Let me start by saying that empowering people is a huge key to the success of any organization. However, process should always trump empowerment. In fact, a great process will help empower great people. Process also helps retain great people. So one could argue by putting process first you are really putting people first…but that’s semantics.

When an organization puts process first it creates a road map for work. It’s the recipe. Let’s take spaghetti. It has noodles, meat, and sauce. Spaghetti in and of itself is a process. Chefs should be empowered to move around in the spaghetti space, but stay true to those key ingredients. It’s the process of spaghetti. If a bad Chef follows the process, you still get spaghetti. If a great Chef follows the process you get great spaghetti.

Process first, then add empowered people.

Let’s take auto racing. Some of you know, I’m a big fan of racing. A professional race car is built and prepped only for the track it’s going to be driven on. Process has to come first for great success. The driver is not even close to the top of the list of issues when building a professional race car. Don’t misunderstand empowerment of the driver can take to you Victory Lane. However, process gets every driver, good or bad, to the track. In racing, even the greatest driver can fail if the process is put second.

Process first, then add empowered people.