Oftentimes, organizations ask me for help with a ‘people’ problem. They’ll show me examples of employees in different departments who just can’t seem to get along. When I hear about these types of situations, what I automatically think is “Ah! I bet there’s a hidden process problem: that there’s something ‘wrong’ in the underlying processes that those people are using to get their work done. Think about it. When the processes you and your colleagues use function effectively and efficiently, work flows easily, customers are happy and everyone gets along. When those processes aren’t working well, it’s hard to work and easy for people to get frustrated and grumpy with each other. So, my suggestion is if people in your organization aren’t getting along, don’t immediately assume there’s a people problem, try looking at the processes first!
