Following up on yesterday’s blog ‘Solving the Productivity Crisis’, this article from the Globe and Mail is an example of the questionable value of bureaucracy. The Mental Health America/Faas Foundation study of North American workers indicates that most employees feel their organizations are overly focused on trivial and bureaucratic activities. This point is proven by the significant increase in the management to worker ratios.
When asked to help an organization proceed through a cultural transformation, one of the first things I do is to get an understanding of what they do, why they do what they do, and why do they do it the way they do it. In most organizations, leadership is hard-pressed to answer those fundamental questions. Too often, there is a flurry of activity yielding little or no results. Is all of this activity really necessary? If it is, then I would investigate if the desired results could be achieved in a different and more effective way.
In an article I wrote for MoneyInc, I discuss The Covenant Model, a way of introducing emotional intelligence into the workplace. Often, where bureaucracy has become overwhelming, there is no real sense of purpose or any sense of efficacy present. The role of managers should be to look at the five 5 R’s. Are the right people doing the right things at the right time for the right reasons in the right way?