Rapid Improvement

(Bureaucracy - "any administration where action is impeded by unnecessary procedures")
In your own organization, do you ever think "Why are we doing this?" or "Why aren't things moving as planned or desired? Do you notice people becoming more difficult to deal with? Do you sense a rising level of frustration? Has your workplace lost its shine? Perhaps it's becoming a bureaucracy.

Often unnoticed in an organization's growth is a tendency towards bureaucracy. It's rarely intentional, yet very common.

Here are some other symptoms of bureaucracy: -

• Ineffective meetings - too long, too frequent, too little value.
• Less direct and personal communication - too many emails or "memos".
• Ever growing procedures and operations "manuals"
• Defensive, protective and internally competitive decisions and behaviour. Shows as fear-based thinking - "we better do this in case…" or "we better not do this in case…"
• Growing sense of mediocrity in human performance.
• Gradual loss of original purpose.

Bureaucracy is cancer of the organization - unnecessary growth that becomes self-serving.

Because the bureaucracy grows within the culture of the organization, it is seldom noticed by those within and rarely effectively dealt with by those within - after all, they are the unintentional cause!

Treating bureaucracy requires awareness, courage, determination and correct action with the full commitment of leadership.

Like most cancer treatment, the common approach is to cut burn and poison. The results too often are "It grew back again" or "We cured the bureaucracy but the organization died".

Bureaucracy is best prevented and treated by leaders ensuring the culture has these characteristics: -

• All systems are simple, connected and serve the prime purpose of the organization.
• A high level of functional direct personal interaction and communication throughout the organization.
• Continuous pruning of the unnecessary. Always challenging procedure with the "Why" question. If the answer is defensive, protective or fear-based - seek to prune it.
• Avoidance of complacency and blind acceptance of any routine. If anything requires "rationalization" or "justification" it means something is already not working.
• Well managed yet adventurous risk taking for innovation, simplicity and above all, to best serve the prime purpose of the organization.
• Continuous challenge of continuous growth - it's not natural! More often it's actually cancerous growth currently disguised as more profit, more opportunity, diversification etc.
• Stepping outside the organization frequently to review it holistically.