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Writer's pictureAlline Leão

People, process, product


If you've ever watched The Profit (2013-2017), you've seen this guy and immediately recognized the reference in the title. But if you didn't, this is Marcus Lemonis, CEO and investor of a multimillion-dollar company in the United States. In this show, he finds businesses with great potential but are on the verge of bankruptcy, with the aim of making them stable and profitable. To achieve this, Marcus Lemonis made a substantial investment (in exchange for part of the company) to make necessary changes, whether in equipment, space renovation, staff training, or purchase of inputs. However, his investment was not limited to just money, but also the application of his market experience, and one of the phrases he often said is this: Let's focus on people, process, and product. It may seem like just old jargon, but it has a profound value that many managers, CEOs, and leaders seem to forget. A company is not just made up of numbers.


PRODUCT

A good product has many phases. There are lots of comings, goings, and adjustments. Especially in the VUCA World and now in the BANI world we live in, it is almost impossible to have everything perfectly finalized before launch and maintain its financial viability, especially regarding digital products. Therefore, adaptability is key here. It is not enough to have quality; it is necessary to be aware of market tides and trends. But I can explore this topic more later.


ABOUT THE PROCESS

Lean UX, Sprint, Scrum, Double Diamond, Waterfall, Kanbam. If you work with or are part of a UX team, you have certainly heard all these terms and, I hope, discussed with the team which ones would be the best to apply.


Each company, team, and project has its own peculiarities. As such, it deserves a more detailed look to ensure productivity and value delivery in the safest and fastest way possible, given the reality of constant changes and necessary adaptations, as said previously.



The best process, or process model, will always be the one that matches the delivery proposal and adapts to the company's general culture. Otherwise, we end up creating problems such as low adherence and respect for the process, noise in communication, friction between teams, and consequently, compromising the quality, deadline, and effectiveness of the energy applied by everyone.


Therefore, it is extremely important that processes are not simply inserted into a new routine but that people are inserted into the process - including those adjacent to it. All impacted teams and individuals need to know “how” and “why” a process changes. This imbues everyone with belonging and greatly increases the chances of successful implementation.


BUT WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE?

As much as we have advanced in terms of technology with robotics and artificial intelligence of various types, people are still the backbone of business. They are responsible for applying processes, developing products, and innovating.


The right person in the wrong place can be a huge headache. A service provider with high technical knowledge and zero motivation will not do anything more than the minimum necessary. Someone with much desire and energy but little knowledge will make many mistakes. Even the most dedicated employee will have a day of inattention.


So I have to say this: Taking care of people takes work, but you'll never be a real leader if you don't know how. I mean that supervisory, management, etc., positions are not just recognition for good work; they are also a great responsibility to look after each one of those "below" you and maintain the team as a large cog. Some need oil, others need polishing, and none will do it alone.


See, if when someone on your team makes a mistake, and you shout as if the volume of your voice would make them understand what happened better, you're not being a good leader; you're just being lazy. You're putting your frustration out in the worst possible way and offloading your responsibility onto someone else: to train and educate those without your knowledge.



A bad boss can break the spirit of an entire team. I myself was the target of people like this when I was younger, and this type of environment can only generate 2 things:


  1. Fear: It is impossible to create a learning environment when everything that is not perfectly aligned is punished.

  2. Harmful connections: When finding an error or a problem, one's first reaction is not to figure out a solution; one wants to find someone to blame so that the punishment does not fall on them (even a verbal one).

So yes. A safe learning environment, appropriate training, nonviolent communication, and a sense of belonging are just some of the things I consider essential to developing successful collaborations. If that's not too pretentious, I would like to highlight one and add it to Marcus Lemonis' motto.


There are countless books and studies on leadership on diverse topics that can be easily found in any bookstore or e-shop, and my intention is not to write another one here.


As I said at the beginning, in the program 'The Profit,' Lemonis had a very clear purpose: to make a company on the verge of bankruptcy profitable. This also became the purpose of everyone around him, and many times, even the most resistant and stubborn people gave in when they saw the path to a great future light up. Anyone who really didn't fit in after all the attempts was asked to leave.


However, this hardly generated any commotion among the remaining colleagues, as everyone saw that the divergent person, even friends, was more of a hindrance than a help.


It makes you think, doesn't it? Then...

People, process, product, and purpose


I think that would be my ideal formula.

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