Long ago, before my hair had significant patches of grey in it, I came to a startling conclusion: that almost every company with more than a hundred people in it seemed to be clinically insane. I wish the intervening years had shown up my observation for being that of an inexperienced greenhorn, still new to the world of work…unfortunately it hasn’t.
Ten years later and with plenty of experience working for businesses across a variety of sectors my diagnosis still rings true…an awful lot of medium to large organisations work in a way that – for want of a better word – is crazy.
But why is this? Why should big groups of smart people act in a way that often defies logic? I believe there are some common culprits – ways of working and thinking that can seep into the very bones of a business and, in the long-term, cripple it.
In particular:
- Lack of well-defined roles and responsibilities: All too often hires are made to ‘sticky plaster’ over a problem without fixing its root cause. In our first post we’ll take a look at how as an individual you can avoid getting sucked into intensely political positions and how as a business you can prune your org chart to yield results rather than confusion.
- Lack of trust: Nothing sucks the enjoyment out of a job faster than not feeling trusted and few things can enhance the performance of a workforce faster than giving your employees the time and opportunity to play, explore and innovate. In our second post we’ll be looking at how to foster trust and creativity in your business.
- Too many committees: Big meetings kill productivity – our third post will explain how you can avoid Parkinson’s Law of Triviality by encouraging disciplined and effective meetings with just the right number of people.
- Planning that isn’t realistic or cascaded properly: Most businesses create roadmaps that are more wish lists than realistic statements of intent. Our forth post will look at how you can leverage Agile techniques to create properly priorities plans that will stand the test of time and not just be an exercise in PPT.
- Office politics dictates actions rather than effective leadership: In our fifth post we’ll take a look at how you can counter the divisive effects of office politics by fostering a culture of leadership across your business.
Come along for the ride! It should be interesting…
