As U.S. citizens were nervously waiting to hear who won the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, the topic of governance came to mind. This topic has recently been coming up in client conversations as well. As change agents and leaders, we’re frequently focused on a particular process. As you think about the process you’re working on or are responsible for, ask yourself, how well is the process governance operating? What is process governance and what are some signs you may have a process governance issue?
Process governance = How you manage a business process in your organization and includes the set of rules, standards, roles and responsibilities to direct, administer, and control the business process
Here are some signs you may have a process governance issue:
Missed process goals
Lack of consistent adoption of the process across the organization
Unclear who owns the process and who has decision authority
Leadership is unclear on what the issues are in the process
Issues with any of the process outputs are slow to be communicated to leadership
Leadership support is inconsistent
Risks in the process aren’t being managed well
Employees in the process are reactive and firefighting most of the time
If you answered your process governance is going smoothly and none of the above signs are happening, great, it’s working well. If however you know the process governance has been rocky and / or the above is occurring, here are five things you can do to start to improve your process governance:
Define roles and responsibilities so it’s clear who is responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for:
The management and continuous improvement of the process
Alignment at the leadership level on the process
Providing oversight and accountability for the process and its outputs
Determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) (i.e. key metrics) of the process that will clarify how the process is performing and where it can be improved
Implement risk management to proactively anticipate and mitigate any issues that could arise in the process
Identify the frequency the process KPIs, major issues, and risks will be reviewed and discussed
Review and discuss the KPIs, major issues, and risks at the frequency defined in #4 above with the governing body defined in #1 above to provide oversight of the process. This governing body can be one that already already exists in the organization or it can be one created just to provide oversight of this business process.
The more you can bring clarity, standardization, and risk management to process governance, the better your process governance will be.
Call to Action
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About the Author: Rosanne Essiambre helps change agents and departments in one-on-one and group settings to be seen, be heard, and be effective in bringing about change in the organization and/or in their personal lives. She provides consulting and facilitation to organizations to improve communications and collaboration, smooth out the change / transformation journey, get to the root cause of an issue so it can be solved for good, improve processes, and implement successful lessons learned. And she conducts workshops, trains, and speaks on Energy Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Being a Change Agent and more. If you or your organization could use support with your change effort or some inspiration, contact Rosanne for a complimentary consultation. Rosanne is a Change Agent Coach, Facilitator, Six Sigma Black Belt, Change Management / Continuous Improvement Consultant, Speaker, and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner with more than 20 years experience working on a variety of transformations across a diverse set of industries both domestically and internationally, while continuously improving herself.