. I didn't need to search very long, the issues are common and ongoing. 

Here are two examples of surveys that asked employees "what would you do to improve the organisation?". 

What does this tell us about processes? 

Firstly, bear in mind that we are using two separate surveys, with a robust number of respondents from different organisations, in different time periods, answering different questions. The fact they gave very similar answers shows us that these opinions & issues are common-place.  It might be tempting to assume that your organisation isn't the same. Until you've asked (i.e. run a survey) it's more likely your organisation is similar than less. 

Secondly, many of these issues should be managed by basic processes. 

• Employee goals should be managed by appraisals or PDRs (personal development reviews)

• More frequent meetings with employees are also part of appraisals

• So is improved communication. 

• Micro-management happens when a manager or leader doesn't trust the employee to carry out their tasks. If this is happening, it too should be pick up by appraisals. 

In fact, all of these issues are better handled by having just one process in place. One process could help get rid of nearly 50% of employee dissatisfaction. 

Communication is also at the root of many  of these issues. Empathy and people skills, team bonding, more meetings, fostering culture and, erm ... improved communication could all be solved with better communication. 

What does that tell us about kindness? 

It tells us that poor processes are a significant cause of employee dissatisfaction. And it shows us that employees are want leadership and clear communication more than they want money. Nearly 75% of all the things that employees would change are about better processes and only 26% are about more money.  

It also demonstrates that the current mindset is one of unkindness (lacking in consideration, friendliness and generosity) and that a kinder mindset would naturally address these issues.