Evaluating Workflows for Efficiency

Task productivity is not organisational productivity. AI can reduce the time needed to draft a report from 40 minutes to 20. That is a genuine task-level efficiency gain. But it becomes an organisational productivity gain only if the saving survives the rest of the process: checking, approval, decision-making and implementation. The distinction matters because task-level results can look impressive. A study of 5,172 customer-service workers found that AI support increased the number of issues resolved per hour by 15%. That measure captured completed work, not merely faster drafting. The wider evidence is more cautious. An OECD review found that better performance on individual tasks does not automatically produce better results across a firm. Processes, skills and responsibilities often need to change as well. A useful test is to measure the whole workflow: Did the end-to-end completion time fall? Did quality improve or rework decline? Did checking and correcting take less time? Was the released capacity used for something valuable? Did the bottleneck disappear, or merely move elsewhere? A team can produce documents faster and still wait days for approval. Developers can generate code faster while creating more review work. Managers can receive twice as many summaries without making better decisions. This is bottleneck migration: one stage accelerates, but the constraint reappears further along the process. A practical rule is to claim productivity only when throughput, quality, cost or decision speed improves without another important measure getting worse. Faster tasks are useful. Organisational productivity begins when the system produces a better result with fewer resources.

Most change initiatives don't fail because of the change that's happening, they fail because of how the change is communicated. I've watched brilliant restructurings collapse and transformative acquisitions unravel… Not because the plan was flawed, but because leaders were more focused on explaining the "what" and "why" than on how they were addressing the fears and concerns of the people on their team. People don't resist change because they don't understand it. They resist because they haven't been given a compelling story about their role in it. This is where the Venture Scape framework becomes invaluable. The framework maps your team's journey through five distinct stages of change: The Dream - When you envision something better and need to spark belief The Leap - When you commit to action and need to build confidence The Fight - When you face resistance and need to inspire bravery The Climb - When progress feels slow and you need to fuel endurance The Arrival - When you achieve success and need to honor the journey The key is knowing exactly where your team is in this journey and tailoring your communication accordingly. If you're announcing a merger during the Leap stage, don't deliver a message about endurance. Your team needs a moment of commitment–stories and symbols that anchor them in the decision and clarify the values that remain unchanged. You can’t know where your team is on this spectrum without talking to them. Don’t just guess. Have real conversations. Listen to their specific concerns. Then craft messages that speak directly to those fears while calling on their courage. Your job isn't just to announce change, but to walk beside your team and help your team understand what role they play in the story at each stage. #LeadershipCommunication #Illuminate

Much of the discussion around AI focuses on adoption rates, model capabilities, or productivity gains. The more consequential shift may be how organizations redesign work around it.     Most organizations began their AI journey by applying new tools to existing tasks. Drafting content, conducting research, analyzing information, and automating routine tasks are often among the first use cases. Those applications are valuable, but they represent only the beginning.      The larger opportunity emerges when organizations start redesigning workflows around AI rather than simply inserting AI into existing processes. That affects more than efficiency. It changes how decisions are made, how expertise is distributed, how teams collaborate, and how value is created across the organization.     Organizations that treat AI as a workflow transformation capability rather than a productivity tool are likely to realize far greater long-term value. 

