Much of what plagues organizations today has to do with their processes. And the processes have everything to do with the personal processes of the individuals involved. (Read between the lines here: ‘organization’ can refer to two people in a relationship, but also to a multinational.) Vulnerabilities in processes are challenged with stress, which increases daily in our world due to the increasing volume and speed of input that changes things. Most of you reading this have received more priority-changing and project-creating things in the last seventy-two hours than your parents probably received in a month.
Change always puts pressure on a system, even if it is for the better. Because systems are created to meet the needs, direction, and results of the organization at a given point in time, when times change and drivers are altered in some way, the organism is strained until it finds itself in the proper way. How well does it respond to new situations and input? What happens to the systems, the grooves, the procedures, if something unusual, something unexpected in content or size, lands on the radar? And not just the unexpected things out of left field: what happens when already foreseen new goals and horizons are identified and thrown into the organization to implement?
Pressure on a system will always manifest itself at the weakest connection points. Where are they organizationally? The same places where they are individually – avoiding decisions; unclear, incomplete or non-existent communications; ambiguous responsibilities; and extensive inventories of potentially conflicting obligations.
Example: A new situation arises (a competing product launched, a top manager fired, a new regulation issued, an angry neighbor, etc.) Someone is aware of the situation, feels that something needs to be done about it, but does not that. determine exactly what needs to be done. People who ultimately need to know about the problem or issue in order to deal with it are not informed. There is ambiguity over who exactly owns the solution to the situation and therefore no one has the guts enough to bring the situation to a successful conclusion (amid the chaos of everyone else’s current agendas). And anyone who is even remotely aware that he or she is in any way involved in the situation or its impact feels the pressure of an ‘open loop’ holding part of their psyche hostage, further contributing. to overloaded circuits. This then leads to that person avoiding decisions…etc., and the whole cycle becomes contagious. As you read this, does any of this sound familiar to you, about something in your universe? Almost everyone I’ve ever coached has identified at least one, if not several, such scenarios at that time.
The insidious factor is that the faster things change, the easier it is for these unproductive and unhealthy syndromes to emerge and multiply. And the older the person involved in these less than ideal practices, the greater their impact on culture becomes, simply because his/her micro is largely the macro of others. Ever been tossed around at the end of a chain of people holding on to each other on an ice skating rink? One of the biggest sources of stress and productivity saboteurs is that mid- and upper-level people avoid action decisions about situations when they first arise; waiting for the heat (from their boss, the client, or the circumstances) to determine what needs to be done and who should do it; and at the last minute spew the resulting crisis through multiple levels of the organization, causing pain, frustration, and the derailment of process and morale.
The bad news is that this seems almost universal, even in the best environments. The good news is that things can be done to improve these practices. But it is not addressed by blaming individuals or preaching platitudes about productivity and quality. It can only be improved by a change in the behavior of all the people involved. If the physical and mental environment were kept cleaner, the focus was more specific on individual inputs, the systems were made seamless and more efficient, and the kickstart actions were determined from the start and appropriately assigned to open items assigned, these weak spots in the organizational process can be closed. upwards. Entire cultures can move up the food chain in a constructive response to change. We’ve seen this happen to varying degrees, depending on the buy-in of the most visible players and whether those old dogs are willing to learn new tricks.
The most successful executives/professionals/people keep their cards straight, make decisions on the front end, send results to trusted people and systems, keep close track of their commitments (their own and those of others), and get physically involved in taking action action on the projects they own. These are learnable behaviors that can be systemized and build the ability to see the next surprise as the next opportunity.
This essay appeared in David Allen’s Productive Living Newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
