I love the positive energy and openness of the Dachis Group and the Social Business Council - their one page graphic summarising Attributes of a Socially Optimized Business can be downloaded here - so I don't want to be picky. But there's a flaw in their manifesto - at least, as I understand it - that may seem nerdy but is, I think, actually quite crucial.
I've huge sympathy for the call for a Renaissance in business:
"After decades of mechanistic, dehumanizing, process-oriented management dogma, progressive organizations are waking up to the disturbing truth that they’ve squeezed all the creativity out of their business. When companies embrace organic, passionate, socially-savvy initiatives, they blossom. Who benefits? Everyone."
What worries me is the way we seem to be trashing 'process-orientation'.
Agreed, process has for too long been articulated in the form of technical gobbledegook. And it's rarely exciting.
But - if we express process simply and holistically, so that people across the socially optimized enterprise can understand it, then we have a universal language that can get everyone talking.
And if we support it with an enabling process management platform, then we have:
connected the creativity with how work gets done. So we ensure that social business is not an ivory tower, it's about engaging with everyone's ideas
the ideal framework for Lean, Six Sigma and other process improvement programs - and for sustainable continuous improvement
the governance framework that ensures collaboration will be effective, across all the functional silos and the increasingly virtual extended enterprise (it also allows the Chief Risk Officer to sleep at night).
Great ideas -please sign me up for the Renaissance. But let's see process as part of the solution and so make it practical.
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