I am an nature photographer. I enjoy bringing to life the small things within a scene or landscape that people don't notice, but are integral to enjoyment of a scene. I was looking through a number of my photos and came across this group of tangled roots that had washed ashore at the Northwest corner of the Olympic Peninsula. This photo above speaks to me on a couple of levels. The first is how my leg muscles used to get after playing basketball - adhesions and misalignments that caused my knee to flare up badly.
Muscles work best when the fibers are strong and aligned in one direction acting in concert. When they don't, other parts of the body work to compensate and to maintain function; they do more than what they are constructed to do. I do a couple of things to break up the scar tissue to bring my muscles back in line and in working order (thanks personal trainer).
Secondly, I see this entanglement in companies all the time. For example, I had a conversation with a friend recently. He has a son who was interviewing with a large insurance company for a claims role - his first job out of college. The person he interviewed with said he would be more qualified for a higher level claim role and suggested he apply for that role.
By the time he got home, HR called him as asked him to apply for the new job - entering in the same information again, taking the same assessment he took for the lower-level job and then, interviewing with the same person he did before. Same company, same group, same players but totally messed up processes that stifled efficiency and effectiveness. Now, this is a pretty tame example of what tangled processes, procedures and responsibilities can do to a company. I'm sure each of us can come up with a number of stories about how teams, divisions and entire companies cause a lot of pain for themselves and their stakeholders because of a lack of alignment. We all know many of the culprits:
- Lack of communication within and across groups leads to decisions that are made in a vacuum
- Politics and culture breed distrust and roadblocks
- Legal and regulatory constraints force various procedures to be enacted
- Lack of resources and time in parts of the chain (many times an excuse made when solid communication is missing)
- No one version of truth regarding information which causes various interpretations and positions
- Personal ego
Let's stop there even though there are many more we could list.
Is is possible to truly become untangled?
The big question is how can we get our team and organizational muscle fibers aligned in one direction and working in concert? That is one BIG, million dollar question. To be honest, I'm not claiming to have the answer(s). However, based on my experiences in my own roles and working with coaching clients, I have some ideas.
- Size creates inertia. Teams and organizations that have been working a certain way and have grown with it are reluctant to adjust processes. They sure know it's screwed up where they work, but they've created workarounds for it and the pain and uncertainty of changing is too great to act.
So, the sooner you can identify the need and opportunity to get your company muscles back in line, do it; it will only get worse if you don't. - Make an impact on the level at which you have control and influence. If you are a leader (not always the top person, mind you) of a team or division, look at what you have and what is possible and be a catalyst to make things better. Start small and build from there. You have allies that really want to make the change. You just need to pull it out of them.
If you are the leader of an entire company, make the initial and long-term commitment to empower and hold accountable your management and employees to break the scar tissue and get its muscles moving as they should. Being tangled is a symptom of much more pervasive issues noted above. What kind of company do you want to be known for running? - Technology is NOT always the answer. Technology is supposed to support people, processes and workflows, yes. However, if those processes and workflows stink, the technology will only get you to stink faster. I've seen sister companies install the same technology with one choosing to re-work how they do things in customer service to fit a better state and one choosing to configure for the status quo. The second didn't have shipping labels that put out the entire address for nearly two months after launch - no product shipped and no revenue in the door.
- Perceived change creates pain, fear and inaction. Sell the vision and accomplishments of the change. Some people may see their jobs impacted or gone; some will say, 'I can't believe that we dealt with that "stuff" for so long'. Soon enough, the positive talk will far outweigh the negative. This change management component is critical and is often left out or done poorly.
- It will take time. Breaking up the adhesions in my leg and getting solid function back in my knee took time. The more tangled your company is, the longer it will take. However, I saw immediate improvements and that allowed me to do more things right away.
You and your people are strong and capable. New organization structures won't support the tangles that have been created by the old hierarchy. Strive for more. Reap the benefits. I'd love to hear your feedback on how you've dealt with being tangled up.