The hidden dangers of using business process templates to overcome complexity challenges
What is the ultimate business goal of a company? There are many approaches for defining this. A common definition from a micro-economic perspective is to say that the goal of probably every business is to be ‘successful’. Regardless of how success is defined in the individual company setting, it nurtures growth in many ways. Growth then again propels success, but it also goes hand in hand with an increased complexity at all organizational levels and dimensions. But how do you preserve your company’s DNA during that transformation process, especially its originality that enabled the initial success?
“Not all complexity is bad.”
McKinsey, ‘How do I manage the complexity in my organization’
The Originality of Companies as a Key Growth and Success Factor
Not every business started in a garage, but every company started with an original idea and concept. Along the development stages of companies, additional layers are needed to be added to the once simple structure of a very local start-up with a few employees sitting in the same office. One of the challenges along this process is to preserve your company’s originality, which lays the foundation for your purpose, culture, and people.
As companies grow, the transformation adds new dimensions and additional layers to the complexity of business administration. This is where standardization comes into play: Governance, hierarchies, and operational workflows like processes and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have to be formalized and rolled out.
The Role of Workflows, Processes, and SOPs in Organizations
At a certain point in the growth process, workflows, processes, and SOPs become necessary to ensure that relevant stakeholders receive the information needed to make educated decisions. But this is not their only purpose. Growing companies tend to perform increasingly more repetitive and recurring tasks. To standardize and automate such repetitive tasks that follow a predictable pattern efficiently, the introduction of workflows and processes is important.
Every Company is Different – And so Should be Their Business Processes
Even companies that sell the same products to the same target group in the same geographical market are never ‘the same’. Every company is unique, and so are its goals and business processes to reach them. It is crucial for companies to implement processes that reflect their own and unique spirit.
But being realistic: Fast-growing companies are very often overwhelmed by the efforts needed to ensure that the company’s structure evolves and adapts quickly to new internal and external requirements. Constantly being under immense time pressure, it is understandable that managers may want to implement effective solutions within a very short turnaround time. With a vast number of templates for workflows, processes, and SOPs available on the internet, choosing one that looks fitting to the company’s needs is tempting. But this might have negative effects on the organization’s performance.
Do Process Templates for Finance, Business Administration, and Management Fit your Company’s Needs?
Let’s emphasize again: Each company is unique, and so are its processes. Workflows and processes do not only define tasks that need to be done; they mirror your company’s purpose, mission, and values in a particular way. Introducing business process management (BPM) in your organization requires you to start mapping your own unique processes to optimize them. There are no shortcuts if you want to succeed.
How to Avoid the Pitfalls of Implementing Processes That Aren’t Yours
It’s your team that defines your company, the brand, the product, the service – and its value. Put your focus on the importance of not only ‘mapping’ but growing your organization’s uniqueness and its secret recipe for success. You’ve come a long way already if you need to introduce BPM. Looking at the mapping process as an opportunity for growth and continuous improvement that everyone within the organization can influence might help you to change the mindset of everyone involved.
Ouriginal Ensures That Your Processes are as Original as Your Company
Check your process documents for their originality to ensure that the mapped processes reflect reality. Ouriginal’s text matching solution can be an effective tool that can help you. Ouriginal automatically analyzes every document that is created along the mapping process, ensuring the content is not borrowed from a template. Learn more about the process here.
Reach out to us if you have any questions about how Ouriginal can support you in your growth process.
Did you know that checking for plagiarism in marketing is important, too? Head over to this blog post to know why.
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