Fair Process Can Make or Break a Company
By Brendan Murphy
“To build people’s trust and commitment deep in the ranks and inspire their voluntary cooperation, companies need to build execution into strategy from the start.”
Co-authors of Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, believe companies must reach beyond the usual suspects of carrots and sticks – they must reach to fair process in the making and executing of strategy.
What is Fair Process?
Fair process is the managerial expression referring to people’s interest in the process through which an outcome is produced rather than just the outcome itself. Blue Ocean Strategy research shows that fair process is a key variable to successful Blue Ocean Strategic moves.
Consider this…
Generally, the more removed people are from the top the less they have been involved with the creation of the strategy. But, a company is not only top management, nor is it only middle management. A company is everyone from the top to the front lines.
When fair process is exercised at all levels of an organization in the strategy-making process, people trust that a level playing field exists. All of the members of an organization align around a strategy and support it. In Blue Ocean Strategy, overcoming the organizational hurdles to strategy execution is an important step toward the end.
But, trepidation can build as people are required to step out of their comfort zones and changes how they have worked in the past. Commitment, trust, and voluntary cooperation…
Whether you are a senior executive or floor employee those three elements (commitment, trust voluntary cooperation) are considered. In order for employees to cooperate voluntarily through Fair Process there are three mutually reinforcing elements.
First, Engagement, which means involving individuals in the strategic decisions that affect them by asking for their input and allowing them to refute the merits of one another’s ideas and assumption. Engagement communicates management’s respect for individuals and their ideas. Engagement results in better strategic decisions by management and greater commitment from all involved to execute those decisions.
Secondly, Explanation, means that everyone involved and affected should understand why final strategic decisions are made as they are. An explanation of the thinking that underlies decisions makes people confident that managers have considered their opinions and have made decisions impartially in the overall interests of the company.
Lastly, Expectation clarity requires that after a strategy is set, managers state clearly the new rules of the game. Although the expectations may be demanding, employees should know up front what standards they will be judged by and the penalties for failure.
The three E Principles of Fair Process inspire people to cooperate voluntarily in executing the resulting strategic decisions. Blue Ocean Strategy’s Fair Process removes the roadblocks that can put a halt to even the best of strategies. This importance of Fair Process is distinguishable between the successful Blue Ocean strategic moves from those that have failed.
In the end, companies need to invoke the most fundamental base of action: The attitudes and behavior of its people deep in the organization. Trust and commitment can create a culture that motivates people to execute an agreed strategy.
People’s minds and hearts must align with the new strategy so that at the level of the individual, people embrace it of their own accord and willingly go beyond compulsory execution to voluntary cooperation in carrying it out.
The presence or absence of fair process can make or break company’s best execution efforts
Brendan Murphy is the Marketing Manager for Strategize Blue (www.strategizeblue.com), a Blue Ocean Strategy Training and Consulting company based in San Diego. He works under Dr. Zunaira Munir, the internationally exclaimed expert and keynote speaker on Blue Ocean Strategy.
