The core fundament of Natural Business Excellence is Process/Content, also known as PC™. With PC™ the nature of people and the nature of activities is clarified, so who we are as a Human Being and what we do as Human Action.
Besides through influence by the environment (nurture), human beings are who they are through their genes (nature). They are ‘wired' as they are.
By understanding who human beings are by nature allows for looking into ways to improve their quality of life, both private and business. Knowing who we are by nature and knowing what the highest achievable level of being a human being is, provide for a long-term personal growth path, which can be applied in business (career path) and private (personal path).
Furthermore, human beings who execute activities that fit with who they are by nature will function within their comfort zone, will feel at ease and will be able to add differentiating value. Human beings who execute activities that don't fit them will not be at ease and will not deliver to their fullest potential.
Alignment of who we are by nature and what we do is critical to become a person that lives and works to its full potential. It results in a truly constructive environment.
“When a cook prepares a sumptuous feast, he or she spends hours touching, viewing, smelling, tasting and listening to ingredients that will be processed and turned into a delicious meal. During the actual cooking, on a very precise timing, balanced quantities of the ingredients are cleaned, cut, cooked, fried, etc, and as such processed. While the waiter is already on his way to serve the meal, the cook will add some parsley on top of the mashed potatoes to finish off the meal.”
Everything we do in life is a process. Cooking a meal is a process. So are drinking coffee, reading a newspaper, writing a presentation, negotiating a deal and anything else we do. The ultimate process we execute is to live life. The example above shows the process of cooking, in which carefully selected ingredients are turned into a delicious meal. The process consists of a range of activities that are executed in a particular order and in a particular manner. During the cooking ingredients are cleaned, cut, cooked, fried etc. The manner in which the cook cuts, cooks and fries them will ultimately determine to what extent the meal is enjoyed by the connoisseur. One wrong cut of a Fugu (the Japanese blow fish) will have lethal results to the person who eats it. So the cook better knows how he/she is cutting.
Everything we process in life is content. The meal, the coffee, the newspaper, the presentation, the deal and life are all examples of content. The content consists of subject matter that is transformed during the execution of a process. Fish, rice, herbs, oil, water etc are all content. They are the ingredients out of which the meal is made.
Each process has a natural flow. In such a flow activities are executed in an order and a manner that naturally results in the optimal outcome. Understanding natural flows is crucial to be truly effective and efficient. As Lord John Browne, CEO BP Amoco once said “Giving up the illusion that you can predict the future is a very liberating moment. All you can do is give yourself the capacity to respond … the creation of that capacity is the purpose of strategy”. Understanding natural flows is the optimal way to prepare oneself for the future. By understanding natural flows one knows what is coming, what to expect and how to anticipate. In an ideal world, a company's best business practices are natural business processes.
