Successful leaders proscribe to a process or a series of processes. I am not generally a person who loves monotony, but as a leader I have learned the benefits of using a process to guide me through the tasks required in my department.

When I was asked to lead my department on an interim basis, I called a dear friend who was the dean of a law school. I told her that I had been asked to be the interim assistant dean of the student conduct office on my campus. I also told her that one of my reservations was that I had never run a conduct office. I asked her if she believed that I could do the job. Although I didn’t ask her if she thought I could manage the office successfully, I knew that she felt the nerves and concerns lurking behind the question I chose to ask. She assured me that I could do the job. With confidence she said, “You could do the job of a university president!” Honestly, I was struggling to even imagine myself as the assistant dean for a student conduct office so the thought of me as a university president lived somewhere in the distance far away from me. Her final thought in this thread of confidence building comments was to advise me to make sure to get my hands on the office policies and procedures manual. According to her, she trusted in my ability to do any job as long as I had the policies and procedures manual. I didn’t realize it then, but what I learned over the course of the next year in my interim role was that the manual gave the collective processes needed to successfully operate the department.

In the last six months, I have found myself evaluating successful programs and realizing that each program prided itself in the disciplined approach of owning and decidedly engaging in a process. In late July, there was the emergency room technician who choreographed the movements of the cancer patients in the designated waiting area. The patients were directed to wait there in an effort to protect them from airborne diseases.  In this area, the staff could more supply provisions and interim support services to the patients.  The staff made regular visits to this area to comfort the patients while they waited to be seen by the doctors. I thought, “How cool! They have a place just for my loved one.” Then I thought about it and thought that it was not cool that the disease was such a constant issue at the hospital that it required a process. While I wrestled with my thoughts about the need for the process, I was grateful that the process had been established and adopted when we needed it. The process made my family feel that our issue was important and that someone understood the difficulties and challenges associated with the this particular health issue.

Shortly thereafter, an issue arose in my office that brought to my attention that I had developed a process or two myself. I noted that, like the hospital staff, I had a desire to implement steps to address recurring issues in my office. I, too, sought to design plans to address the specific challenges common to those involved in this type of conduct matter. Additionally, I wanted to record the responses and coordinated efforts that would be necessary for an efficient and prompt resolution of that type of conduct matter. As I worked to execute my response to the call, I thought about my friend’s discussion about policies and procedures.  The procedures part became the focus.  It was clear that I had become a director who embraced a process.

A few months later the dots connected for me as I cheered on my Alabama Crimson Tide football team. The network aired an interview between a journalist and a freshman athlete on the team. The student athlete told the reporter that he was experiencing a notable level of success because of “the process.” From the hospital to my department to my college football team, there was evidence of a process. This finding was based on my observations and personal experiences with each group. My findings revealed that there was a greater likelihood of success with a process than there was without a process. The talk about adhering to a process with dogmatic persistence seemed robotic and limiting. This selling of a mechanical approach to managing human behaviors screamed of suffocation to the artist in me. However, my practical, minimalist nature allowed me to analyze these scenarios and discover the benefits.

First of all, having a process removed the guess work after someone made the decision to engage in the challenge, goal, or mission. Secondly, having a process lessened the feelings and insecurities that came as a result of people knowing their potential to show others their human imperfections as they tried to address the tasks mandated to successfully accomplish the goal, remain on a course consistent with the mission, or to overcome the challenge. Having a process established a framework that was expected to or that was known to deliver more successful outcomes than failures. That fact, in and of itself, created a more confident group of participants which in turn resulted in confidence in the work product by those inside and outside of the program. Finally, a reliable and consistent process led to a more confident and unified group working together in the process until there was a resolution of the issue, goal, or mission before them.  As you lead, think about the overall goals and mission of the organization.  As you lead, take note of the  recurring needs, challenges, successes, and failures of the organization.  Then, develop a process for each that can guide those working within the organization to the desired goal or mission.