Fair Process: Blue Ocean Strategy

I've had a busy week, but have to remember that it's not nice to ignore one's blog. A large part of writing a blog is the ongoing commitment of time and energy required to add regular posts to it. A discussion about an adequate commitment of time and energy might actually make for a good post.

The specific focus -- a place where people tend to fall apart -- is that part of Blue Ocean Strategy called Fair Process. Much of what is now in the book comes from a series of articles published over many years in Harvard Business Review. Fair Process was the first of those articles, and the one overlooked by many people.

Fair Process is not about creating consensus in the decision making process. My own experience is that consensus is often harmful; consensus often prevents companies from making the kinds of dramatic changes that are needed to find genuine Blue opportunities. But Fair Process is about communication, about the establishment of a two-way line of communication between all current and future people involved in the creation of a new product or service.

Why no consensus? Thinking Blue always requires changing one's thought patterns: redefining the marketplace and building products and services to include non-customers. There will always be some number of people that will just never go along with this. These people must not be allowed to torpedo your new, Blue, opportunity.

But they -- and virtually everybody else who will be affected -- must be included and asked for their input. After you make a decision you must explain how you came to that decision, why you came to that decision, and why you believe that decision is in the best interests of the organization. There shouldn't be any ambiguity about the path that led to this decision making process or the trajectory of the new, Blue organization.

People can choose to accept and embrace the decision, or they can find another job. As harsh as it sounds do not allow people to sit around and do their best to sabotage the tough work required to create and launch your new product or service. If your competitors are smart they'll create plenty of conflict to challenge your new baby blue ocean, trying to redden your blue ocean before it grows (and if you've done your work they'll be irrelevant, and unable to do you any substantive harm).

Don't assume this applies only to the cranks in your organization. Remember the initial case study for Fair Process. To briefly reiterate, there were two factories. One had great labor relations; the other awful labor relations. The market was forcing substantive change. In anticipation of upcoming changes at the factory with poor relations managers kept workers abreast about the reasons for the change, the long-term ramifications of the change, and listened to their thoughts. They left the other factory alone though, thinking there's no need to bother them with decisions since there was already a strong trust relationship.

The end result, of course, is the factory with poor labor relations understood the need for change and bought into the process. The other factory only saw consultants coming and going quietly, heard rumors about major changes, and assumed the worst. Thankfully, before things spiraled completely out of control the managers realized how important it was to communicate and involve people, even when those people aren't in a decision making position.

This process of ongoing involvement -- not decision making, but rather communication -- is as vital to the health of an organization as coming up with brilliant Blue products and services delivered by value innovation. This is what's called Fair Process. It's as vital to success as a great TO-BE value curve, but frequently ignored. Ignoring Fair Process is probably the single greatest threat to your new, Blue business.