Years ago, I met someone who was my first KNOWN dream stealer. I had just written my first book and was very protective of it. I named it, “Hire Me Secrets Of Job Interviewing.” I didn’t know if it was well written or would be successful, but that really didn’t matter to me at time. The sole purpose was to help people get job offers.

I owned a Recruiting/Staffing firm in Phoenix Arizona. Every day it was my job to prepare our candidates to interview with our client companies for new career opportunities. The book had all ingredients necessary to show how to get in game of interviewing, answer questions that most of our clients asked, get job offer, and make a decision.

I didn’t market book or even tell anyone about it. Why??

Because I was so afraid that someone, especially someone in same business I was in, would see it and make fun of me for writing it.

Be careful what you focus on.

A couple of months after writing book dream stealer entered my office.. She picked up my book and said very sarcastically, “You have got to be kidding ...YOU wrote a book?”

Embarrassed I said, “Yes, all I am trying to do is help our clients get a job and to also be aware that interviewing is a game, so they shouldn’t take it personally.”

In response, she said, “I am also writing a book about interviewing. At present time it is all in my head. It’s ok though because I have a mind like a computer. All chapters are compartmentalized, I even have a clear picture of my cover. I must say however MY book is MUCH thicker than yours and much “meatier” In fact, I noticed that your chapter on resumes is just a few pages, mine has over 100 pages so far.”

I don’t know what came over me but I saw her for what she was in that instant. A DREAM STEALER, AN INTIMIDATOR, A BULLY.

“You know difference between your goal and mine???” I said. “No what?” She replied.

“Your goal is still in your head.....I wrote mine down in form of a book.”

Sweet revenge.............Is her book done to date........NO! Did my book get picked up by a major publisher because it was simple, easy to read, and could help thousands of people get a job? YES!

A lot of effort has been carried out in last years to re engineer processes in order to automate all or parts of them. A great number of companies have changed their processes as a result of introduction of new software systems, aimed to streamline management of back and front office. Companies have even taken care of processes crossing company boundaries in order to optimize communications with clients, providers and partners. A characteristic of this interest is that is has been driven by technology.

In last years we have seen introduction of ERP and CRM systems, Content and Document Management systems, Workflow Automation Applications, etc... that have (or hopefully will) help companies achieve a more efficient use of their resources. It seemed that CIOs believed that an impressive IT portfolio would directly result in better processes.

However less interest has been directed at human side of process optimization. A lot of money is spent on paying a team from a world class consultancy firm, best of breed software products licenses, etc... and it is usual that importance of deploying new processes effectively is underestimated. Designing and documenting enhanced processes does not create value for company. It is only when these new processes are carried out in real world that value is created.

If we use popular metaphor that compares a business with an orchestra, you can have best musicians (employees) playing best instruments (software systems) with music scores (processes) in order. Value appears when they start playing together in a coordinated manner.

The objective of most Business Process Reengineering (BPR) projects is to increase quality of products and services produced, to lower costs, to reduce development time, to increase client satisfaction, etc... At bottom line what you need to achieve is that people work in a new and more efficient way.

The success of a BPR effort, specially when process are carried out by people, is therefore highly dependent on people's understanding of following concepts:

"Who does what, how, when and where"

Who. The person in charge of each task in process must be clear. It must be clear who is accountable for each activity.