Not Much Value from Process Investments? Blame the Sponsors

Many organizations realize that they haven't been able to realize much value from their process investments. An immediate reaction is to blame the model - "it doesn't work that well". This situation is a sad reality in many organizations.

It must be noted that all improvement models are passive entities that spring to life when adopted by an organization. The deployment of an improvement model takes its own hues and colours based on the "cultures" and "sub-cultures" present in the organization.

In all such analysis and discussion, the role of sponsor needs to be looked at carefully. Sponsors can make or break the value from a process investment. If the sponsor is purely certification-oriented then the value is naturally bound to be diminished. Some of the statement one would get to hear from such sponsors could be somthing like:

• "I want us to be certified by dd-mmm-yyyy". There is generally a weak logic behind this date and in almost all cases decided based on utter ignorance of ground realities. Someone challenging the date or suggesting its extension becomes the "bad guy" for the sponsor. The certification does happen by the suggested (sic) date but the organization doesn't get the time to absorb the changes in a natural manner resulting in challenges with sustaining the changes thereafter.
• "What happened to the meeting that I had suggested to be started between these two groups?". The real message from the Sponsor is actually "you better start those meetings or else". There is no discussion on alternative mechanisms to achieve the real purpose. In fact most of the times the Sponsor is clueless about the purpose. The meetings do get started but with a lesser effectiveness than what were actually possible.
• "You should invite him also to the meeting" where him refers to someone who is a "yes sir" guy for the Sponsor. The person leading the process initiative is made to report into the "yes sir" guy and in case the person leading the process initiative disagrees the Sponsor would force it through his throat via the "yes sir" guy
• "He should be taken in the team driving the process initiative". The Sponsor pushes a person into the team driving the process initiative without any valid reason or explanation. There is no concern to competency, fitment or need and with utter disregard to the fact that every position needs to be filled with the best candidate. And this is unfortunately done while the Sponsor brags about "we have the best people practices and let's do something to mature them further".
• "I want the Moon, the Stars and yes the Sun also", this is what the Sponsor tells at the end to the person managing the process initiatives. This is done with along with the above points. It is obvious why such organizations are not able to realize much value from their process investments.

Such situations are less prevalent in professional organizations. However in pseudo-professional organizations this is highly rampant. Pseudo-professional organizations are those where founders are in the CEO/MD roles or founders are always micro-managing the CEO/MD and in either case nano-managing the person leading the process initiative on all crucial decisions.