How Workflow Thinking Turns Managers into Leaders

Leaders focus on activities that produce value for the people who depend upon them

Several years ago, I was help a talented mid-level manager who was frustrated that her efforts were not being recognized.

Her team met deadlines. Performance measures were acceptable. Employees generally seemed satisfied. Yet senior leaders continued to question the group’s effectiveness.

During one of our sessions, I asked a simple question:

“Walk me through how your team’s work creates value for your internal customers.”

There was a long pause.

She could describe what her employees did. She could explain job responsibilities and reporting relationships. But she struggled to explain how work moved through her team, where delays occurred, and which stakeholders depended upon the results.

Her perspective changed after working together on this for a couple of weeks. She stopped focusing exclusively on supervising activities and began examining how work flowed through the organization. The change was almost immediate with increase in both her impact and and recognition.

This is one of the those hidden shifts of attention and effort that I have found often turns a manager into a leader.

Workflow Defined

Workflow is the sequence of activities, decisions, information, and relationships required to deliver value to a stakeholder.

Every workflow contains the following basics:

• Inputs

• Decisions

• Actions

• Hand-offs

• Outputs

• •Stakeholder value

Most managers focus on the activities being performed. Leaders start with clarification of the stakeholder value provided and whether those activities produce value for the people who depend upon them.

Different situations require different leadership responses. A workflow perspective helps you determine where value is slowing, where stakeholders are struggling, and what leadership orientation may be needed to improve results.

Here is What Making the Shift Often Looks Like

Imagine two department managers facing the same problem: reduction of customer complaints about delayed responses.

The first manager increases monitoring, requests daily status reports, and reminds employees to work more efficiently.

The second manager follows the workflow. She discovers that approvals require three hand-offs, information is incomplete when requests arrive, and one key decision point creates a bottleneck.

The first manager manages activity.

The second manager improves value flow.

One focuses on people working harder. The other focuses on helping work move more effectively.

As illustrated in this case, bottlenecks a common workflow disruptor. You can learn more about it here and what to do about it.

The Four things You Will Need to Do To Make the Shift

• First, follow work instead of supervising tasks.

• Second, remove barriers instead of adding controls.

• Third, clarify stakeholder value instead of measuring activity.

• Fourth, improve hand-offs instead of monitoring effort.

As these changes occur, your leadership becomes less about directing people and more about creating the condition for your people’s success.

Final Thought -- Managers often see jobs

Leaders look for the flow.

This happens when you stop asking, “Are people working hard enough?” and begin asking, “How can work move more effectively toward stakeholder success?”

You’ll know that you are making a successful transition from managing activity to leading with impact. This is where situational leadership alignment becomes visible, valuable, and recognized.