From Tribes to Transformation: Integrating People Maturity and Process Excellence

Every organization runs on processes — but those processes are driven by people. Even the most optimized workflows or modern platforms can fail if the people domain of maturity isn’t addressed.

In my work helping organizations assess and elevate business capabilities, I’ve found that Tribal Leadership offers a powerful framework for understanding the human side of process maturity.

People Maturity and Organizational Culture

In a typical maturity assessment, we evaluate four domains: People, Process, Information, and Technology.

The People domain measures leadership behavior, collaboration, empowerment, and adaptability — all of which directly influence how well change is adopted.

When an organization scores low in this domain, it often isn’t because of a lack of skills or resources — it’s because of fragmented mindsets across teams. That’s where the Tribal Leadership model becomes invaluable: it helps decode the cultural patterns that define how teams think, behave, and respond to change.

Bridging Tribal Leadership with People Maturity

Tribal Leadership defines five cultural stages that align closely with the maturity levels we assess in business process architecture:

Stage One – “Life Sucks”

Teams here are disengaged, frustrated, and resistant to change. This corresponds to the initial or ad hoc maturity level where processes are reactive and inconsistent.

The best approach is to build awareness — show what “better” looks like and prove that improvement is possible through small wins.

Stage Two – “My Life Sucks”

People recognize that improvements exist but feel powerless to make change. This stage aligns with a developing maturity level.

The key strategy here is empowerment — involve them early, invite their feedback, and give them a voice in shaping process improvements. Ownership fuels engagement.

Stage Three – “I Am Great”

Individuals at this stage are confident in their own methods but often work in silos. This reflects a defined maturity level, where standards exist but collaboration is limited.

The focus should be on cross-functional collaboration — showing how interdependencies across teams affect outcomes. When people see the bigger picture, they shift from “my process” to “our process.”

Stage Four – “We’re Great”

This stage represents a culture of teamwork and shared success — the managed maturity level.

Here, the strategy is to reinforce unity — celebrate wins, keep performance transparent, and sustain communication between departments. These actions keep improvement momentum alive.

Stage Five – “Life Is Great”

The pinnacle of people maturity — where innovation, trust, and continuous improvement are embedded in the culture. At this optimized maturity level, leadership is distributed, experimentation is encouraged, and people proactively seek new ways to create value.

Applying the Integrated Framework

When I lead process maturity assessments, I often start with SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers) to define what an organization does.

But to move from mapping to transformation, I integrate the Tribal Leadership lens to understand how people feel about those processes.

For example, in one transformation project, two departments operating within the same workflow were in completely different maturity stages — one at “I Am Great,” proud but isolated, and another at “We’re Great,” collaborative and forward-looking. Instead of focusing on tools or systems, we brought them together in joint process mapping workshops. By co-creating their target state, they naturally moved from independence to interdependence — from “I Am Great” to “We’re Great.”

Why This Matters

Integrating the Tribal Leadership model into people maturity assessments ensures process improvement doesn’t happen to people — it happens with them.

When organizations understand where their teams are culturally, they can tailor change management strategies, training, and leadership engagement to meet people where they are.

That’s how transformation becomes sustainable — when the People domain isn’t just a checkbox, but the engine that drives continuous improvement.

Final Thought

True transformation happens when process models and people models converge. By combining Business Process Management, Lean Six Sigma, and the Tribal Leadership lens, organizations don’t just streamline workflows — they elevate culture. They move beyond compliance into collaboration, innovation, and shared purpose.

Transformation, at its best, is when every person in the organization believes:

“We’re great — and together, we can make things even better.”

Brian Sebastian

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt | Business Process Architect | Organizational Change Strategist