Automation Isn't Robots
Don't get me wrong, robots are cool. But automation isn't robots.
When we talk automation as a part of organizational performance, we are closer to the world of monasteries and monks and nuns, than assembly lines and robots.
One of the distinguishing features of monasteries and similar communities, is the drive to make routine what is worldly, to make space available for what matters: the spiritual.
In business we have a similar task: to identify what of the day-to-day can be made routine/standardized/automated, to make time and resources available for what matters: growth through innovation and transformation.
Automation in this context simply means anything that occurs 'automatically' because of an 'if:then' trigger or because of a schedule.
During the current covid-19 crisis many organizations are struggling to innovate to survive, never mind to grow. They are struggling in part because the environment is changing faster than their internal feedback loops can anticipate. But they are also struggling because too few of the processes that could have been automated, are. This leaves organizations struggling to keep the wheels on the bus, when they should be keeping their eyes on the road and the horizon line.
The good news? It's not too late.
While putting in place routines in a non-routine time is difficult, if we want to thrive, we have to do it anyway. Here are three areas to increase the level of automation.
- Communication - the cadence of meetings; the kinds of meetings (update, feedback, problem-solving?) that different events trigger; the cadence of emails; the cadence of conversations; the triggers for communication workflow: all of these are forms of automating communication. In a crisis, one of the first balls that gets dropped is communication. The hard truth is this is also one of the most damaging balls to drop. Anything we can do to automate through if:then triggers and scheduling, reduces the dependency of critical communication being 'remembered' in a fire fight.
- Decision making - much decision making is situational and non-routine, but some of it can be further automated by clarifying what conditions trigger *who* makes a decision; speeding up the feedback loop requires real clarity on who decides what when. An effective org chart is a circuit diagram for how decisions flow, as automatically (i.e. as automatically) as possible, through an organization. Creating that kind of org chart requires trust and clarity.
- Resource allocation - while really another form of decision-making, it is specialized enough that it requires its own foundations for automation. ERP systems, kanban systems, clear budgets, agile supply-chain management, all provide the foundation to the rapid flow of resources to where they are needed when they are needed. It is a lifesaver to have these structures in place before a crisis hits, it is not too late to use what we are learning from our pain-points in a crisis, to establish more automated resource allocation processes.