SCALABLE SYSTEMS – Create and enforce systems to capture key information and standardized processes
DESIGNER OF ORDER – Takes the complexity of a project and organizes the facts and tasks at hand
DATA KEEPER – Crunches numbers, strives for accuracy, creates a means for measuring success
KING/QUEEN OF CLARITY – Ambiguity and imprecision are not their friends
RELISHES IN REPEATABLE – Plan day according to the system, doesn’t do well with last-minute changes
Without the Processor to hold the details together, follow through with structure and organize the chaos, the Visionary and the Operator quickly recognize the barriers on their path to the finish line. Mind you, the Processor is not hailed as “The savior of the day”. On the contrary, the Processor gets LESS attention and has LESS value in the eyes of the Visionary, Operator and subsequently, the outside world. Processors often create exasperation for Visionaries/Operators as all of the rules and guidelines of the project slow everyone down to a reasonable pace. With systems in place to create a consistent approach to the business model, a Processor can gather up accurate data and produce the ever so necessary dashboard of information. Visionaries and Operators who often are so busy acting and reacting, now have a benchmark tool to compare their visions to a reality. Business decisions can be made and forecasts can be adopted and realized. The world of what was once just the Visionary/Operator has now come to order.
Why isn’t this valuable human being shouted out of the heavens as the next best thing to sliced bread (has anyone really come up with a modern translation for that phrase)? The Processor is not the one with the idea. The Processor is averse to change when the Visionary/Operator has moved on to a “better way, a new idea”. A processor tends to display paralysis analysis to moving on to a new system as they are spending so much time policing the old system. This is interpreted as contra supportive behaviors to the Visionary and the Operator. And the Processor’s numbers and reality checks are not always welcomed when the Visionary/Operator are on the move to the summit. Furthermore, because there are SO many summits with every new meeting, new conference, new bright shiny toy, it is often difficult for a Processor to keep up with the fast pace of a Visionary and the swift action of an Operator.
Being in the accounting world, I recognize the value of the Processor. The mere fact that a business owner/visionary starts a business, finds a mover and shaker (Operator) and then, almost as a last resort to mayhem, recognizes that they need a Processor creates a disadvantage. This “after-the-fact” position does not have the same-sex appeal and yet, without the Processor, the vision often loses steam. Every man on the team has their own worth and, without each one’s contributions, the team cannot win. You cannot play a doubles match in tennis with just one person on one side of the net.
So, how can everyone find value in each other? How can each Visionary, Operator and Processor respect and value each other’s position? How can egos be put aside to allow each participant to have an equal part to the prize? Ahh, that is the role of the Synergist! (Part 5 of 5)
