What actually matters - the People? Or the Process?

What actually matters in your organization - the People? Or the Process? 

OK, that's a bit of a trick question, right?  

I mean, of course the people matter, because you're all People Persons, and y'all care about your peoples, and y'all want to do The Right Thing, etc. etc.

But, and this is one of those things that is kinda hard to face, is that actually true?

After all, there are very few companies out there that basically come right out and say "Yeah, we don't care about our employees". Instead, what you'll find is any number of declarations along the lines of 

• Our employees are our most important assets

• We foster personal development

• We are honest with each other, and don't play politics

etc.

If anything, the more sociopathic the organization, the more likely that their ostensible values are the exact opposite (probably thanks to some very judicious word-smithing courtesy of their Marketing/PR wings 🙄)

And that very sociopathy is what leads to valuing Process over People, and is something that eventually bleeds into every part of the organization.

If you're calling into Customer Support at a People Oriented org, odds are that you'll  face something that basically goes like

Rep: "Do you know your customer-ID?" 

You: "Uhhh, no?"

Rep: "Oh that's ok, I can look it up for you!"

You: "Thanks!"

And you're off to the races.

On the other hand, when you call into Customer Support at your basic Process First org, you get the following

You: <Can't find a contact number>

You: <Find a form that you fill out, so that they can call you back>

You: <Eventually get a call>

Rep: "Do you have a case-ID?"

You: "Uhhh, no?"

Rep: "You need to create a case first. You can find the form on our support site"

You: "Can you do that for me?"

Rep: "I'm sorry, but our systems don't allow us to do that"

You: "...."

The sad thing is, while sociopathic corporate tendencies do, very much, result in this kind of attitude, it is also endemic because of our very human nature - we just find it so much easier to throw Process at all problems. 

What's worse is that as humans in the tech-biz., it's even easier for us to throw process at it, I mean, "AUTOMATE ALL THE THINGS" is our mantra, right?

And that's where we forget that, on the other side of the issue, there are actual living people, people who don't care about those lovingly handcrafted processes, and just want their issue resolved.

And that brings us full circle - what actually matters in your organization - the People? Or the Process?
Has it so fallen in love with its shiny shiny processes that it's forgotten the people? Does it view the people as un-necessary distractions, that get in the way of all those lovely process metrics?

If so, and you have agency, change it (or, start looking for a new gig...)