Article
A Process-First or People-First Company?
January 29, 2024
We regularly use process maps in meetings with our clients.
They are a great tool to clarify the best work that we do in our company, and to talk about best practices. They create alignment and provide an opportunity for people to share and evaluate new ideas that can help us improve the way we work – potentially, better or faster or at a lower cost or error rate.
Improving processes are helpful as guidelines for people to do great work.
But leaders can go too far when don’t trust their people to have good judgment or do their work effectively. Then, they use and layer in more and more processes, thinking they are solving their people problems.
The Bureaucracy Ball
And that’s where the bureaucracy ball begins to roll. Process on top of process, approvals on top of approvals. The next thing you know, ordering coffee for the staff room is a three-page process requiring seven people to approve the transaction — every week.
One organization we work with had multi-page, multi-column checklists for each employee to complete, every week. These were designed for the least capable person to follow, step by step, to get the job done.
This isn’t a people problem. It’s a failure of leadership.
Process First or People First
As companies grow they generally go down one of two roads:
- A people-first company: A belief that there are highly capable people to hire, and train. They trust in people’s character and their competence to get the job done well and provide room for people to have autonomy and use their brains.
- A process-first company: A belief that people can’t be trusted to make good decisions and think for themselves. They are given a paint-by-number, step-by-step approach to every single thing, with checklists, safety mechanisms and double-checks.
When processes become too much, complicated and hard to follow, they actually make the work more difficult and then leaders prove themselves right about people.
It’s a balance: enough process for amazing people to be successful versus building incredibly detailed processes designed for people who are not naturally capable in the roles.
A bureaucratic, constricted, process-first company is not a place high-performing A Players want to work.
Ask Questions
As a company grows, it’s easy to start out with one kind of culture and end up as another. So, when things aren’t going well, it’s important to look at your processes and ask:
- What is this process designed to do?
- Does it work?
- Is it too complicated?
- Has the business outgrown it?
- Is the right person in the right role?
- Is there a leadership problem?
The Challenge
- Does the culture of your company default to more process or to more capable people?
Additional blogs
Older Podcasts
About Lawrence & Co.
Lawrence & Co. is a growth strategy and leadership advisory firm that helps mid-market companies achieve lasting, reliable growth. Our Growth Management System turns 30 years of experience into practical steps that drive clarity, alignment, and performance—so leaders can grow faster, with less friction, and greater confidence.
About Kevin Lawrence
Kevin Lawrence has spent three decades helping companies scale from tens of millions to hundreds of millions in revenue. He works side-by-side with CEOs and leadership teams across North America, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and Europe, bringing real-world insights from hands-on experience. Kevin is the author of Your Oxygen Mask First, a book of 17 habits to help high-performing leaders grow sustainably while protecting their mental health and resilience. He also contributed to Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0). Based in Vancouver, he leads Lawrence & Co, a boutique firm of growth advisors.