No one knows who first said it, but a popular saying asserts: "You don't know where you're going until you know where you've been." I'd like to offer an equally, if not more important, statement that can be applied to process management and improvement: "You don't know where you can go if you don't know where you are."

It's a subtle difference, but knowing where you are means a lot more when embarking on process management initiatives than rehashing where you've been. Zen masters and practitioners of mindfulness concentrate on keeping their thoughts in the present moment and not dwelling in future or past events. This is a good model for some stages of business planning as well.

Sure, project leaders must be aware of previous attempts at process management and understand cultural reactions to other changes in the past. The first statement above definitely applies to change management: "Know where you've been." But if we're talking about other aspects of planning process management initiatives, it's time to move on and investigate the present moment.

Read Evaluating Your Organization's Process Management Capabilities for step-by-step instructions on how to fully understand where you are now. We just published this guide, and I had to share it with you as soon as possible.

What do you think? Are you living in the wake of previous process management efforts? Dreaming of where you want your organization to be? Or are you getting a grip on where you are right now? Reflection is worthwhile, and dreaming can lead to great things. But without a firm grasp on reality, you can't map an actionable path forward.