“What’s in it for me?” WIIFM – one of my most often used acronyms strikes to the heart of many problems facing organizations today. Most individual contributors won’t take initiative unless there is something in it for them. The “what” could be a salary, benefits, bonuses – or something less financial – looking good, feeling good, career advancement and general curiosity or initiative.
A friend of mind was venting about work this weekend and they said this phrase:
I don’t often get a ‘win’ at work, so when I do – I gotta celebrate it
This phrase puts it perfectly. At the heart of every employee and colleague is the simple desire to do well and celebrate. This particular phrasing is also pretty negative since apparently this doesn’t happen very often, but I think this is likely due to his employer’s size and the amount of technical and process debt his team is taking on. Poor dude.
This is also an overarching goal of processes and process management teams. Enable your colleagues to get a ‘win’ and then celebrate it. And I’ll add this quantifier: WHILE ADDING COMPLEXITY.
That last one is a doozie. Making people successful today using today’s processes, today’s information and today’s tools is probably totally achievable. How about three years from now? Will this be just as easy? Easier? More difficult?
As regulations and “we have to do it this way” continues to evolve, so must our process tools and participants. Having teams and tools that can flex with complexity makes your company resilient, nimble and hopefully, profitable.
