Moonshots
Summary
Bureaucracy - almost by definition - is when the process overtakes the objective.
I have now worked at a number of extremely bureaucratic organisations and can attest to the following formula to break bureaucracies
I have now worked at a number of extremely bureaucratic organisations and can attest to the following formula to break bureaucracies
- unify delivery/core business into a single organisation
- there is always one or more people that end up 'talking the business units together' and talking up the business - make sure it is someone's job to do this
- unify delivery systems/core business systems onto one platform
- make hr, finance, marketing and all related functions part of the delivery organisation - not separate standalone organisations.
- everyone (literally everyone) should have a financial / sales goal that is linked to the bottom line.
Problem
Organisations become bureaucratic over time as there is a shift in the power to non core functions and systems tend to become ways to defend the organization internally against change.
Solution
Bureaucracy - almost by definition - is when the process overtakes the objective.
The solution. Would then to refocus the objective both philosophically, I terms of the organisational conversation and structurally. I have seen massive debates around the service organisation vs the sales organisation vs the maintenance organisation - where structural barriers have literally taken money out of the hands of the business.
Everyone is a sales person, everyone is responsible for the profit of the organisation and by abandoning more rigid job descriptions and driving towards a single unified organisation - a lot of value is achieved.
Having been in operations for most of my career it is fascinating to watch when non-core functions like finance and HR is of value - it is when they are also part of the core business - and not an afterthought in terms of measuring financial results or compliance. These functions also tend to be smaller when part of the core business teams, rather than monolithic standalone matrix organisations...
Systems tend to give less rise to bureaucracy when they are unified... If we can all see the goal - we tend not to spend time copying and pasting it into different spreadsheets. It also does not hurt if somehow our compensation is linked to overall achievement of a goal.
To break down bureaucracy - you need glue to put the tables that have become disconnected together. Very simply it must be someone's job to talk about unity.
Practical Impact
If we remove the incentives to be separate through e.g. Seperate identities, separate reward structures, prejudices and job security - then people tend to work together.
When we work together - we get 'fit' and 'flow'. Fit is when you are doing exactly what you are good at and flow is when you tend to get it right most of the time in the environment around you. This is the antithesis to bureaucracy - which is about disrupting flow and using process to overcome fit.
Overhead is reduced, everyone is productive towards the end goal and over time the system is stable to deliver. New products and new markets can be tackled with capable and competent people.
First Steps
The first step is always to decide to change. Second is to act on it. This type of change needs to start by messaging from the top that we are all working on one business and for barriers between departments to be slashed. There is one measure of success in this process - are we closer to unity in purpose in doing this change or not. What does not bring us closer - must be removed.
Management is often to worried about structure and handover - while leadership is definitely focused on disrupting organisational borders.
Credits
Everything you need to know about management - can be learnt from children.
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