“Process people” love me. At first sight. These are the people who perceive processes, seek processes, and, given a chance, create processes. They crave recognizable beginnings, middles, and ends accompanied by discernible progress. Order and efficiency make them happy. As a result, they are the people most aware of the daily chaos that kills corporate productivity. They desperately wish their companies would learn to create greater clarity.

If you aren’t a process person, you may not have a clue what I’m talking about. Perhaps you don’t see the chaos. You don’t really think in terms of process. You aren’t aware of the fact that 50 – 90% of your time, and of those around you, is not adding value for which customers are willing to pay.

Meanwhile, the process people drive you crazy. You see them as the guys who want to document everything. They are always creating new forms and demanding you follow new procedures. To you, those efforts to create order look a whole lot like bureaucracy and you wish they would just go away and let you get your job done in peace.

And you are right. A good deal of the time, process people ”solutions” are often more orderly than efficient. Rules, forms, and procedures create systems, and systems should not be confused with clarity. I see numerous systems daily that are complete overkill, miss the root cause of the problem, and/or locally optimized to make one set of tasks easier, usually at the expense of others, including customers. Here are just a few examples:

Missing Root Cause

Templates for agendas, standard meeting roles, and rules about chairs, etc. are perfect examples of missing the root cause. Unproductive meetings have nothing to do with being in a meeting and everything to do with a lack of clarity. Templates, roles, and rules will not help if you don’t know explicitly what must be different when the meeting ends.

Overkill

Performance management systems are a great example of overkill. You don’t need multiple forms, complex software, rating systems, and several levels of signatures to let employees know how they are doing and provide each with advice on one thing to improve. Performance management systems are primarily bureaucratic tools for documenting failures and avoiding lawsuits.

Local Optimization

After moving to Boston, my husband called my insurance company to see what our change of address would do to my health plan. Could he get a simple explanation of the potential impact of the move on my insurance plan and the process for making changes? No way. First he had to put me on the phone so I could grant him permission to discuss my health care and then he had to answer a slew of personal questions that were irrelevant to the general consequences and process of an address change. This is a common example of local optimization: give employees a lock-step procedure instead of the knowledge and coaching needed to listen and exercise judgment so they can be helpful.

The Alternative

So how do you harness the passion and talent of the process people, avoid non-value added bureaucracy, and  help everyone be more productive?

You create clarity, not systems or rules!

Clarity hinges on three components: clarity of purpose, process, and roles. Clarity of process, in turn,  hinges on the order of operations and the decision points. You can clarify the former with checklists, routines, and templates. Decision points must either be eliminated or supported with information, expertise, authority, and confidence.

There is little value in making processes more explicit when the players are:

• Operating in their area of expertise
• Performing tasks they perform frequently
• Requiring minimal interaction with others
• Getting good results quickly with confidence and minimal stress

On the flip side, here are 10 situations where greater process clarity will improve performance:

1. When Performing Tasks Infrequently

When tasks are performing infrequently, they are rarely performed efficiently and effectively. This is a perfect opportunity for establishing process clarity with something as simple as a checklist so you don’t have to think so hard or try to remember what you did the previous time.

2. When Performing Tasks Peripheral to Expertise

Tasks outside or on the edge of your expertise suck up more than their share of time and energy because you don’t approach them with the same clarity of purpose and process as your main tasks. Whether they are one time occurrences or predictable tasks, you will improve you effectiveness by making the process more explicit.

3. When Reinventing the Wheel

Reinventing the wheel erodes profits. Improvements come from making decisions once and for all by eliminating decisions and tasks through standard routines or templates.

4. When Life is at Stake

When healthcare and safety bring life and death into the conversation, care and precision are of utmost importance. Checklists, rules, and rituals can prevent costly mistakes.

5. When Performing Highly Complex or Detailed Tasks

Highly complex and detailed tasks require total attention. They are mentally taxing, especially when interruptions are possible or multiple people are involved. Process clarity can synchronize efforts and prevent omissions. A simple tool such as a  checklist can make all the difference in the world.

6. When Failing to Get Reliable Results

If you aren’t getting reliable, repeatable results from repeatable tasks, you absolutely must examine your  process. If you have a well-defined process that is failing you, find the root cause and eliminate it. If you don’t have a well-defined process, focus initially on outcomes, both final and intermediate, the decisions involved in attaining those outcomes, and who is responsible for what. It is insane to blunder along if results are inadequate.

7. When Expending Disproportionate Mental Energy or Anguish

Mental exhaustion and anguish are red flags that indicate something is wrong. Don’t ignore or suppress them. If you are struggling with a task, you likely lack clarity of purpose, process, or roles. The latter includes the possibility that you are the wrong person for the job. Clarity eases anguish and charts an easier path. Don’t delay.

8. When Generating Frustration for Others

You may be flying along with ease, but if you are frustrating others, you need to amp up the process clarity. People get frustrated when they don’t know who is supposed to do what, when, and why. They also get frustrated when they think they know, but don’t see these things happening.

9. When Hitting Walls Caused by Insufficient Information, Expertise, Authority, or Confidence

Delays and the unnecessary escalation of issues are epidemic and caused by four deficiencies: information, expertise, authority, and confidence. Clarity is the solution. Pay particular attention to the decision points.

10. When Trying to Make Decisions and Build Commitment

The most overlooked opportunity for improving productivity involves the processes that move ideas and decisions, especially for executives and knowledge workers. What processes? That’s my point exactly. Everything we do is a process – a sequence of steps – and if there is no recognizable process, there is huge opportunity for improvement!

Which of these ten situations do you recognize in your company? Which will you address immediately to improve profits?

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com on December 27th, 2015.