The principle of process

What’s more important, process or the principle behind it?

I was at the local supermarket a short time ago and as I wandered past the deli counter the assistant finished serving a customer. The only other person wanting service at the counter was an elderly woman who politely said, “Excuse me”.

The assistant glanced across and said, “Have you got a ticket? You need to get a ticket”.

Why did she need a ticket? That’s the process they follow. You get the ticket, then your number appears in lights and you get served. It’s a great process because it ensures that everyone is served in order and no one misses out. The only thing was, there was no queue. The woman would have walked a few metres, grabbed a ticket and then by some weird coincidence found that her number was the next to be served.

The shop assistant was more interested in following the process than the principle behind it. She missed the whole point of customer service. The principle behind the ticket system is that every customer should be served in the most efficient way possible. Was that principle served in this case? Definitely not.

How often do we get caught up serving the process rather than the principle? How often do we follow the rules rather than looking behind the rules to see if there is a better way to achieve the outcome that the rules are there to provide? Sure, there are some rules that need to be kept but there are many more that were only ever put in place to create an effective process to achieve a desired outcome.

Are there processes at work or at home that we blindly follow without asking why? I think that there are many instances in church life where we continue to do what we’ve always done rather than reassessing out method or process. We lose sight of the fact that there is nothing inherently right or wrong in the process, it’s simply there to serve the principle behind it.

Why not spend some time this week looking at the principles behind the processes to see if there is a more effective way to achieve the result you’re wanting?

Posted by Rodney Olsen



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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He has worked in radio at Perth's media ministry Sonshine for over 25 years and has previously worked at ministries such as Compassion Australia and Bible Society.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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5 Comments

  • does this come down to grace vs. law in the great big grand scheme of things..? Cos that’s where my thoughts ended up… but then, you could have just being mindlessly wondering about tickets…my bad. teehee

  • I think grace vs. law comes into it. I think it’s often a matter of seeing that the rules or law aren’t an end in themselves.

    The pharisees gave Jesus a hard time for breaking their Sabbath rules. The rules he broke weren’t God’s rules, they were the church’s rules and by healing on the Sabbath he was achieving a greater good than following man made regulations. He still maintained the essentials but he knew where to draw the line.

  • i have often been reminded to ensure we do not enthrone processes as sacred cows.

    as time moves on, processes often change to accomodate, but we need to hold on to principals.

  • Communion can be like that. It certainly was for me, until we started attending our new church 3 years ago. In 3 years, I don’t think we’ve ever done it the same way twice! It is always presented in a new, fresh way that makes us truly ponder the significance of what we’re doing. Thanks for making us think, Rodney!

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