Arnold Consultancy

Ask someone what they do, and you will generally receive a description of their job type.

“I work in Accounts.” “I’m in IT.” “I’m an Underwriter.”

Rarely does someone say “I work in the policy acquisition process for an Income Protection company.”

In fact, in our experience, never does someone say that, and it’s hardly surprisingly. People see their occupation, their job, as using the particular speciality for which they are trained. They neither see nor describe themselves as being part of an obscure “business process”, not least because, almost certainly, that process has not been fully defined.

Part of the problem is with the word “process”. Accounts, IT, Underwriting: all are seen as processes, and as far as a dictionary definition is concerned, it is difficult to argue with that view. But look at it from the point of view of, say, the customer wanting to buy an Income Protection policy from a company. Only a special type of person wants, solely, to be Underwritten! Most ordinary people want, perhaps, to be advised, then to apply for, and finally to receive, a policy. Without specifically wanting it, they will expect their application to be underwritten. Underwriting therefore becomes a part of the business process. Without specifically wanting it, they will expect to pay premiums as well. So Accounts also becomes part of the process. Underwriting and Accounts, from the customer’s point of view are activities within the business process, and this is how they should be considered. It is easy to see others which would fit in – qualified salespeople giving advice, the recording of that advice according to the requirements of the regulators (another stakeholder group), an up-to-the-minute on-line update for the customer on progress of the application, the setting up of a direct debit, the issuing of policy documents, etc.

Every process is tacitly defined by the expectations of customers and other stakeholder groups, like the ones mentioned above. A well defined business process addresses a thoroughly defined group of stakeholder expectations and seeks to satisfy them. The degree to which this is achieved depends both on the individual performance of, and the interaction between, the activities within the process.

Most job-holders strive to be the best specialist, be it Underwriter, Accounts clerk, Administrator, or IT support technician, that they can be. But to consider the activities solely within their departmental silos and not to identify how they should fit together within a defined business process is to ignore the interaction between them which is so important to satisfying the stakeholder groups who influence the success of the company.

Furthermore, target parameters within departments are set by managers, and the staff seek to meet them. In processes, the parameters are set by the expectations of the stakeholders. It is within those parameters, ultimately, which the company must operate if it is to be successful. If the processes are not defined, if the activities within them are not identified, and the targets considered from a process-wide perspective, then the business – your business – simply cannot be managed efficiently, and it will not achieve its potential.