The Busting Bureaucracy Hackathon
It seems to pervade the organisation, but mainly in IT, Business Services and HR. However, it exists not only in processes but in the culture and hierarchy. Meetings and emails dominate the culture and this affects speed of decisions. It is often the case that decisions are deferred to the leader, which again adds time and stifles individual confidence, creativity and innovation.
It slows us down, we make ourselves less effective through self imposed processes which frequently add cost. If we were in a different market, I often wonder if we would still exist. It sometimes feels like working for a dinosaur. The only area they make my job easier is around compliance and other legalities, where a level of bureaucracy is essential. However, the level of complexity can be very challenging and draining, creating uneccessary stress within the system. People new to the business often leave due to what they see has hindering not helping processes, therefore employer brand and talent retention are affected.
Hi Teresa--thanks for sharing your thoughts! You've made some key observations in here, but one that I think is absolutely critical is the idea that stifling bureaucracy becomes a talent drain for the organization. If good people leave because of the bureaucracy, is it actually creating more pain for the organization than the bureaucracy was originally intended to solve? In many organizations, the answer is, unfortunately, yes.
It is interesting that you point out the the culture of bureaucracy is much more pervasive in your organization in IT, Business Services, and HR. I wonder why that is? Do you think it has something to do with the fact that these groups serve an internal vs. an external customer? If so, why does that fact make them more prone to bureaucratic behavior?
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