APQC CONNECT 2026, APQC's annual Process & Knowledge Management Conference, will take place in Houston April 22-23. As part of a special blog series, we invited our breakout speakers to share insights into the themes and topics they’ll be exploring at this year’s event.
In this first post, speakers reflect on the conference theme, Bridge. Streamline. Flow.
What does the theme Bridge. Streamline. Flow. mean to you, and how is it relevant to you and your organization's way of working?
Andrea Gilbert — Assistant Superintendent/Converse County School District #1: Bridge. Streamline. Flow. These three words sum up the work we've been doing for almost a decade. To us, "bridge" means breaking down the silos that naturally develop in any complex organization. We've seen vital knowledge get stuck in departments, processes re-invented across buildings, and institutional memory vanish with every leadership change. Bridging isn't just about tech or communication plans; it's about real connection—places where people, processes, and knowledge come together in ways that actually work.
"Streamline" is where we've seen the biggest shift. We didn't just cut steps—we made process and knowledge management part of the work itself, not something extra. When you weave KM/PM into accreditation and strategy, it stops being busywork and becomes the backbone for everything else. Our strategic plan now includes the goal: “Implement a sustainable system for district processes and knowledge.” That means every strategy, every KPI, and every quarterly review reinforce the value of organized, accessible knowledge.
And "flow"? That's our vision for the future. Flow is when information gets to the right person at the right time with no bottlenecks, no lost knowledge when someone leaves, and no scrambling for evidence during accreditation because it's already built into daily work. We're not all the way there yet, but we're closer than ever. This theme fits us because it captures both the progress we've made and the goal we're still chasing.
Lance Bradshaw — Director, HR Workforce Transformation, Intermountain Health: To me, Bridge. Streamline. Flow. captures the work many organizations are being forced to do right now, whether they planned for it or not. We are operating in environments where technology is advancing faster than our processes, and where knowledge is often fragmented across teams, systems, and roles. Bridging is about intentionally connecting people, functions, and information that have historically operated in silos. Streamlining is about removing friction that slows work down and drains energy. Flow is what happens when those two things come together, and work feels purposeful, efficient, and aligned.
At Intermountain Health, this theme is deeply relevant to our current state. Workforce transformation is not just about deploying new tools like AI or analytics. It is about bridging HR, IT, operations, and clinical leaders around shared outcomes, streamlining processes that no longer serve the organization, and creating flow so people can focus on high-value work rather than navigating complexity. The theme reflects the shift we are making from isolated improvement efforts to an integrated, enterprise approach to transformation.
Ellen Crowley and Shashank Agarwal — Sr. Enablement Program Manager, AWS, and Sr. Technical Program Manager: To me, Bridge. Streamline. Flow. means to form bridges across silos that connect people to the right knowledge at the right time to accelerate customer and business value.
Klaudia Mintus — Architect-Process Excellence; KK Group: This year’s conference theme strongly resonates with me, as our day-to-day work requires close collaboration across multiple departments and teams. In practice, this means continuously building “bridges” between people, processes, and knowledge. These bridges enable smoother processes, more effective communication, and a better flow of information and expertise.
We face these challenges almost every day. While we see clear positive outcomes from this approach, building and maintaining these bridges, and sustaining a consistent flow, is not always easy and requires ongoing effort and commitment.
Lindsay Brown — Director, Process & Project Management; WECU: To me, Bridge. Streamline. Flow. captures the heart of what it takes to make process management meaningful and sustainable—not as a separate initiative, but as a natural way work gets done.
Bridge starts with people. Right now, our focus is on bridging gaps between strategy and execution, between project management and process thinking, and between improvement professionals and the teams doing the work. That bridge is built through shared language, humility, and trust—meeting teams where they are and respecting their expertise while introducing better ways to understand and solve problems together.
Streamline is about simplifying. As a credit union still early in our process management journey, we’ve been intentional about integrating process tools into existing frameworks rather than adding more layers. By embedding simple but powerful practices—like clear problem statements, process definition, and root cause analysis—into our project work, we’ve helped teams focus on purpose and outcomes instead of just deliverables. Streamlining, for us, isn’t about speed alone; it’s about reducing friction so teams can spend their energy on what matters most.
Flow represents the shift we’re seeing as process becomes embedded in the culture. When process thinking becomes trusted and valued, work moves more smoothly across roles and functions. We’re beginning to see that shift—teams are asking for process support instead of resisting it, using data and shared understanding to make better decisions, and collaborating more effectively end to end.
Brad "Nick" DeWitt — Converse County School District #1: Our school district continues to identify areas of improvement through working collaboratively across departments. We have found that most concerns that arise are due to gaps in knowledge sharing between departments, or a lack of consistency in completing the same process. Through the development of processes and knowledge capture we are working to close those gaps, increase proficiency and consistency, and allow transparency across the district of the work being done.
Rebecka Isaksson — KnowFlow Value: Given how fast tech, economic situation, and society in general is evolving and constantly changing, bridging knowledge silos, streamlining business processes by integrating knowledge flows across and within them, becomes essential to stay competitive and attractive as an employer. No organization is better than its collective knowledge, but that knowledge has to flow, or it is wasted.
Neil Hopkins — Department of the Navy: Bridge, to me, means the flow of information and the transfer of data and knowledge. Streamline says efficiency and efficacy. Flow is about how smooth we can move the information around, and how easy we can make the process without losing efficacy.
Genevieve Caplette — Director of Transformation, Michelin: BRIDGE – connecting people, processes, and purpose – represents our need to close the gaps between teams, systems, and expectations so we can work with more unity and transparency. STREAMLINE –removing complexity to work smarter – speaks directly to the heart of simply and to the process‑mapping work we’ve started. FLOW – creating momentum and capacity for what matters most – is what happens when the bridges are built and the processes are streamlined.
Tyson Simmons — Operations Architect - Pinnacle: Being in the middle of a merger, the concept of Bridge. Streamline. Flow. strongly resonates with both me and our company. To me, this concept begins with recognizing a gap—whether that’s a broken process, unclear ownership, or friction between teams—and then intentionally designing the "Bridge" needed to close the gap.
Once the "Bridge" is built, the focus shifts to "Streamlining" it to ensure the bridge is well-designed, efficient, and scalable, rather than adding unnecessary complexity. When those elements are in place, true "Flow" can happen—work moves smoothly, insights travel faster, and processes aren’t getting stuck in "traffic" along the way.
From there, we reach the next gap along the road and design the next "bridge".