What’s your process language?

Language matters. To illustrate the point on a recent client visit, I took a few minutes at the start of my presentation to introduce myself and my background. I outlined my experience in the field of process excellence with the team and what I hoped to share with them. I did so in my native tongue, German.

What makes this noteworthy is that I was in Bangkok at the time, presenting to a team of Thai executives and managers. As you can imagine, they had no idea what I was talking about.

Switching to English, I explained: “Although I don’t speak Thai, I do speak English, as I know most of you do. By finding common ground, we are far more likely to understand each other today.” This example helped to relay a key point at the outset of my presentation: The language you use makes a big difference to how effectively you communicate.

When working with processes, we often focus on what we know or what we need. The process expert wants everything in business process model and notation (BPMN) and on a single A3 sheet of paper. The risk owner wants everything long-form and recorded in detail. The line worker wants something that’s clear, with steps that are simple to follow.

While I was very comfortable speaking German in that meeting because it comes naturally to me, it was fairly unlikely that anyone else in the room was fluent in the language. Similarly, if they’d asked me something in Thai – the language they were most familiar with – I would have been equally confused. We needed to find a way for everyone to understand and be understood.

When developing automation solutions and exploring new technologies in the pursuit of digital transformation, it’s easy to forget the importance of making sure underlying processes are easy to understand. The foundation of a good automation suite is sound process knowledge that everyone can access and make use of in an appropriate way.

Speaking the language of risk

Getting everyone on the same page has a significant impact on risk management. If process information isn’t readily available and comprehensible, there is a high risk of process breakdowns and compliance issues occurring.

As low-code and no-code automation tools become more and more accessible, it’s vital to ensure those people developing your automation solutions have a clear understanding of the processes they’re working with. The best BPMN flowchart in the world won’t help if the person coding the RPA bot can’t read it, and a detailed 10-page procedure document isn’t going to be beneficial if they can’t picture how the steps interact.

Find a process platform that holds the depth of detail in an accessible manner – one that speaks the language of those involved. Similarly, teams should use the same tool to document their work, so you don’t have to start over or have new teams try to decipher specialized records when it’s time to revise or update existing workflows.

Speaking the language of automation

Implementing effective automation solutions must begin with clear processes. When processes can’t be followed easily by those building the bots and workflows, there is a good chance they may miss the capture of important elements. The resulting solutions may be less effective, retaining more manual elements than needed or missing steps that impact the efficiency and outcome of the process.

By not having a clear grasp of underlying processes, valuable opportunities for technological improvements could be overlooked because no one thought to capture and communicate them in a way everyone could easily understand.

Speaking the language of improvement

Process excellence is everyone’s responsibility, but if your processes are inaccessible to the teams that use them, they won’t be able to contribute to refining those procedures. A great process platform will clearly capture what gets done in an easy-to-understand format, providing teams the opportunity to offer suggestions for improvements, based on their hard-won experience.

The process platform will also have the depth of detail that allows process experts to examine the workflows and dependencies for risk, reviewing timeframes and exploring efficiencies. It needs to speak both of those languages to ensure no one is missing vital information, and everyone can contribute to making processes better.

Language matters. Whether you’re embarking on a digital transformation journey, or focusing on achieving compliance, your processes need to be captured and recorded in the most effective format for the people who use them. While business analysts will look for detailed numbers and reports, and teams on the factory floor want clear steps and forms, leaders need to employ a platform that can meet everyone’s needs effectively.

At the end of the day, your processes need to be recorded in the language the people using them understand, so find a way to capture and communicate them clearly and effectively for your whole organization.