I recently wrapped up research on our People of Process Management project. We conducted this survey back in 2019, and it was fun to gather new insights, as well as look at the data from 2019.
This is part one of my research recap and will cover what drove professionals to a career in process and what skills process professionals need. My second blog will cover what has changed, or stayed the same, since the 2019 survey.
Let’s dive in!
Why A Process Career?
There are many factors that drive someone to choose a career in process. As the foundation of work, process touches everything an organization does and requires a wide array of skills, from critical thinking to facilitation and change management. From the many responses in our recent survey, I drew five key themes for the reasons people find themselves in a process role:
- A desire to make things better – 31% of survey respondents see process work as a natural extension of their desire to do the following: develop staff, improve business processes, understand business processes, or implement a process management structure.
- To advance their career – 28% of survey respondents found themselves in a process related role as a way to advance their careers through deepening their understanding of their current organization, the process management discipline, or growing their career, either vertically or in the number of responsibilities.
- They were a natural fit – 21% of survey respondents saw process work as a natural fit because they either possess the skills to be successful in process management or the associated tasks are interesting and exciting to them.
- They fell into process by default – 12% of survey respondents happened to fall into process work because current competencies drove them to process, current/past roles led to process, or fell into process through job promotions shifts in roles/responsibilities.
- The role itself – 8% of survey respondents are in process because they are simply attracted to the job/role itself due to the benefits, or others that push/guide them into the role.
What Skills Do a Process Professional Need?
Regardless of how process professionals end up working in the process area, the need to grow their skills is a necessity. Process people must be highly analytical, logical, and detail oriented to identify and solve process problems. In our recent survey, we found the top five most common skills for process professionals are:
- Flexibility – 83% of survey respondents
- Active listening - 82% of survey respondents
- Communications – 82% of survey respondents
- Process management - 78% of survey respondents
- Critical thinking - 77% of survey respondents
In the survey, the competencies were categorized into three categories – deep work, social and soft skills, and technical skills. Through most of the data cuts and analysis we found that a majority of process professionals consider a mix of all three categories to be important, with social and soft skills playing a larger role in the current competencies, while technical skills showed up more on the list of skills to develop.
New technologies, especially generative AI and robotic process automation (RPA) could change the nature of process work. To stay relevant in a fast-paced environment, our survey found that most professionals see a need to develop skills in the following areas over the next eighteen months:
- Artificial intelligence (AI)/AI chatbots (56% of survey respondents)
- Process automation/robotic process automation (51% of survey respondents)
- Human-centric design (45% of survey respondents)
- Lean/Six Sigma management (39% of survey respondents)
- Technology fluency (39% of survey respondents)
The skills process professionals consider important now, or in the future align with the most common activities participants noted in the survey. On average, process people spend most of their time on project management and process documentation efforts, followed closely by promoting the process management program throughout their organization. Those activities all benefit from skills like active listening, communication, and flexibility, just to name a few.
Learn More During Our 'Where Are People Of Process' Webinar
If you’re looking to learn more about the research findings, join me for a webinar this December. In the meantime, learn more about the research here: People of Process Management 2023.