Why strategy trumps process in pursuing bids

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We’ve all heard it: Belief the method. 

A lot of our work with our building shoppers includes course of improvement and implementation round each aspect of their enterprise. The advantages of utilizing well-documented and completely skilled processes are laborious to overstate. 

Not solely do uniformly adopted processes constantly result in constructive outcomes, there’s additionally a major improve within the velocity of latest rent productiveness. When a brand new rent is handed a complete playbook for his or her position, skilled on that playbook and the corporate follows up to ensure folks use the playbook, new hires succeed shortly. 

One other plus is that when everybody is aware of the method and follows it, veteran workers are freed as much as deal with development. That’s thrilling stuff.

Keep away from rigidity

That stated, do not make the error of utterly swapping out a tradition of particular person decision-making and situational flexibility with considered one of rigidity and compliance. When the scenario requires it, deviations from the method aren’t simply acceptable. They’re crucial and most well-liked.

For instance, we regularly implement a structured go/no-go criterion with our building shoppers to assist determine which tasks they need to make investments their extraordinarily priceless and restricted preconstruction sources on. 

This course of, which have to be utterly custom-made to their distinctive corporations and recurrently reviewed and up to date to replicate present and future enterprise situations, helps contractors spend time on the healthiest alternatives obtainable. 

The method additionally saves time by skipping tasks that do not match and utilizing that point for extra complete preconstruction efforts on track tasks. The result’s nearly all the time larger seize charges on mission pursuits and higher margins on the time of sale. 

As soon as this course of is in place, it must be used constantly to supply a dispassionate, goal scorecard for the mission you’re invited to pursue. The scorecard is there to assist corporations make selections. 

Discover that I didn’t say the method makes the choice for them.

It must be as much as the judgment of the good, skilled folks within the enterprise to find out whether or not they’ll pursue a given mission. Due to this fact, when the scorecard says {that a} mission is a poor match, that adverse in opposition to taking the job must be thought of an especially legitimate information level in a go/no go determination. Nevertheless, I nonetheless encourage corporations to make what they imagine is the best judgment for his or her firm on every mission whatever the scorecard output.

Think about a scenario wherein a mission failed to fulfill go standing based mostly on the scorecard, however this mission was the primary alternative to pursue a mission with a high-value consumer. The mission is barely too small to be thought of a goal job, the aggressive circumstances are lower than splendid and the mission shouldn’t be in the popular geographic footprint. 

When the theoretical CEO of this firm calls me to ask if he ought to observe the method or take heed to his judgment to bid the job, I reply by saying it seems like you could have compelling strategic causes to deviate out of your course of on this one… go for it!

Technique over course of

In different phrases, technique outweighs course of each single time.

Deviations out of your established processes have worth. Whether or not you could have strategic enterprise causes for a deviation, otherwise you merely want to experiment with one other strategy, there’s completely nothing incorrect with knowingly deviating from the method. 

However “knowingly” is the important thing time period right here. It’s important that management is aware of the why behind the deviation in addition to acknowledgment of any dangers related to not following the usual. When deviations go effectively, we regularly make new discoveries that enable us to enhance our processes. Nevertheless, if a deviation produces a adverse end result, as an alternative of casting blame, it may be a strong lesson that reinforces the significance of following our processes. 

It’s a pacesetter’s job to stroll the road between technique and course of, between rigidity and being opportunistic. 

Please doc, practice and actively supervise efficient processes in each aspect of your small business for all the explanations listed above and extra. Simply do not enable your processes to create a rigidity that will get in the way in which of sound judgment, creativity and instinct in government decision-making.