Hyperautomation has emerged as a game-changer in the technological landscape, changing how businesses streamline operations, reduce costs, and enhance efficiency. By combining AI, ML, and robotic process automation (RPA), it transformed industries. Gone are the days when automation was limited to assembly lines or customer service bots. Hyperautomation transforms everything — from crunching financial data to streamlining inventory management — into a unified, efficient digital ecosystem. For instance: ▶️ In warehouses, IoT devices monitor inventory and trigger restocking before shelves go empty ▶️ Financial tools like RPA bots process invoices while AI forecasts cash flow trends ▶️ ML algorithms pinpoint supply chain inefficiencies and suggest actionable fixes The result? A seamless, real-time operational flow that saves time, money, and resources. Gartner projects that by 2026, 30% of enterprises will automate more than half of their network activities- up from under 10% in 2023. In finance, AI algorithms detect fraudulent transactions faster than human analysts, while RPA tools manage expenses and generate reports in seconds. Customer service chatbots powered by natural language processing (NLP) handle routine queries, leaving human agents free to focus on high-stakes issues. In manufacturing, predictive maintenance minimizes costly machine downtime by identifying potential issues before they arise. AI-powered quality control systems catch product defects that human eyes might miss, while workflow automation optimizes resource allocation. In the ever-complex supply chain, hyperautomation ensures real-time responsiveness. AI systems analyze traffic and weather to optimize delivery routes, while IoT devices keep stock levels in check. The result? Faster deliveries, fewer errors, and significant cost savings. While the potential of hyperautomation is undeniable, it raises questions about its impact on human labor. Repetitive, low-skill jobs are at the highest risk of being replaced. But, this shift also opens doors for workers to upskill to manage and optimize these systems, focusing on creative and strategic tasks instead of mundane ones. The narrative shouldn’t be “man versus machine” but “man with machine.”  Valued at $45 billion in 2024, the hyperautomation market is projected to exceed $307 billion by 2037. Its future lies in driving sustainability, enabling hyper-personalized experiences, and achieving seamless end-to-end automation. As businesses continue to embrace this technology, it’s vital to maintain a human-centric approach: prioritizing ethical considerations, data privacy, and workforce training. The real question is: How will we harness its potential? #technology #AI #automation #innovation #business

These days, many CROs and sales leaders reflect upon the past 12 months and come up with resolutions for the new year. I personally find one task particularly helpful - reflecting about projects, tasks, or activities to stop immediately. In other words, to back up our strategies as leaders we need to apply focus by giving our teams permission to stop irrelevant activities. We demonstrate authentic #leadership by reinforcing words with actions, and stop projects and initiatives that do no longer align with our priorities. The benefits? Focus. Distractions and excuses are removed. Employee engagement is improved, and life should become more fun for people who see friction removed from their role. Here are some specific tactics I have found most helpful to make this happen: 💡Describe the vision with clear supporting goals. It’s impossible to align the team against specific tasks and tactics if there’s no line of sight to the overall objectives of the business. CROs need a vision that their sales teams can rally around which is inspirational, simple and clear. It needs to demonstrate believable impacts on the customer experience which link to measurable economic outcomes. In other words, “if we behave in this way, we create value for our customers and value for us”. 💡Formally audit current initiatives and activities. businesses are a chamber of ‘great ideas’, many of which sprout arms and legs in the form of informal or formal projects. And, often, these projects have loose (if any) goals, lack project management and dilute critical resources. 💡 Review KPIs: is every KPIs you set and review aligned to the goals and activities you said were important? If not, cease their existence immediately! there is no point painting a compelling vision for the business, ceasing initiatives and activities, but still reporting KPIs that reflect deprioritised topics. 💡Walk the talk: it’s critical for CROs to be acting and communicating in ways that are aligned with desired changes. As role models, and in a similar vein to KPI setting, CROs should act as a reinforcing mechanism by personally ceasing activities and aligning to the overall agenda. More ideas and practical tips for Spring Cleaning in the Forbes expert collection attached in the comments below.

The AI workflow produced great results, yet people did not feel safe relying on the output. ⛔ That was the situation I encountered in a client workshop in Brussels last week, and it is far more common than most organisations like to admit. The team had invested time and effort into designing an AI-supported workflow. The use case was clear, the technical setup was sound, the data quality was acceptable, and the people involved had already received training on how to use AI. Despite all of this, the workflow was barely used in practice. People ran the AI step, reviewed the output, and then quietly redid the work themselves. During the workshop, we mapped the real workflow together, step by step, focusing not on how the process was documented but on how the work actually happened on a normal working day. At one point, a participant looked at the whiteboard and said: “I only trust the result after I have checked it myself anyway.” That sentence shifted the entire conversation. As we continued mapping the process, a pattern became visible: Everyone validated AI outputs differently.  Some checked everything, even low-risk drafts.  Others barely checked high-risk decisions. Accountability was assumed but never explicitly defined. Human validation was happening constantly, but it was invisible, inconsistent, and highly personal. We redesigned the workflow and introduced a simple checklist for built-in human validation. 💡 This checklist replaced individual safety habits with a shared, explicit process. ✅ Define the risk level of the output. Clarify whether the AI output is a draft, a recommendation, or a decision with external impact. ✅ Decide if validation is required. Make it explicit which outputs require human review and which can flow through without intervention. ✅ Specify the validation moment. Define when validation happens in the workflow and before which downstream step. ✅ Assign clear responsibility. Name the role that validates the output and the role that makes the final decision. ✅ Separate generation from judgment. Ensure the AI prepares content or options, while humans remain accountable for approval and outcomes. ✅ Remove unnecessary checks. Regularly review the workflow to eliminate validation steps that add friction without reducing risk. Once this checklist was applied, people felt much more confident about the AI output because they knew when human judgment was required. 👉 Is human validation in your AI workflows clearly designed, or is it still improvised? Let’s discuss.

