Years of successful and not-so-successful process management experience have led to a set of best practices -- a number of fundamental principles that must be honored in order to optimize returns to the company, the delivery of business results to customers, and to satisfy the needs of the organization's other stakeholders.  

In this series, I outline the ten principles that underlie the methods of business process operation and change.  In this column, I cover the third principle.

Principle 3:  Business Change Decisions Must Be Traceable to the Stakeholder Criteria

This principle ensures we obtain accepted criteria before we enter into choosing among business options, and use those criteria instead of internal personal drivers. 

When criteria drivers are also misaligned to the organization's mission, vision, and values and to its stakeholders' expectations, we cannot expect to optimize results.  Insist on agreement to the future state stakeholder criteria that will determine your course of action.  Then -- and only then -- select that course.

To actually put this principle into practice, management must consciously and visibly agree on the criteria first and then publish them.  Management must also empower those working on change to work creatively within those parameters or with the best interests of external stakeholders.

References

[1]  Roger T. Burlton, "Best Practices of Process Management:   The Top Ten Principles (Part 1)," Business Rules Journal, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Jan. 2006), URL:  http://www.BRCommunity.com/a2006/b269.html  

[2]  Roger T. Burlton, "Best Practices of Process Management:   The Top Ten Principles (Part 2)," Business Rules Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Feb. 2006), URL:  http://www.BRCommunity.com/a2006/b273.html  

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