Bureaucracy – It doesnt have to be there

Bureaucracy, its the bane of so many people’s lives, and in most situations its totally unnecessary.

The problem is that when a new process is created, or new paperwork written, I’m sure that in most cases the people who dream up these things think they are worth having, and will help solve a given issue, or address a problem situation. It is only when multiple processes and paperwork come together that they can become overbearing and wasteful of everyone’s time and effort.

Unfortunately, once a bureacucracy is in place, its very difficult to take a step back, do a proper review and really work out which parts are helping to keep in check potential issues, and which are just in place because it seems like they always have been, and always will be!! 

In the end, it all comes back to the simple question “Is this actually useful?“, the subject of a previous post. Using this question, by doing a thorough review of the processes and paperwork the key activities and processes can be kept, and the ones that do not add value stopped and removed.

This should increase productivity significantly and add real value to the organisation. 

Is this actually useful?

I’m in the throes of starting a major new project at work, and this has led me to think about a question we should all ask ourselves when we do any activity, project or job at any stage in our careers.

“Is this actually useful?”

This seems like a pretty innocent question, but if you really apply it properly, it can be extremely powerful. I have realised from thinking about what have been working on, as well as knowing what those around me are doing, that sometimes what I think is really important to focus upon is not really that useful after all!

Even if somethng does seem to be useful, the question above can help you to focus on ensuring that the outcomes of the work really matter and actually make a difference.  Quite often, especially working in strategy, there is a risk that items we work on can become too theoretical or “up in the clouds” and not really benefit those on the ground. By continually focussing on making the outcomes useful it can help to ensure that the work does have an impact and really help those that can use it the most.

Finally, the question can also help to prioritise work. It shouldn’t be too much of a leap to realise that you should focus your work on activities that are going to be the most useful, and leave those that are less useful (or not useful at all) to another time. Of course, this can be easier said than done, as what is not useful to you may be viewed as extremely useful to those around you. I’ll leave that discussion to another post.