How do you align an entire company around the same goals? It’s something we consider very important at Thinkific especially as the team has grown. Recently, we started rolling out V2MOM to help bring more structure and clarity to that process. For anyone unfamiliar, V2MOM is a goal-setting framework created by Marc Benioff at Salesforce. It stands for Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles and Measures — a simple but powerful way to clarify what you’re trying to achieve, how you’ll get there and what might stand in your way. We’ve used a few goal setting frameworks over the years (OKRs, Rockefeller Habits) but something always felt like it was missing. I felt we had room for improvement in how we identified obstacles and anchored goals in guided principles. What I like about V2MOM is the structure. It’s not just about setting a vision and defining success, it also forces you to think through the values that guide your work, the potential obstacles and the specific methods you'll use to get there. Another shift for us is in how we cascade goals. My V2MOM connects directly to my direct reports’, and theirs to their teams. There’s still room for team-level priorities, but everything ties back to the company’s broader vision. That level of alignment brings a lot more clarity: on what we’re doing, what we’re not and how each person contributes to the big picture. So far, I’m a fan and I’ve also heard positive feedback from our team who’ve said V2MOM is helping reinforce a stronger sense of unity, shared goals and collective impact. It’s not a silver bullet, but it’s helping us be more intentional about both what we’re working toward and how we get there. Always curious — what frameworks or tools have you found most effective for aligning goals across your team or company?

How to do business analysis for Zero-Documentation Organizations? A BA needs to think and act differently in some organizations where nothing is written, everything is tribal knowledge, and every stakeholder “thinks” they know the truth. In a zero-documentation environment, people often jump to edge cases, opinions, or personal frustrations.The issue is not exposing gaps first, it’s establishing a baseline first so you don’t confuse people or derail the workshop. Here are some pointers to keep in mind: 1. Start with workflows, not words: In no-documentation environments, verbal explanations are unreliable. Make people “walk you through” the process using screens, tools, and real examples. Seeing the work beats listening to the story. 2. Prioritise questions that establish the baseline first: Anchor the core flow with questions like: • “What starts this process?” • “What’s the next step after this?” • “Who does this part?” Once the baseline is clear and everyone agrees, then go into gap-finding questions like exceptions or blockers. 3. Use concrete artefacts as your truth source: Ask for sample emails, order forms, tickets, spreadsheets, screenshots, logs. In zero-documentation cultures, artefacts are your only documentation. They tell you what people actually do. 4. Map the AS-IS visually, even if messy: Create a rough flow on screen and validate live with stakeholders. People correct diagrams much faster than they explain processes. It saves weeks of misinterpretation. 5. Interview horizontally, not vertically: Don’t rely on one “expert.” Speak to different roles performing the same step. When their stories don’t match → that’s where requirements hide. 6. Don’t let confidence fool you. Verify EVERYTHING: Overconfident stakeholders usually. • overestimate system capability • underestimate exceptions • forget manual workarounds Cross-check their statements with actual system behaviour. 7. Anchor every statement with an example: Whenever someone says, “This is how we do it,” ask: “Show me a recent case.” Examples eliminate ambiguity instantly. 8. Create small “fact packs” after every discovery: Not documentation, just crisp, 1-page summaries. • What we understood • What is unclear • Decisions required Share it daily. You’ll force alignment without heavy paperwork. 9. Prioritise questions by business impact: Ask yourself--“What decision is blocked if I don’t clarify this?” Address high-impact unknowns first, not easy questions. 10. Call out contradictions carefully: Say--“I heard X from team A and Y from team B , can we check what actually happens?” You’re not accusing anyone; you’re aligning reality. 11. Spot “silent processes.”: These are steps people forget to mention: • manual approvals • Excel checks • reconciliation tasks Always ask: “What happens between these two steps?” There’s always something.

