The Nigerian "Process" Challenge
I have always believed that the Nigerian problem is not the problem of people. Nigeria has some of the most talented human beings in the ...
I have always believed that the Nigerian problem is not the problem of people. Nigeria has some of the most talented human beings in the planet.
The chief problem that has plagued Nigeria is the problem of having the discipline to establish and follow through with the right "processes".
A process can be defined as "a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end."(Google Dictionary).With the process being clear and unambiguous, will be the "systems" that would facilitate the processes. Hence, we speak of educational processes, health processes, political processes, urban development processes,manufacturing processes, agricultural processes, oil & gas processes, and the lists goes on to every sphere of our national life.
The order is usually to have the processes in place first. Then we practice the processes and hence "mature" the process. Then we review the process for errors or defects. Then we improve the process and we redo the cycle in a "plan–do–check–act or plan–do–check–adjust" cycle.That's the essence of continuous improvement since no human process is perfect in itself , but requires continuous fine-tuning or tweaking in order to "mature" it towards the ideal state.
However, you cannot mature a "model" that you never PRACTICE. In the practice is embedded the discipline and in the discipline is embedded the MINDSET which forms our CULTURE of doing things the right way.But a process must be initiated by PEOPLE and this is where LEADERSHIP comes to play. The process is enforced by leadership who acts as "custodians" for the QUALITY PRACTICE.Then after that process is reviewed, comes the "improvers" who tackle the "defects" and add "layers" and layers of improvement until finally that process enters into the AUTO-PILOT mode. And we begin to talk about things like AUTOMATION which involves the process "self-adjusting" its inputs, controls and outputs to stay within the limits or thresholds of its PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES, where we have such indices like our KPIs(Key performance indicators or indices).
So, first things first. Do we have a process at all, even in its most mundane or primitive state? If yes, have we "practised" our process? If yes, can we improve upon our process, etc etc.
"You cannot improve on something that you haven't practised?"
So, at the end of the day, you can see that there is also a PEOPLE challenge since it takes people to enforce the COMPLIANCE" with the process.