^The APQC Blog

I recently spoke with Ron Ross, Business Rule Solutions, LLC, to discuss operational silos and why they develop, their impact on organizational effectiveness, and the role of process management in bridging the gap between them.

Process failure is everywhere. Entire industries and methodologies have grown around trying to resolve obvious failures in business processes, from reducing cycle time to eliminating waste. But what about process failures with less obvious causes? What about processes that you don’t even know are about that fail? What happens when good-intentioned people bypass your carefully designed processes and you don’t realize it until it’s too late?

“The only constant in life is change”—coined by Greek philosopher Heraclitus 2500 years ago—is one of those sayings that feels progressively more true. From mergers and acquisitions to reorgs and big technology projects, it seems like we’re always in the midst of a “transformational” shift that sucks up the organization’s collective bandwidth and emotional energy.

Last month, we talked about the most important factors to consider when picking a framework. Now that we’ve discussed how to choose a framework, let’s look at some of the ways in which every organization should be using a process framework.

2019 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for KM. Organizations large and small, across industries and around the world, are engaging in digital transformation. They’re making significant investments in new technologies, many of which will uproot old workways and IT infrastructures. In this transformative moment, knowledge managers need to recognize three important principles: change is a constant, your north star is the business, and adaptability is key to survival. 

Change, Change, and More Change