Could strategic misalignment be keeping you and your organization away from attaining maximum value? Executives and project managers are often rowing in different directions. The boat moves, but not necessarily toward value. From my doctoral research, and work with several clients, three pillars of strategic alignment consistently separate high-performing organizations from the rest: 1️⃣ Common Goals – A shared definition of success at both the strategic and operational levels. 2️⃣ Shared Language – Clear communication that bridges “executive speak” and project management terms. 3️⃣ Mutual Understanding – Executives gain insight into project realities, while PMs understand the strategic trade-offs leaders are balancing. The challenge? Most organizations talk about alignment but rarely make it a living system. That’s why I created the ALIGN™ Framework as a practical roadmap: 🪀 A – Assess the Value Chain → Define where value is created and lost. 🪀 L – Listen Across Levels → Build the “bilingual dictionary” across teams. 🪀 I – Integrate Strategy into Planning → Include PMs early in design, not just delivery. 🪀 G – Guide with Goals & Guardrails → Establish clarity with KPIs, OKRs, and constraints. 🪀 N – Navigate with Data & Confluence → Create mutual understanding with dashboards, forums, and collaboration tools. 🔑 ALIGN™ isn’t just an acronym. It’s the operating system for embedding the three pillars of Common Goals, Shared Language, and Mutual Understanding into everyday practice. When organizations apply it, strategy stops being a lofty document and becomes a lived reality. 📌 Question for you: In your organization, which of these three pillars: common goals, shared language, or mutual understanding requires the most urgent attention? Let's create the bride to ALIGN! ♻️Share to elevate others and follow🎙️Fola F. Alabi for more! #FolaElevates #StrategicLeadership #ProjectManagement #SPL #StrategicAlignment #Align #ExecutionExcellence #StrategicConfluenc

It’s company offsite season! After flying coast to coast over the past few weeks facilitating leadership offsites, here are the biggest takeaways I've noticed: The highest-performing teams aren’t waiting for problems to invest in alignment, they’re doubling down before things break. And that’s not just a “nice to have.” Gallup consistently finds that highly engaged teams see 21% higher profitability and significantly lower turnover. Alignment is not fluff. It’s a performance lever. Here’s what my strongest clients are focused on: 1️⃣ Invest before there’s a fire The teams who brought me in weren’t floundering. They were flourishing. They knew ambitious goals require clarity, energy, and trust to sustain them. You can’t sprint a marathon. Momentum comes from recognizing the work and investing in people before burnout shows up. 2️⃣ Start with values, not tactics When I build an Ops Playbook with a team, we start by mapping values in behavior terms. It's not about typographic posters or slogans. It's about how we use values to make decisions. Aligned values reduce friction, and nothing is more expensive to a team than friction. 3️⃣ Connect every role to the bigger picture Whether it’s a team of freelancers or ten-year veterans, the shift is the same - task lists drive completion of to-do lists, whereas outcomes drive ownership. McKinsey research shows employees who understand how their work contributes to company goals are significantly more motivated and productive. The difference between “checking boxes” and “driving outcomes” is context. 4️⃣ Set KPIs tied to controllable inputs Of course revenue and profitability matter, but most team members don’t control revenue directly. With teams I work with, we focus on KPIs tied to what each function actually owns. The inputs that move the needle. Clear, controllable scoreboards create focus and accountability. These sessions are my favorite to lead because it’s the moment everything clicks. The team leader or business owner's vision translates into action and people see their role more clearly. You can literally see the energy shifting in the room. Whether you have two hours or two days, aligning around these four areas is rocket fuel for performance. If you’re planning an offsite this season, don’t just fill the agenda, use it to build the foundation your 2026 goals require.