“Please follow the process!”. “Why aren’t you following the process?”. “The processes are there to help you”.

We hear such lines all the time in our working environment. Processes, processes, processes. They are there to assist us to be more productive. They are there…well….to calm down the bosses because if we follow processes, things won’t easily go out of control. Well, not THAT much anyway.

To be honest with you, processes are fine but sticking too much to the processes can be counter-productive. But most importantly, it dulls the creativity of your people because they are being given a pretty tight constraint to work within. After all, most processes exist in order to control the people so that they don’t stray too far away from what they are supposed to do.

The funny thing is, after introducing such limiting processes, the bosses will start questioning their employees why aren’t they using their creativity at work? Then they will try to come out with MORE processes to promote creativity among the employees.

I guess the bosses or whoever that wants to come out with processes, should remember that creativity is not something that can be calculated – unlike the results of following a process. And it is not something which should be restrained by the processes. If you want to promote creativity, then remove the processes. Those 2 can hardly work together – there are occasions where the 2 can work together, but companies have the thread carefully…because not everyone can do that successfully without screwing up or making the bosses angry.

So yes, processes do dull creativity. Tell me if you think otherwise. I cannot think of how someone can be creative when he/she has to follow step (1) to step (10) as per the process.

Last but not least, people should remember that nowadays, companies need to rely on creativity and innovation more than they need to rely on boring processes. Processes are there to help, but creativity and innovation are there to make them win in the competition. So which should you be focusing on? It’s your choice.

p/s….. having said that, I don’t deny that certain processes should always be to keep things under control. Imagine what is it like if your HR person or account person try to be too creative by ignoring the processes.

Being too good in what you do can sometimes be a curse. Because chances are, you will be irreplaceable. And what does that mean? Well, that means it will be very difficult for you to move up (or down, or out) when the company cannot get an equally competent replacement for you. That’s why it can be a blessing…or a curse, depending on how you see it.

So what should you do then? What if you really want to get a promotion?

To begin with, you can refer to Damien’s “Idiot’s guide to getting a promotion“. It’s a good guide which teaches you how to manage a list of to-do and discuss it with your boss. This list can also be considered as the “requirements for getting promotion” list. Feel free to read through it.

After that, the conversation with your supervisor should have been completed. By then you should be able to know if the company has any plan to promote you, or if they think you are too good to be promoted. If it’s the first case, then congrats, you can stop reading here. If it’s the second case, please proceed

The next sensible thing for you to do is to ask yourself if you are indeed too good in what you do that you cannot be replaced. If yes, what is it that you are so good at? Is it something which can only be applied to your current job? Or is it a skill which you can still use once promoted? Identify the skills and see how you can apply them after you are promoted. If the skills cannot be ‘reused’, then is there a way to train up other people? How long do you think it will take to train someone up to be at your level? And do your bosses agree to such a transition?

Try to get the answers to those questions and hopefully it will be clearer to you whether it is possible to have a promotion in your current company, or not. If it’s not possible, then it is really your call to either stay or to find another job which allows you to have a promotion. Oh yeah, 1 more thing, always remember that a good company should never ever rely too much on a person. For a proper company, nobody is irreplaceable. It is just a question of whether they want to replace you (and the amount of time spent on the transition), or not.

Few months ago, I went to this job interview with a local consulting firm. I’ve done my research on the company beforehand, and realized that the company’s operation is pretty much similar to Accenture’s. And that has made me even more curious about how the small consulting firm is planning to compete with a company as big as Accenture.

Here’s the question I’ve asked the interviewer during the job interview.

Alvin : Mr XYZ, I understand that this company’s operation is pretty similar to Accenture.

XYZ : *looks surprised* You’re right. We’re trying to be like the big boys in consulting world and one of them is Accenture.

Alvin : Hmm, I’m a bit curious here. How do your company actually differentiate itself then? Because without differentiating itself, the company is actually competing with Accenture, isn’t it?

Maybe that’s the finishing blow I gave because the interviewer failed to answer my question after that. And he got rather pissed at that last remark.

Actually, there’s nothing wrong for a small company to try and be like Accenture or any big companies for that matter. But for me, setting a company as your final goal also means you will never reach there. Remember the old saying “aim for the stars, so that you can land on the moon”? It’s like you set something as your final goal, and you work and work towards it but never manages to achieve that target. And even if you are the lucky few who managed to achieve it, what’s next then? Aim for something bigger than Accenture?

To be honest, if I were the client, I will ask myself these questions.

• What is so special about this company if compared with Accenture?
• Are they providing cheaper solution? If yes, how much cheaper? Will the quality be compromised? If it’s not providing cheaper solution, what makes them think I won’t go for Accenture instead?

Let’s face it. Most people want the original stuff as long as they can afford it. So the only bargaining chip you have here is to be cheaper. But how much cheaper do you want to go? I believe the last thing any company wants is to end up in a price war – red ocean, anyone?

So the next time you help to set your company’s goal, try to set something which is independent of any other companies. Again, I must say that it’s not wrong to do so. It just does not seem like the best way for me. I rather set goals like “becoming the market leader in the web 2.0 consulting world” or “integrating the world of legacy systems” or a simpler “becoming the leader in the niche market which the company is involved in”.

Compare those 3 with something like “becoming just like Accenture”….I think I rather chose the former 3. But that’s just my personal opinion.

p/s… For your info, I failed the interview. Guess my curiosity didn’t serve me well

p/s… By the way, a goal can be a direction and not the destination.

How a typical meeting usually ends

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This is the first time I used the template. So the art is more ‘standardized’ but somehow, it took me a longer time to finish this comic. I guess it’s tidier. I just need to train myself more and get used to this. My templates are not very efficient yet.

By the way, I’m in the midst of coming out with a comic blog. Figure it’s better to separate the writing part with the drawing part.

Situation in company where turnover rate is high

A very simple comic I drew right before my flu medicine started to take effect. Really a simple one. It’s been a while since I last came out with a comic. I actually had to clean the dust off my drawing tablet before using it.

I’ll try my best to come out with more decent comics after this. Hope you guys will like it.