Improve Process and Governance by Being Human

By Marcus Batten, Executive Director at Parbery Consulting

At Parbery, one of our key aims is to help leaders bring process under control, with the potential to provide significant cost savings and provide substantial bottom line effect. To make this happen, we focus on team, task and the individual becoming aligned and engaged with the Vision and Mission of our client, providing authentic leadership, direction, encouragement and drive for success and sustainability.

In doing this, we help you build your own robust, flexible, governance-mindful teams, engaged in innovative business management frameworks. These teams become enablers, rather than Machiavellian tools for administrators to beat up underperformers.

Important in this development process is grappling with the issues that arise around human interaction, safe areas to share and work in the virtual and on-line environments, and addressing human security in the cyber age by bringing together pioneering leaders with authentic human skills balanced by deep experience. This is key to building/growing exciting teams, missions, and outcomes founded on skills, process and situational training, and continual process improvement, review and practice.

Another key factor in this process is getting leaders to take responsibility for failure, and to seek opportunities to grow and develop into the future – learning from mistakes. We focus on strong governance and real time or throughput accounting as critical areas to lead and manage well.

Speaking broadly, in the virtual on-line and digital world, we run the risk of being administrators rather than leaders, managers rather than motivators. To avoid this, Parbery asks questions and seeks out answers to questions like: “Where are the pioneers, the risk takers and the doers? Where are the environments and areas in which we can play and practice our art with a sense of security? Leaders, what are your people doing in the ‘egg laying’ hen houses we call offices? Do you get around your teams and talk with them?”

Simple as this may seem, what it boils down to is the fact that: if your team can become aware of the present, and is proactive in developing plans and strategies to deal with events, it will be far more likely to be prepared to manage and deal with situations that arise. This is where Parbery comes in – we help you be pre-emptive, rather than reactive.

Although technology and the world at large may have changed, human interaction has not. The virtual world allows the unsuspecting or naive to be more easily programmed, influenced, committed, or represented without control. The ability to engage face to face is waning, and distant assumptions of a job being complete just because you sent a text, or that an e-mail absolves you of any responsibility, appear to have taken over. Activity seems to have overtaken clear thought, decision making, and the ability to say no or accept the alternative.

However, there are still people that face these issues, ask the difficult questions, and assist others in doing so in a world full of technology, innovation and ever-changing landscapes.