I’ve worked for two large corporations as an employee and with several more as a consultant. Some I enjoyed, others were painful. But one thing that was true for all of them is that it was difficult to get anything done. Very difficult. This is one of the natural afflictions of a large enterprise – there are many people in many departments in many locations and their interests are not completely aligned. Because it is difficult to get things done, fewer things get done and often it is the easiest, not the best things that get done.
So how do companies usually address this problem? Mostly, they valorize and lionize the Hero – one who is able to find a way around, over, through or underneath the obstacles that the organization has designed into the System. Think about the absurdity of this approach. They end up with a small handful of Heroes whose natural ability allows them to adeptly maneuver through complex Systems while the vast majority of their workforce is stymied by unnecessary complexity.
I understand why this happens. It’s a lot easier to identify and reward Heroes than it is to actually fix the system. But this means that executives at these companies have simply thrown up their hands and said “heck, I can’t fix this mess.” That’s not leadership. It leaves a ton of talent on the table – all of those employees that could be doing wonderful things and creating value for the company and the world, are spending their time spinning their wheels. Worse, they become uninspired, demotivated and dejected.
We can do better. Rather than creating systems that are needlessly complex or counterproductive and patting ourselves on the back for managing to get something – anything – done in spite of them, we should take on the hard work of designing organizations and systems that just make sense. That actually facilitate the doing of great work rather than impede it.
