Traveling through Italy and Greece recently, the well publicized taxi and transportation strikes immediately highlight some obvious disruptions. Things like Long waits, canceled rides, and frustrated travelers quickly come to mind. However, as I navigated these cities, I realized the true impact of these strikes goes deeper and mirror challenges many organizations face with hidden process risks and overlooked dependencies.
The Obvious Impacts
• Delayed schedules and missed appointments
• Increased costs as alternatives get scarce or surge pricing
• Frustration and lower customer satisfaction
Everyone sees these effects but what about the less obvious? Those ripple effects you don’t often hear about until you’re caught in them!
The Hidden Process Risks That Usually Go Unnoticed
• Delayed downstream activities: If you depend on a taxi to get from your hotel to an early business meeting or airport, a strike delay can cascade to missed flights or lost connections in your itinerary which parallel how small bottlenecks in business processes can push entire projects off course.
• Informal workaround chaos: When official transportation options fail, travelers scramble, creating unofficial or ad-hoc solutions that may not be reliable, safe, or cost-effective, just like bypassing formal processes in organizations often introduces risk.
• Communication breakdowns: Without real-time updates or a clear contingency plan, uncertainty grows, causing stress and poor decisions, much like a breakdown in internal communications can disrupt coordination and slow problem solving in businesses.
Sharing some lessons for Business Process and Risk Managers:
This recent experience reminds me that effective process management means preparing not just for the obvious delays, but also for the hidden second and third level impacts, because these often have the greatest business cost.
• Build resilience by identifying and mitigating risks not just in your core processes, but in the downstream and interdependent activities they trigger
• Establish clear communication plans and contingency options before disruptions occur
• Avoid informal workarounds by strengthening governance and transparency
At GlobeArc Corp we help organizations see beyond the obvious and prepare for the risks lurking beneath the surface, turning disruption into opportunity.
Have you ever experienced a “strike” or unexpected event that exposed hidden risks in your processes?
I’d love for you to your recent stories and thoughts in the comments.
#ProcessImprovement
#RisksAndControls
#RiskManagement
#KnowWhatYouDontKnow
#GlobeArcCorp
