A process orientation will serve you well

Having a process orientation while not sounding very exciting will serve you well in this day and age.  Why?  There are many reasons but the main one is that life is too important to approach with a roll of the dice.  Lack of spontaneity may appear as a lackluster way of living but I want you to truly consider the efficiency of your efforts without a plan. From an image standpoint, the way you do things is more important than what you actually do.  Let’s walk though a few of the underpinnings of a good process orientation and how it can improve your chances of success.

Predictability

You can view life as an ice cream sundae.  When it comes down to it, the tried and true ice cream sundae is rather mundane.  Chances are I am going to get one or two scoops of vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate or strawberry syrup. This I know. The ice cream parlor also knows I know this.  Their entire marketing strategy depends on the fact that without even seeing me, they can depend on me predicting that my friendly neighborhood ice cream parlor will have the very same ice cream sundae I grew up with as a kid.  This prediction is virtually guaranteed to bring them business.  Now, if when I visit them and I find “their” version of “my” ice cream sundae now contains key lime sorbet with chocolate truffle chunks and mango topping, then we have a problem.  People like predictability.  A process mentality lends itself to being predictable.  This goes for business or relationships. Would you expect a marriage proposal on a first date?  No.  There are protocols involved.  One of the keys to success is meeting and managing expectations.  Give your customer a sense of what is coming, remove the psychological shock of surprise and your life will go much smoother.  The spontaneous cherry on top or even the sparkler for a candle plays much better when you have already met the majority of your customer’s expectations.

“How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.”
― Yvon Chouinard

Repeatability

Maybe you have heard this before, but the dirty little secret to business is repeatability.  If you can run your production line all day every day and have an endless stream of predictable customers, you my friend have it made.  The formula is simple, if A, then B, not C.  Never C.  Process control is designed to produce repeatable results. What this means for you is your approach to say a Sales Process or a Social Media campaign gains both impact and efficiency if you are not reinventing the wheel each time you launch a new campaign or approach a market with a similar demographic.  You have a Play Book.  Magazines and Social Media Mavens live their lives off an Editorial Calendar. Each month resources can be allocated to serve up stories which they know will attract readers.  How do they know this?  Because they did nearly the same story last year, and a similar one the year before.  Comedians know what works because they repeat jokes that work. Once you have a formula that works, stick with it.

Consistency

This is where it gets interesting and where I have seen the most challenges particularly with small businesses and individuals.  Let’s head this one off at the pass and hopefully bring home the idea that when it counts, process matters.  My nine year old son came into my office after school the other day and after talking with me noticed that even though he had black socks on, one had a red tip and one had a green tip.  In that moment, he knew he was exposed, and that no matter what he said after that, he would be known as the boy with the mismatched socks.  He understood the impact immediately and more importantly knew that this inconsistency had pulled my focus away from his message, which more often than not, is trying to sell me on something.  So why is it that after spending so many years in college, spending enormous amounts of money on branding and messaging, that so many marketers scream “I was too lazy to get this right”? Your Brand Promise is your word.  How you deliver and fulfill your Promise will either further the sales process or send your would be customer, date, recruit etc. running the other direction.  Be thorough in your review of your image. Process here could be no more an important area of focus.

Goals and Process

Message and Branding development requires a process orientation, not simply creativity.  Suffice to say that many a goal could have been reached if dedication to a predictable, repeatable and consistent process had been maintained.  This does not stymie creativity, but rather enables it while protecting your hard invested efforts. What efforts are you undertaking this year which might benefit from a more careful process orientation?  Life is too important to just roll the dice.  Take some time and start to think, “Then what?”  If you don’t have an answer, you might have left out a few bricks on the road to your dreams. Invest some time and effort in a process orientation and you will be investing in your success.