Should Leaders Rely on Policy and Process?

Ask around and you’re certain to get two different perspective on how much leaders should be relying on existing policy and process.  On one side there are those who will say that they purely rely on policy and process to guide their decision making process.  On the other end of the spectrum are those who say that policy and process are useless.  Some may even admit that they don’t know or care what policy and process in place are. So how much should leaders really be relying on the organization’s policy and process?

Regardless of what company you are currently employed, all organizations has company policies and processes.  These policies and processes allows the company to have a clear direction on how they would like to conduct their businesses.  Generally, smaller companies and startups will have polices and processes in place, but they’re very vague and may not be complete.  They do not cover all aspects of daily operations.  Larger and more established organizations will tend to have a more thorough and comprehensive set of policies and processes.  And they will cover most, if not all, aspects of working engagements. 

Whether your organization has a thorough or vague sets of policies and process, all leaders should be aware of what those polices and processes are.  It doesn’t matter if you think the policies are useless, as a leader you still need to know the policies to be able to guide your team.  Even if you think the processes are complete rubbish and makes no sense, you still need to know what they are.  You can’t say they’re nonsense and useless until you know what they are. 

Knowing the policies and process is one thing, but how much of it should be used and applied on a day to day basis?  There truly isn’t a hard set answer to this.  It would be easier to apply policies and processes from organizations which has well defined polices and processes.  And much more difficult to apply polices which are vague and doesn’t address the situation needed.

A leader should never purely rely on the policies and process to run a team and a project.  Being aware and understanding the policies and process is a must, but it does not mean that it should be followed strictly.  A good leader knows to allow flexibility and room for creativity.  Allow the team to experiment and try new processes and ideas.  This is the heart of innovation, when talented team members are afforded the ability to explore their talents. 

Following policies and processes strictly will ensure that the leader and team will never be in trouble for breaking rules.  It will provide the organization with the limited production strictly within the guidelines.  If that’s the culture that’s been built and expected, maybe that’s fine.  However, a good leader will push the limits to get more.  A good leader will experiment new processes which makes more sense for the situation and can prove to be better. 

Let’s take a look for example in a production environment.  If there’s a policy which states that an employee can only take enough materials to produce one product at a time.  The employee following that policy can produce 8 product in a day.  However, if the employee gets all materials for 10 products all at once in the morning, which saves on going back and forth to get materials each time. The employee is then able to produce 10 products in a day, an increase of 25% productivity.  That makes a lot more sense for the business.  This is a simple example, but you get the idea.

In the process of leading your team, you must have a sensibility to know when it makes sense to forgo the policy or process in the benefit of the company and team.  The ability to make a judgement call to allow innovation to take place is a sign of true leadership.  But that does not mean entirely ignoring policies and process.

Polices and process are not entirely useless and should not be entirely dismissed.  Regardless of how comprehensive the policies and processes are, they’re there to provide guidelines which may have severe impact.  Some policies are in place to ensure that government regulations are followed.  Unaware of such policies or blatantly dismissing such policies expose the organization to legal ramifications. 

A good leader cannot afford to act so recklessly.  Be aware of all the policies and process and make sensible and proper judgment.  Allow innovation and experimentation but at the same time protect your team and organization.  There’s a good balance between fully relying on policies and processes versus completely disregarding them.  Find what that balance is in your situation.  That’s what great leaders do.

Photo by: Markus Winkler